diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index fca9ff6001..6a0fb7d0fa 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,14 @@
+2007-10-13  Tim-Philipp Müller  <tim at centricular dot net>
+
+	* gst/gstelementfactory.c:
+	* gst/gstpluginfeature.c:
+	* gst/gstpluginfeature.h:
+	* gst/gstregistrybinary.c:
+	* gst/gstregistryxml.c:
+	* gst/gsttypefind.c:
+	  Use already-interned string for the private GstPluginFeature
+	  plugin_name field.
+
 2007-10-10  Tim-Philipp Müller  <tim at centricular dot net>
 
 	* docs/libs/gstreamer-libs-sections.txt:
diff --git a/gst/gstelementfactory.c b/gst/gstelementfactory.c
index 4492cfb62d..cc6367ef30 100644
--- a/gst/gstelementfactory.c
+++ b/gst/gstelementfactory.c
@@ -326,9 +326,9 @@ gst_element_register (GstPlugin * plugin, const gchar * name, guint rank,
   g_free (interfaces);
 
   if (plugin && plugin->desc.name) {
-    GST_PLUGIN_FEATURE (factory)->plugin_name = g_strdup (plugin->desc.name);
+    GST_PLUGIN_FEATURE (factory)->plugin_name = plugin->desc.name;
   } else {
-    GST_PLUGIN_FEATURE (factory)->plugin_name = g_strdup ("NULL");
+    GST_PLUGIN_FEATURE (factory)->plugin_name = "NULL";
   }
   gst_plugin_feature_set_rank (GST_PLUGIN_FEATURE (factory), rank);
   GST_PLUGIN_FEATURE (factory)->loaded = TRUE;
diff --git a/gst/gstpluginfeature.c b/gst/gstpluginfeature.c
index 4430874936..1aae359afb 100644
--- a/gst/gstpluginfeature.c
+++ b/gst/gstpluginfeature.c
@@ -69,7 +69,6 @@ gst_plugin_feature_finalize (GObject * object)
   GST_DEBUG ("finalizing feature %p: '%s'", feature,
       GST_PLUGIN_FEATURE_NAME (feature));
   g_free (feature->name);
-  g_free (feature->plugin_name);
 
   G_OBJECT_CLASS (parent_class)->finalize (object);
 }
diff --git a/gst/gstpluginfeature.h b/gst/gstpluginfeature.h
index 3319947882..323cbb576c 100644
--- a/gst/gstpluginfeature.h
+++ b/gst/gstpluginfeature.h
@@ -76,14 +76,14 @@ typedef enum {
  * Opaque #GstPluginFeature structure.
  */
 struct _GstPluginFeature {
-  GstObject 	 object;
+  GstObject      object;
 
   /*< private >*/
   gboolean       loaded;
-  gchar 	*name;
-  guint   	 rank;
+  gchar         *name;
+  guint          rank;
 
-  gchar *plugin_name;
+  const gchar   *plugin_name;
 
   /*< private >*/
   gpointer _gst_reserved[GST_PADDING];
diff --git a/gst/gstregistrybinary.c b/gst/gstregistrybinary.c
index ad59971738..76396a7b79 100644
--- a/gst/gstregistrybinary.c
+++ b/gst/gstregistrybinary.c
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /* GStreamer
  * Copyright (C) 2006 Josep Torra <josep@fluendo.com>
  *               2006 Mathieu Garcia <matthieu@fluendo.com>
- *		         2006,2007 Stefan Kost <ensonic@users.sf.net>
+ *               2006,2007 Stefan Kost <ensonic@users.sf.net>
  *
  * gstregistrybinary.c: GstRegistryBinary object, support routines
  *
@@ -649,7 +649,7 @@ gst_registry_binary_load_pad_template (GstElementFactory * factory, gchar ** in)
  */
 static gboolean
 gst_registry_binary_load_feature (GstRegistry * registry, gchar ** in,
-    gchar * plugin_name)
+    const gchar * plugin_name)
 {
   GstBinaryPluginFeature *pf = NULL;
   GstPluginFeature *feature;
@@ -768,7 +768,9 @@ gst_registry_binary_load_feature (GstRegistry * registry, gchar ** in,
 #endif
 
   feature->rank = pf->rank;
-  feature->plugin_name = plugin_name;
+
+  /* should already be the interned string, but better make sure */
+  feature->plugin_name = g_intern_string (plugin_name);
 
   gst_registry_add_feature (registry, feature);
   GST_DEBUG ("Added feature %s", feature->name);
@@ -838,8 +840,7 @@ gst_registry_binary_load_plugin (GstRegistry * registry, gchar ** in)
   GST_INFO ("Added plugin '%s' plugin with %d features from binary registry",
       plugin->desc.name, pe->nfeatures);
   for (i = 0; i < pe->nfeatures; i++) {
-    if (!gst_registry_binary_load_feature (registry, in,
-            g_strdup (plugin->desc.name))) {
+    if (!gst_registry_binary_load_feature (registry, in, plugin->desc.name)) {
       GST_ERROR ("Error while loading binary feature");
       goto fail;
     }
diff --git a/gst/gstregistryxml.c b/gst/gstregistryxml.c
index 75a1e6e1c7..1c0f5924ae 100644
--- a/gst/gstregistryxml.c
+++ b/gst/gstregistryxml.c
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@ load_plugin (xmlTextReaderPtr reader, GList ** feature_list)
         GstPluginFeature *feature = load_feature (reader);
 
         if (feature) {
-          feature->plugin_name = g_strdup (plugin->desc.name);
+          feature->plugin_name = plugin->desc.name;     /* interned string */
           *feature_list = g_list_prepend (*feature_list, feature);
         }
       } else {
diff --git a/gst/gsttypefind.c b/gst/gsttypefind.c
index eb3df534e5..b268365d0d 100644
--- a/gst/gsttypefind.c
+++ b/gst/gsttypefind.c
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ gst_type_find_register (GstPlugin * plugin, const gchar * name, guint rank,
   factory->function = func;
   factory->user_data = data;
   factory->user_data_notify = data_notify;
-  GST_PLUGIN_FEATURE (factory)->plugin_name = g_strdup (plugin->desc.name);
+  GST_PLUGIN_FEATURE (factory)->plugin_name = plugin->desc.name;        /* interned string */
   GST_PLUGIN_FEATURE (factory)->loaded = TRUE;
 
   gst_registry_add_feature (gst_registry_get_default (),