diff --git a/docs/design/design-decodebin.txt b/docs/design/design-decodebin.txt
index 34919455df..52b343a0f5 100644
--- a/docs/design/design-decodebin.txt
+++ b/docs/design/design-decodebin.txt
@@ -13,9 +13,9 @@ Description:
 
   _ a GstTypeFindElement connected to the single sink pad
 
-  _ optionnaly a demuxer/parser
+  _ optionally a demuxer/parser
 
-  _ optionnaly one or more DecodeGroup
+  _ optionally one or more DecodeGroup
 
 * Autoplugging
 
@@ -203,3 +203,87 @@ differences:
   controlled by the element. This means that a buffer cannot be pushed to a
   non-linked pad any sooner than buffers in any other stream which were received
   before it.
+
+
+=====================================
+ Parsers, decoders and auto-plugging
+=====================================
+
+This section has DRAFT status.
+
+Some media formats come in different "flavours" or "stream formats". These
+formats differ in the way the setup data and media data is signalled and/or
+packaged. An example for this is H.264 video, where there is a bytestream
+format (with codec setup data signalled inline and units prefixed by a sync
+code and packet length information) and a "raw" format where codec setup
+data is signalled out of band (via the caps) and the chunking is implicit
+in the way the buffers were muxed into a container, to mention just two of
+the possible variants.
+
+Especially on embedded platforms it is common that decoders can only
+handle one particular stream format, and not all of them.
+
+Where there are multiple stream formats, parsers are usually expected
+to be able to convert between the different formats. This will, if
+implemented correctly, work as expected in a static pipeline such as
+
+   ... ! parser ! decoder ! sink
+
+where the parser can query the decoder's capabilities even before
+processing the first piece of data, and configure itself to convert
+accordingly, if conversion is needed at all.
+
+In an auto-plugging context this is not so straight-forward though,
+because elements are plugged incrementally and not before the previous
+element has processes some data and decided what it will output exactly
+(unless the template caps are completely fixed, then it can continue
+right away, this is not always the case here though, see below). A
+parser will thus have to decide on *some* output format so auto-plugging
+can continue. It doesn't know anything about the available decoders and
+their capabilities though, so it's possible that it will choose a format
+that is not supported by any of the available decoders, or by the preferred
+decoder.
+
+If the parser had sufficiently concise but fixed source pad template caps,
+decodebin could continue to plug a decoder right away, allowing the
+parser to configure itself in the same way as it would with a static
+pipeline. This is not an option, unfortunately, because often the
+parser needs to process some data to determine e.g. the format's profile or
+other stream properties (resolution, sample rate, channel configuration, etc.),
+and there may be different decoders for different profiles (e.g. DSP codec
+for baseline profile, and software fallback for main/high profile; or a DSP
+codec only supporting certain resolutions, with a software fallback for
+unusual resolutions). So if decodebin just plugged the most highest-ranking
+decoder, that decoder might not be be able to handle the actual stream later
+on, which would yield in an error (this is a data flow error then which would
+be hard to intercept and avoid in decodebin). In other words, we can't solve
+this issue by plugging a decoder right away with the parser.
+
+So decodebin need to communicate to the parser the set of available decoder
+caps (which would contain the relevant capabilities/restrictions such as
+supported profiles, resolutions, etc.), after the usual "autoplug-*" signal
+filtering/sorting of course.
+
+This could be done in multiple ways, e.g.
