diff --git a/gst/Makefile.am b/gst/Makefile.am
index 2e701e09b0..6271bb0b58 100644
--- a/gst/Makefile.am
+++ b/gst/Makefile.am
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
+# This Makefile.am is a much neater Makefile.am for this directory, but
+# depends on automake 1.4d or later.
+
 # cheap trick to build . first...
 SUBDIRS = . types elements autoplug
 
 lib_LTLIBRARIES = libgst.la
+noinst_LTLIBRARIES = libcothreads.la
 
 if HAVE_CPU_I386
 GSTARCH_SRCS = gstcpuid_i386.s
@@ -9,11 +13,15 @@ else
 GSTARCH_SRCS = 
 endif
 
-EXTRA_libgst_la_SOURCES =	\
-	gstcpuid_i386.s
+EXTRA_libgst_la_SOURCES = gstcpuid_i386.s
 
+
+libcothreads_la_CFLAGS = $(CFLAGS) $(LIBGST_CFLAGS) -O2 -D_GNU_SOURCE
+libgst_la_CFLAGS = $(CFLAGS) $(LIBGST_CFLAGS) -D_GNU_SOURCE
+CFLAGS =
+
+libcothreads_la_SOURCES = cothreads.c
 libgst_la_SOURCES =		\
-	cothreads.c		\
 	gst.c			\
 	gstautoplug.c		\
 	gstbin.c		\
@@ -43,50 +51,6 @@ libgst_la_SOURCES =		\
 	gstparse.c		\
 	$(GSTARCH_SRCS)
 
-
-##### Oh this sucks so badly.  This isn't funny. #####
-
-# the compiler shoots cothreads.c in the head at -O6
-# FIXME: these manual rules break the dependency generation, so we have a
-# nasty hack here.  
-#LTCOMPILE2=$(LTCOMPILE) -O2
-#COMPILE2=$(COMPILE) -O2
-
-# FIXME this only lists the x86 arch file, we really should merge them all
-cothreads.lo: $(srcdir)/cothreads.c $(srcdir)/cothreads.h $(srcdir)/gst_private.h \
-  $(top_builddir)/config.h $(srcdir)/gstinfo.c $(srcdir)/gstarch.h $(srcdir)/gsti386.h
-	$(LIBTOOL) --mode=compile $(COMPILE) -O2 -c $<
-cothreads.o: $(srcdir)/cothreads.c $(srcdir)/cothreads.h $(srcdir)/gst_private.h \
-  $(top_builddir)/config.h $(srcdir)/gstinfo.c $(srcdir)/gstarch.h $(srcdir)/gsti386.h
-	$(COMPILE) -O2 -c $<
-
-# NOTDEPEND.cothreads.lo: cothreads.c
-# NOTDEPEND	$(LTCOMPILE2) -c $<
-# NOTDEPEND.cothreads.o: cothreads.c
-# NOTDEPEND	$(COMPILE2) -c $<
-
-#cothreads.lo: cothreads.c
-#	@echo '$(LTCOMPILE2) -c $<'; \
-#	$(LTCOMPILE2) -Wp,-MD,.deps/$(*F).pp -c $<
-#	@-sed -e 's/^\([^:]*\)\.o[      ]*:/\1.lo \1.o :/' \
-#	  < .deps/$(*F).pp > .deps/$(*F).P; \
-#	tr ' ' '\012' < .deps/$(*F).pp \
-#	  | sed -e 's/^\\$$//' -e '/^$$/ d' -e '/:$$/ d' -e 's/$$/ :/' \
-#	    >> .deps/$(*F).P; \
-#	rm -f .deps/$(*F).pp
-#cothreads.o: cothreads.c
-#	@echo '$(COMPILE2) -c $<'; \
-#	$(COMPILE2) -Wp,-MD,.deps/$(*F).pp -c $<
-#	@-sed -e 's/^\([^:]*\)\.o[      ]*:/\1.lo \1.o :/' \
-#	  < .deps/$(*F).pp > .deps/$(*F).P; \
-#	tr ' ' '\012' < .deps/$(*F).pp \
-#	  | sed -e 's/^\\$$//' -e '/^$$/ d' -e '/:$$/ d' -e 's/$$/ :/' \
-#	    >> .deps/$(*F).P; \
-#	rm -f .deps/$(*F).pp
-
-##### end immense suckage #####
-
-
 libgstincludedir = $(includedir)/gst
 libgstinclude_HEADERS =		\
 	cothreads.h		\
@@ -130,8 +94,7 @@ noinst_HEADERS = 	\
 	gstsparc.h	\
 	gstpropsprivate.h
 
-CFLAGS = $(LIBGST_CFLAGS) -D_GNU_SOURCE
-LIBS = $(LIBGST_LIBS)
-libgst_la_LDFLAGS = -version-info $(GST_LIBVERSION)
+libgst_la_LDFLAGS = -version-info $(GST_LIBVERSION) $(LIBGST_LIBS)
+libgst_la_LIBADD = libcothreads.la
 
 EXTRA_DIST = ROADMAP
diff --git a/gst/gstelementfactory.c b/gst/gstelementfactory.c
index 9c4bc42e7b..56121fa051 100644
--- a/gst/gstelementfactory.c
+++ b/gst/gstelementfactory.c
@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@ gst_elementfactory_create (GstElementFactory *factory,
   g_return_val_if_fail(factory != NULL, NULL);
   g_return_val_if_fail(factory->type != 0, NULL);
 
+  GST_DEBUG (GST_CAT_ELEMENTFACTORY,"factory->type is \"%d\"\n", factory->type);
   // create an instance of the element
   element = GST_ELEMENT(gtk_type_new(factory->type));
   g_assert(element != NULL);
diff --git a/gst/gstplugin.c b/gst/gstplugin.c
index f74d2ce17c..fb188b3adf 100644
--- a/gst/gstplugin.c
+++ b/gst/gstplugin.c
@@ -849,7 +849,7 @@ gst_plugin_save_thyself (xmlNodePtr parent)
   xmlNodePtr tree, subtree;
   GList *plugins = NULL, *elements = NULL, *types = NULL, *autopluggers = NULL;
 
-  plugins = gst_plugin_get_list ();
+  plugins = g_list_copy (_gst_plugins);
   while (plugins) {
     GstPlugin *plugin = (GstPlugin *)plugins->data;
 
@@ -887,6 +887,7 @@ gst_plugin_save_thyself (xmlNodePtr parent)
     }
     plugins = g_list_next (plugins);
   }
+  g_list_free (plugins);
   return parent;
 }