diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index f977f8b963..9dcdf81713 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,15 @@
+2006-05-10  Thomas Vander Stichele  <thomas at apestaart dot org>
+
+	* gst/gstevent.c: (_gst_event_initialize):
+	* gst/gstformat.c: (_gst_format_initialize):
+	  make sure some essential types used by events are registered
+	  as part of gst_init()
+	* gst/gstvalue.c: (gst_value_serialize_flags):
+	  if no flags are set, serialize them to a value that represents NONE
+	  so that deserializing them works
+	* tests/check/gst/gstvalue.c: (GST_START_TEST), (gst_value_suite):
+	  add tests for serialization and deserialization of flags
+
 2006-05-10  Wim Taymans  <wim@fluendo.com>
 
 	* libs/gst/base/gstcollectpads.c: (gst_collect_pads_collect),
diff --git a/gst/gstevent.c b/gst/gstevent.c
index c9ffbe91fd..ab7f6b8066 100644
--- a/gst/gstevent.c
+++ b/gst/gstevent.c
@@ -93,6 +93,8 @@ void
 _gst_event_initialize (void)
 {
   gst_event_get_type ();
+  gst_seek_flags_get_type ();
+  gst_seek_type_get_type ();
 }
 
 typedef struct
diff --git a/gst/gstformat.c b/gst/gstformat.c
index 3ae8f3eb26..3e00061c72 100644
--- a/gst/gstformat.c
+++ b/gst/gstformat.c
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 #include "gst_private.h"
 #include <string.h>
 #include "gstformat.h"
+#include "gstenumtypes.h"
 
 static GStaticMutex mutex = G_STATIC_MUTEX_INIT;
 static GList *_gst_formats = NULL;
@@ -72,6 +73,8 @@ _gst_format_initialize (void)
     standards++;
     _n_values++;
   }
+  /* getting the type registers the enum */
+  gst_format_get_type ();
   g_static_mutex_unlock (&mutex);
 }
 
diff --git a/gst/gstvalue.c b/gst/gstvalue.c
index 8d7e4b3301..deb9a32dae 100644
--- a/gst/gstvalue.c
+++ b/gst/gstvalue.c
@@ -1921,6 +1921,14 @@ gst_value_serialize_flags (const GValue * value)
 
   result = g_strdup ("");
   flags = g_value_get_flags (value);
+
+  /* if no flags are set, try to serialize to the _NONE string */
+  if (!flags) {
+    fl = gst_flags_get_first_value (klass, flags);
+    return g_strdup (fl->value_name);
+  }
+
+  /* some flags are set, so serialize one by one */
   while (flags) {
     fl = gst_flags_get_first_value (klass, flags);
     if (fl != NULL) {
diff --git a/tests/check/gst/gstvalue.c b/tests/check/gst/gstvalue.c
index 6b4ddf1ba0..066abd790b 100644
--- a/tests/check/gst/gstvalue.c
+++ b/tests/check/gst/gstvalue.c
@@ -319,6 +319,69 @@ GST_START_TEST (test_deserialize_guint_failures)
 
 GST_END_TEST;
 
+GST_START_TEST (test_serialize_flags)
+{
+  GValue value = { 0 };
+  gchar *string;
+  GstSeekFlags flags[] = {
+    0,
+    GST_SEEK_FLAG_NONE,
+    GST_SEEK_FLAG_FLUSH,
+    GST_SEEK_FLAG_FLUSH | GST_SEEK_FLAG_ACCURATE,
+  };
+  const char *results[] = {
+    "GST_SEEK_FLAG_NONE",
+    "GST_SEEK_FLAG_NONE",
+    "GST_SEEK_FLAG_FLUSH",
+    "GST_SEEK_FLAG_FLUSH+GST_SEEK_FLAG_ACCURATE",
+  };
+  int i;
+
+  g_value_init (&value, GST_TYPE_SEEK_FLAGS);
+
+  for (i = 0; i < G_N_ELEMENTS (flags); ++i) {
+    g_value_set_flags (&value, flags[i]);
+    string = gst_value_serialize (&value);
+    fail_if (string == NULL, "could not serialize flags %d", i);
+    fail_unless (strcmp (string, results[i]) == 0,
+        "resulting value is %s, not %s, for flags #%d", string, results[i], i);
+  }
+}
+
+GST_END_TEST;
+
+
+GST_START_TEST (test_deserialize_flags)
+{
+  GValue value = { 0 };
+  const char *strings[] = {
+    "",
+    "0",
+    "GST_SEEK_FLAG_NONE",
+    "GST_SEEK_FLAG_FLUSH",
+    "GST_SEEK_FLAG_FLUSH+GST_SEEK_FLAG_ACCURATE",
+  };
+  GstSeekFlags results[] = {
+    GST_SEEK_FLAG_NONE,
+    GST_SEEK_FLAG_NONE,
+    GST_SEEK_FLAG_NONE,
+    GST_SEEK_FLAG_FLUSH,
+    GST_SEEK_FLAG_FLUSH | GST_SEEK_FLAG_ACCURATE,
+  };
+  int i;
+
+  g_value_init (&value, GST_TYPE_SEEK_FLAGS);
+
+  for (i = 0; i < G_N_ELEMENTS (strings); ++i) {
+    fail_unless (gst_value_deserialize (&value, strings[i]),
+        "could not deserialize %s (%d)", strings[i], i);
+    fail_unless (g_value_get_flags (&value) == results[i],
+        "resulting value is %d, not %d, for string %s (%d)",
+        g_value_get_flags (&value), results[i], strings[i], i);
+  }
+}
+
+GST_END_TEST;
 
 GST_START_TEST (test_string)
 {
@@ -1431,6 +1494,8 @@ gst_value_suite (void)
   tcase_add_test (tc_chain, test_deserialize_guint_failures);
   tcase_add_test (tc_chain, test_deserialize_gint64);
   tcase_add_test (tc_chain, test_deserialize_gstfraction);
+  tcase_add_test (tc_chain, test_serialize_flags);
+  tcase_add_test (tc_chain, test_deserialize_flags);
   tcase_add_test (tc_chain, test_string);
   tcase_add_test (tc_chain, test_deserialize_string);
   tcase_add_test (tc_chain, test_value_compare);