+
+  - plug a capsfilter element right after the parser, and construct
+    a set of filter caps from the list of available decoders (one
+    could append at the end just the name(s) of the caps structures
+    from the parser pad template caps to function as an 'ANY other'
+    caps equivalent). This would let the parser negotiate to a
+    supported stream format in the same way as with the static
+    pipeline mentioned above, but of course incur some overhead
+    through the additional capsfilter element.
+
+  - one could add a filter-caps equivalent property to the parsers
+    (and/or GstBaseParse class) (e.g. "prefered-caps" or so).
+
+  - one could add some kind of "fixate-caps" or "fixate-format"
+    signal to such parsers
+
+Alternatively, one could simply make all decoders incorporate parsers, so
+that always all formats are supported. This is problematic for other reasons
+though (e.g. we would not be able to detect the profile in all cases then
+before plugging a decoder, which would make it hard to just play the audio
+part of a stream and not the video if a suitable decoder was missing, for
+example).
diff --git a/ext/pango/Makefile.am b/ext/pango/Makefile.am
index 417173b180..86c86124b3 100644
--- a/ext/pango/Makefile.am
+++ b/ext/pango/Makefile.am
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ libgstpango_la_CFLAGS = \
 	$(GST_CFLAGS) \
 	$(PANGO_CFLAGS)
 libgstpango_la_LIBADD = \
-	$(GST_PLUGINS_BASE_LIBS) \
 	$(top_builddir)/gst-libs/gst/video/libgstvideo-$(GST_MAJORMINOR).la \
 	$(GST_BASE_LIBS) \
 	$(GST_CONTROLLER_LIBS) \
diff --git a/gst-libs/gst/tag/gstid3tag.c b/gst-libs/gst/tag/gstid3tag.c
index 2c3c66147d..1613be7f4a 100644
--- a/gst-libs/gst/tag/gstid3tag.c
+++ b/gst-libs/gst/tag/gstid3tag.c
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ static const GstTagEntryMatch tag_matches[] = {
  *
  * Returns: The corresponding GStreamer tag or NULL if none exists.
  */
-G_CONST_RETURN gchar *
+const gchar *
 gst_tag_from_id3_tag (const gchar * id3_tag)
 {
   int i = 0;
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ static const GstTagEntryMatch user_tag_matches[] = {
  *
  * Returns: The corresponding GStreamer tag or NULL if none exists.
  */
-G_CONST_RETURN gchar *
+const gchar *
 gst_tag_from_id3_user_tag (const gchar * type, const gchar * id3_user_tag)
 {
   int i = 0;
@@ -317,7 +317,7 @@ gst_tag_from_id3_user_tag (const gchar * type, const gchar * id3_user_tag)
  *
  * Returns: The corresponding ID3v2 tag or NULL if none exists.
  */
-G_CONST_RETURN gchar *
+const gchar *
 gst_tag_to_id3_tag (const gchar * gst_tag)
 {
   int i = 0;
@@ -423,7 +423,7 @@ gst_tag_id3_genre_count (void)
  *
  * Returns: the genre or NULL if no genre is associated with that ID.
  */
-G_CONST_RETURN gchar *
+const gchar *
 gst_tag_id3_genre_get (const guint id)
 {
   if (id >= G_N_ELEMENTS (genres))
diff --git a/gst-libs/gst/tag/gstvorbistag.c b/gst-libs/gst/tag/gstvorbistag.c
index 603ffe9e25..d5ec805e95 100644
--- a/gst-libs/gst/tag/gstvorbistag.c
+++ b/gst-libs/gst/tag/gstvorbistag.c
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ static const GstTagEntryMatch tag_matches[] = {
  *
  * Returns: The corresponding GStreamer tag or NULL if none exists.
  */
-G_CONST_RETURN gchar *
+const gchar *
 gst_tag_from_vorbis_tag (const gchar * vorbis_tag)
 {
   int i = 0;
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ gst_tag_from_vorbis_tag (const gchar * vorbis_tag)
  *
  * Returns: The corresponding vorbiscomment tag or NULL if none exists.
  */
-G_CONST_RETURN gchar *
+const gchar *
 gst_tag_to_vorbis_tag (const gchar * gst_tag)
 {
   int i = 0;
diff --git a/gst-libs/gst/tag/gstxmptag.c b/gst-libs/gst/tag/gstxmptag.c
index 55529be38b..606a9cfd8e 100644
--- a/gst-libs/gst/tag/gstxmptag.c
+++ b/gst-libs/gst/tag/gstxmptag.c
@@ -115,7 +115,8 @@ xmp_serialization_data_use_schema (XmpSerializationData * serdata,
 
