diff --git a/src/librustc/back/link.rs b/src/librustc/back/link.rs
index 9fd3894d7948..f6846acaa991 100644
--- a/src/librustc/back/link.rs
+++ b/src/librustc/back/link.rs
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ pub fn llvm_err(sess: &Session, msg: ~str) -> ! {
         if cstr == ptr::null() {
             sess.fatal(msg);
         } else {
-            let err = CString::new(cstr, false);
+            let err = CString::new(cstr, true);
             let err = str::from_utf8_lossy(err.as_bytes());
             sess.fatal(msg + ": " + err.as_slice());
         }
diff --git a/src/rustllvm/PassWrapper.cpp b/src/rustllvm/PassWrapper.cpp
index 32bac73debfb..021dda497655 100644
--- a/src/rustllvm/PassWrapper.cpp
+++ b/src/rustllvm/PassWrapper.cpp
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ LLVMRustCreateTargetMachine(const char *triple,
     const llvm::Target *TheTarget = TargetRegistry::lookupTarget(Trip.getTriple(),
                                                                  Error);
     if (TheTarget == NULL) {
-        LLVMRustError = Error.c_str();
+        LLVMRustSetLastError(Error.c_str());
         return NULL;
     }
 
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ LLVMRustWriteOutputFile(LLVMTargetMachineRef Target,
   raw_fd_ostream OS(path, ErrorInfo, raw_fd_ostream::F_Binary);
 #endif
   if (ErrorInfo != "") {
-    LLVMRustError = ErrorInfo.c_str();
+    LLVMRustSetLastError(ErrorInfo.c_str());
     return false;
   }
   formatted_raw_ostream FOS(OS);
diff --git a/src/rustllvm/RustWrapper.cpp b/src/rustllvm/RustWrapper.cpp
index 3fe1b1380da0..ec33b750358b 100644
--- a/src/rustllvm/RustWrapper.cpp
+++ b/src/rustllvm/RustWrapper.cpp
@@ -23,18 +23,28 @@ using namespace llvm;
 using namespace llvm::sys;
 using namespace llvm::object;
 
-const char *LLVMRustError;
+static char *LastError;
 
 extern "C" LLVMMemoryBufferRef
 LLVMRustCreateMemoryBufferWithContentsOfFile(const char *Path) {
   LLVMMemoryBufferRef MemBuf = NULL;
-  LLVMCreateMemoryBufferWithContentsOfFile(Path, &MemBuf,
-    const_cast<char **>(&LLVMRustError));
+  char *err = NULL;
+  LLVMCreateMemoryBufferWithContentsOfFile(Path, &MemBuf, &err);
+  if (err != NULL) {
+    LLVMRustSetLastError(err);
+  }
   return MemBuf;
 }
 
-extern "C" const char *LLVMRustGetLastError(void) {
-  return LLVMRustError;
+extern "C" char *LLVMRustGetLastError(void) {
+  char *ret = LastError;
+  LastError = NULL;
+  return ret;
+}
+
+void LLVMRustSetLastError(const char *err) {
+  free((void*) LastError);
+  LastError = strdup(err);
 }
 
 extern "C" void
@@ -609,14 +619,14 @@ LLVMRustLinkInExternalBitcode(LLVMModuleRef dst, char *bc, size_t len) {
     MemoryBuffer* buf = MemoryBuffer::getMemBufferCopy(StringRef(bc, len));
     ErrorOr<Module *> Src = llvm::getLazyBitcodeModule(buf, Dst->getContext());
     if (!Src) {
-        LLVMRustError = Src.getError().message().c_str();
+        LLVMRustSetLastError(Src.getError().message().c_str());
         delete buf;
         return false;
     }
 
     std::string Err;
     if (Linker::LinkModules(Dst, *Src, Linker::DestroySource, &Err)) {
-        LLVMRustError = Err.c_str();
+        LLVMRustSetLastError(Err.c_str());
         return false;
     }
     return true;
@@ -629,13 +639,13 @@ LLVMRustLinkInExternalBitcode(LLVMModuleRef dst, char *bc, size_t len) {
     std::string Err;
     Module *Src = llvm::getLazyBitcodeModule(buf, Dst->getContext(), &Err);
     if (!Src) {
-        LLVMRustError = Err.c_str();
+        LLVMRustSetLastError(Err.c_str());
         delete buf;
         return false;
     }
 
     if (Linker::LinkModules(Dst, Src, Linker::DestroySource, &Err)) {
-        LLVMRustError = Err.c_str();
+        LLVMRustSetLastError(Err.c_str());
         return false;
     }
     return true;
@@ -648,12 +658,12 @@ LLVMRustOpenArchive(char *path) {
     std::unique_ptr<MemoryBuffer> buf;
     error_code err = MemoryBuffer::getFile(path, buf);
     if (err) {
-        LLVMRustError = err.message().c_str();
+        LLVMRustSetLastError(err.message().c_str());
         return NULL;
     }
     Archive *ret = new Archive(buf.release(), err);
     if (err) {
-        LLVMRustError = err.message().c_str();
+        LLVMRustSetLastError(err.message().c_str());
         return NULL;
     }
     return ret;
@@ -664,12 +674,12 @@ LLVMRustOpenArchive(char *path) {
     OwningPtr<MemoryBuffer> buf;
     error_code err = MemoryBuffer::getFile(path, buf);
     if (err) {
-        LLVMRustError = err.message().c_str();
+        LLVMRustSetLastError(err.message().c_str());
         return NULL;
     }
     Archive *ret = new Archive(buf.take(), err);
     if (err) {
-        LLVMRustError = err.message().c_str();
+        LLVMRustSetLastError(err.message().c_str());
         return NULL;
     }
     return ret;
diff --git a/src/rustllvm/rustllvm.h b/src/rustllvm/rustllvm.h
index 42c60e72baba..5722eea48d7d 100644
--- a/src/rustllvm/rustllvm.h
+++ b/src/rustllvm/rustllvm.h
@@ -68,4 +68,4 @@
 #include <unistd.h>
 #endif
 
-extern const char* LLVMRustError;
+void LLVMRustSetLastError(const char*);