diff --git a/libguile/ChangeLog b/libguile/ChangeLog
index e7ca4f1df..23e8dd504 100644
--- a/libguile/ChangeLog
+++ b/libguile/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+2000-03-21  Dirk Herrmann  <D.Herrmann@tu-bs.de>
+
+	* symbols.h, symbols.c (scm_strhash):  Declare the string
+	parameter as constant, since it is not modified.
+
+	* symbols.c (scm_intern_obarray_soft,
+	scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup):  Can now pass constant strings
+	to scm_strhash without need for casting.
+
 2000-03-21  Dirk Herrmann  <D.Herrmann@tu-bs.de>
 
 	* vectors.h (SCM_VELTS, SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS):  Don't cast SCM
diff --git a/libguile/symbols.c b/libguile/symbols.c
index 776f2f3e1..47daadfc5 100644
--- a/libguile/symbols.c
+++ b/libguile/symbols.c
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@
 
 
 unsigned long 
-scm_strhash (unsigned char *str,scm_sizet len,unsigned long n)
+scm_strhash (const unsigned char *str, scm_sizet len, unsigned long n)
 {
   if (len > 5)
     {
@@ -237,16 +237,13 @@ scm_intern_obarray_soft (const char *name,scm_sizet len,SCM obarray,int softness
 
   SCM_REDEFER_INTS;
 
-  i = len;
-  tmp = (unsigned char *) name;
-
   if (obarray == SCM_BOOL_F)
     {
-      scm_hash = scm_strhash (tmp, i, 1019);
+      scm_hash = scm_strhash (name, len, 1019);
       goto uninterned_symbol;
     }
 
-  scm_hash = scm_strhash (tmp, i, SCM_LENGTH(obarray));
+  scm_hash = scm_strhash (name, len, SCM_LENGTH (obarray));
 
   /* softness == -1 used to mean that it was known that the symbol
      wasn't already in the obarray.  I don't think there are any
@@ -359,8 +356,7 @@ scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup (const char *name)
     {
       SCM lsym;
       scm_sizet len = strlen (name);
-      register unsigned char *tmp = (unsigned char *) name;
-      scm_sizet scm_hash = scm_strhash (tmp, len, (unsigned long) scm_symhash_dim);
+      scm_sizet scm_hash = scm_strhash (name, len, (unsigned long) scm_symhash_dim);
       SCM_NEWCELL (lsym);
       SCM_SETLENGTH (lsym, (long) len, scm_tc7_ssymbol);
       SCM_SETCHARS (lsym, name);
diff --git a/libguile/symbols.h b/libguile/symbols.h
index 8f12f1329..ae51ff494 100644
--- a/libguile/symbols.h
+++ b/libguile/symbols.h
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ extern int scm_symhash_dim;
 
 
 
-extern unsigned long scm_strhash (unsigned char *str, scm_sizet len, unsigned long n);
+extern unsigned long scm_strhash (const unsigned char *str, scm_sizet len, unsigned long n);
 extern SCM scm_sym2vcell (SCM sym, SCM thunk, SCM definep);
 extern SCM scm_sym2ovcell_soft (SCM sym, SCM obarray);
 extern SCM scm_sym2ovcell (SCM sym, SCM obarray);