 typedef enum
 {
-  GstXmpTagTypeSimple = 0,
+  GstXmpTagTypeNone = 0,
+  GstXmpTagTypeSimple,
   GstXmpTagTypeBag,
   GstXmpTagTypeSeq,
   GstXmpTagTypeStruct,
@@ -136,6 +137,13 @@ struct _XmpTag
   const gchar *tag_name;
   GstXmpTagType type;
 
+  /* some tags must be inside a Bag even
+   * if they are a single entry. Set it here so we know */
+  GstXmpTagType supertype;
+
+  /* For tags that need a rdf:parseType attribute */
+  const gchar *parse_type;
+
   /* Used for struct and compound types */
   GSList *children;
 
@@ -157,9 +165,9 @@ xmp_tag_get_merge_mode (XmpTag * xmptag)
 }
 
 static const gchar *
-xmp_tag_get_type_name (XmpTag * xmptag)
+xmp_tag_type_get_name (GstXmpTagType tagtype)
 {
-  switch (xmptag->type) {
+  switch (tagtype) {
     case GstXmpTagTypeSeq:
       return "rdf:Seq";
     case GstXmpTagTypeBag:
@@ -251,6 +259,8 @@ gst_xmp_tag_create (const gchar * gst_tag, const gchar * xmp_tag,
   xmpinfo->gst_tag = gst_tag;
   xmpinfo->tag_name = xmp_tag;
   xmpinfo->type = xmp_type;
+  xmpinfo->supertype = GstXmpTagTypeNone;
+  xmpinfo->parse_type = NULL;
   xmpinfo->serialize = serialization_func;
   xmpinfo->deserialize = deserialization_func;
   xmpinfo->children = NULL;
@@ -1012,6 +1022,8 @@ _init_xmp_tag_map (gpointer user_data)
   schema = gst_xmp_schema_new ();
   xmpinfo = gst_xmp_tag_create (NULL, "Iptc4xmpExt:LocationShown",
       GstXmpTagTypeStruct, NULL, NULL);
+  xmpinfo->supertype = GstXmpTagTypeBag;
+  xmpinfo->parse_type = "Resource";
   xmpinfo->children = g_slist_prepend (xmpinfo->children,
       gst_xmp_tag_create (GST_TAG_GEO_LOCATION_SUBLOCATION,
           "LocationDetails:Sublocation", GstXmpTagTypeSimple, NULL, NULL));
@@ -1041,17 +1053,26 @@ struct _GstXmpNamespaceMatch
 {
   const gchar *ns_prefix;
   const gchar *ns_uri;
+
+  /*
+   * Stores extra namespaces for array tags
+   * The namespaces should be writen in the form:
+   *
+   * xmlns:XpTo="http://some.org/your/ns/name/ (next ones)"
+   */
+  const gchar *extra_ns;
 };
 
 static const GstXmpNamespaceMatch ns_match[] = {
-  {"dc", "http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"},
-  {"exif", "http://ns.adobe.com/exif/1.0/"},
-  {"tiff", "http://ns.adobe.com/tiff/1.0/"},
-  {"xap", "http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/"},
-  {"photoshop", "http://ns.adobe.com/photoshop/1.0/"},
-  {"Iptc4xmpCore", "http://iptc.org/std/Iptc4xmpCore/1.0/xmlns/"},
-  {"Iptc4xmpExt", "http://iptc.org/std/Iptc4xmpExt/2008-02-29/"},
-  {NULL, NULL}
+  {"dc", "http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/", NULL},
+  {"exif", "http://ns.adobe.com/exif/1.0/", NULL},
+  {"tiff", "http://ns.adobe.com/tiff/1.0/", NULL},
+  {"xap", "http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/", NULL},
+  {"photoshop", "http://ns.adobe.com/photoshop/1.0/", NULL},
+  {"Iptc4xmpCore", "http://iptc.org/std/Iptc4xmpCore/1.0/xmlns/", NULL},
+  {"Iptc4xmpExt", "http://iptc.org/std/Iptc4xmpExt/2008-02-29/",
+      "xmlns:LocationDetails=\"http://iptc.org/std/Iptc4xmpExt/2008-02-29/LocationDetails/\""},
+  {NULL, NULL, NULL}
 };
 
 typedef struct _GstXmpNamespaceMap GstXmpNamespaceMap;
@@ -1667,10 +1688,29 @@ write_one_tag (const GstTagList * list, XmpTag * xmp_tag, gpointer user_data)
     if (use_it) {
       if (xmp_tag->tag_name)
         string_open_tag (data, xmp_tag->tag_name);
+
+      if (xmp_tag->supertype) {
+        string_open_tag (data, xmp_tag_type_get_name (xmp_tag->supertype));
+        if (xmp_tag->parse_type) {
+          g_string_append (data, "<rdf:li rdf:parseType=\"");
+          g_string_append (data, xmp_tag->parse_type);
+          g_string_append_c (data, '"');
+          g_string_append_c (data, '>');
+        } else {
+          string_open_tag (data, "rdf:li");
+        }
+      }
+
       /* now write it */
       for (iter = xmp_tag->children; iter; iter = g_slist_next (iter)) {
         write_one_tag (list, iter->data, user_data);
       }
+
+      if (xmp_tag->supertype) {
+        string_close_tag (data, "rdf:li");
+        string_close_tag (data, xmp_tag_type_get_name (xmp_tag->supertype));
+      }
+
       if (xmp_tag->tag_name)
         string_close_tag (data, xmp_tag->tag_name);
     }
@@ -1703,7 +1743,7 @@ write_one_tag (const GstTagList * list, XmpTag * xmp_tag, gpointer user_data)
   } else {
     const gchar *typename;
 
-    typename = xmp_tag_get_type_name (xmp_tag);
+    typename = xmp_tag_type_get_name (xmp_tag->type);
 
     string_open_tag (data, typename);
     for (i = 0; i < ct; i++) {
@@ -1773,9 +1813,13 @@ gst_tag_list_to_xmp_buffer_full (const GstTagList * list, gboolean read_only,
   i = 0;
   while (ns_match[i].ns_prefix) {
     if (xmp_serialization_data_use_schema (&serialization_data,
-            ns_match[i].ns_prefix))
+            ns_match[i].ns_prefix)) {
       g_string_append_printf (data, " xmlns:%s=\"%s\"",
           ns_match[i].ns_prefix, ns_match[i].ns_uri);
+      if (ns_match[i].extra_ns) {
+        g_string_append_printf (data, " %s", ns_match[i].extra_ns);
+      }
+    }
     i++;
   }
   g_string_append (data, ">\n");
diff --git a/gst-libs/gst/tag/tag.h b/gst-libs/gst/tag/tag.h
index fcd977d98b..13e26ae6a1 100644
--- a/gst-libs/gst/tag/tag.h
+++ b/gst-libs/gst/tag/tag.h
@@ -444,8 +444,8 @@ GType   gst_tag_image_type_get_type (void);
 
 /* functions for vorbis comment manipulation */
 
-G_CONST_RETURN gchar *  gst_tag_from_vorbis_tag                 (const gchar *          vorbis_tag);
-G_CONST_RETURN gchar *  gst_tag_to_vorbis_tag                   (const gchar *          gst_tag);
+const gchar *           gst_tag_from_vorbis_tag                 (const gchar *          vorbis_tag);
+const gchar *           gst_tag_to_vorbis_tag                   (const gchar *          gst_tag);
 void                    gst_vorbis_tag_add                      (GstTagList *           list, 
                                                                  const gchar *          tag, 
                                                                  const gchar *          value);
@@ -471,13 +471,13 @@ GstBuffer *             gst_tag_list_to_vorbiscomment_buffer    (const GstTagLis
 /* functions for ID3 tag manipulation */
 
 guint                   gst_tag_id3_genre_count                 (void);
-G_CONST_RETURN gchar *  gst_tag_id3_genre_get                   (const guint            id);
+const gchar *           gst_tag_id3_genre_get                   (const guint            id);
 GstTagList *            gst_tag_list_new_from_id3v1             (const guint8 *         data);
 
-G_CONST_RETURN gchar *  gst_tag_from_id3_tag                    (const gchar *          id3_tag);
-G_CONST_RETURN gchar *  gst_tag_from_id3_user_tag               (const gchar *          type,
+const gchar *           gst_tag_from_id3_tag                    (const gchar *          id3_tag);
+const gchar *           gst_tag_from_id3_user_tag               (const gchar *          type,
                                                                  const gchar *          id3_user_tag);
-G_CONST_RETURN gchar *  gst_tag_to_id3_tag                      (const gchar *          gst_tag);
+const gchar *           gst_tag_to_id3_tag                      (const gchar *          gst_tag);
 
 gboolean                gst_tag_list_add_id3_image (GstTagList   * tag_list,
                                                     const guint8 * image_data,
diff --git a/gst/audioresample/Makefile.am b/gst/audioresample/Makefile.am
index 3464a8270d..f2be5c702a 100644
--- a/gst/audioresample/Makefile.am
+++ b/gst/audioresample/Makefile.am
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ libgstaudioresample_la_CFLAGS = \
 	$(ORC_CFLAGS)
 
 libgstaudioresample_la_LIBADD = \
-	$(GST_PLUGINS_BASE_LIBS) \
 	$(GST_BASE_LIBS) \
 	$(GST_LIBS) \
 	$(ORC_LIBS) $(ORC_TEST_LIBS) \
diff --git a/tests/check/Makefile.am b/tests/check/Makefile.am
index 6fc9351065..cae871467c 100644
--- a/tests/check/Makefile.am
+++ b/tests/check/Makefile.am
@@ -409,7 +409,6 @@ elements_textoverlay_CFLAGS = $(GST_BASE_CFLAGS) $(AM_CFLAGS)
 
 elements_volume_LDADD = \
 	$(top_builddir)/gst-libs/gst/interfaces/libgstinterfaces-@GST_MAJORMINOR@.la \
-	$(GST_PLUGINS_BASE_LIBS) \
 	$(GST_CONTROLLER_LIBS) \
 	$(GST_BASE_LIBS) \
 	$(LDADD)
diff --git a/tests/examples/audio/Makefile.am b/tests/examples/audio/Makefile.am
index d6a975d3f8..49d7266720 100644
--- a/tests/examples/audio/Makefile.am
+++ b/tests/examples/audio/Makefile.am
@@ -2,6 +2,5 @@
 noinst_PROGRAMS = testchannels
 testchannels_SOURCES = testchannels.c
 testchannels_CFLAGS = $(GST_PLUGINS_BASE_CFLAGS) $(GST_CFLAGS)
-testchannels_LDADD = $(top_builddir)/gst-libs/gst/audio/libgstaudio-@GST_MAJORMINOR@.la \
-	$(GST_PLUGINS_BASE_LIBS) $(GST_LIBS)
-
+testchannels_LDADD = $(top_builddir)/gst-libs/gst/audio/libgstaudio-$(GST_MAJORMINOR).la \
+                     $(GST_LIBS)