diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 3309935d..e0f581c9 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@
 - added vips_foreign_load_buffer(), vips_foreign_save_buffer()
 - added vips_object_set_from_string()
 - added @container option to dzsave 
+- support 1/2/4 bit palette tiff images with alpha
+- vips_system() now uses g_spawn_command_line_sync()
 
 6/3/14 started 7.38.6
 - grey ramp minimum was wrong
diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index e5311d90..c0790304 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -18,12 +18,7 @@
   vips_foreign_load_new_from_foreign_sub(), but it splits on ':' ... argh!
 
   deprecate this thing and stop ':' split
-
-
   
-
-- support 1/2/4 bit palette tiff with alpha
-
 - can we use postbuild elsewhere? look at use of "preclose" / "written", etc. 
 
 
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/tiff2vips.c b/libvips/foreign/tiff2vips.c
index 19ec69e0..adb09bdd 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/tiff2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/tiff2vips.c
@@ -146,6 +146,8 @@
  * 	- palette images can have an alpha
  * 22/4/14
  * 	- add read from buffer
+ * 30/4/14
+ * 	- 1/2/4 bit palette images can have alpha
  */
 
 /*
@@ -707,12 +709,13 @@ typedef struct {
 	gboolean mono;
 } PaletteRead;
 
-/* Per-scanline process function for palette images.
+/* 1/2/4 bit samples with an 8-bit palette.
  */
 static void
 palette_line_bit( ReadTiff *rtiff, VipsPel *q, VipsPel *p, int n, void *client )
 {
 	PaletteRead *read = (PaletteRead *) client;
+	int samples = rtiff->samples_per_pixel;
 
 	int bit;
 	VipsPel data;
@@ -720,7 +723,7 @@ palette_line_bit( ReadTiff *rtiff, VipsPel *q, VipsPel *p, int n, void *client )
 
 	bit = 0;
 	data = 0;
-	for( x = 0; x < n; x++ ) {
+	for( x = 0; x < n * samples; x++ ) {
 		int i;
 
 		if( bit <= 0 ) {
@@ -732,20 +735,25 @@ palette_line_bit( ReadTiff *rtiff, VipsPel *q, VipsPel *p, int n, void *client )
 		data <<= rtiff->bits_per_sample;
 		bit -= rtiff->bits_per_sample;
 
-		if( read->mono ) {
-			q[0] = read->red8[i];
-			q += 1;
-		}
-		else {
-			q[0] = read->red8[i];
-			q[1] = read->green8[i];
-			q[2] = read->blue8[i];
-			q += 3;
+		/* The first band goes through the LUT, subsequent bands are
+		 * left-justified and copied.
+		 */
+		if( x % samples == 0 ) { 
+			if( read->mono ) 
+				*q++ = read->red8[i];
+			else {
+				q[0] = read->red8[i];
+				q[1] = read->green8[i];
+				q[2] = read->blue8[i];
+				q += 3;
+			}
 		}
+		else 
+			*q++ = i << (8 - rtiff->bits_per_sample);
 	}
 }
 
-/* The tiff is 8-bit and can have an alpha. 
+/* 8-bit samples with an 8-bit palette.
  */
 static void
 palette_line8( ReadTiff *rtiff, VipsPel *q, VipsPel *p, int n, 
@@ -777,7 +785,7 @@ palette_line8( ReadTiff *rtiff, VipsPel *q, VipsPel *p, int n,
 	}
 }
 
-/* 16-bit tiff and can have an alpha. 
+/* 16-bit samples with 16-bit data in the palette. 
  */
 static void
 palette_line16( ReadTiff *rtiff, VipsPel *q, VipsPel *p, int n, 
@@ -827,13 +835,6 @@ parse_palette( ReadTiff *rtiff, VipsImage *out )
 		return( -1 ); 
 	len = 1 << rtiff->bits_per_sample;
 
-	if( rtiff->bits_per_sample < 8 &&
-		rtiff->samples_per_pixel > 1 ) { 
-		vips_error( "tiff2vips", "%s", _( "can't have an alpha for "
-			"palette images less than 8 bits per sample" ) );
-		return( -1 );
-	}
-
 	if( !(read = VIPS_NEW( out, PaletteRead )) ||
 		!(read->red8 = VIPS_ARRAY( out, len, VipsPel )) ||
 		!(read->green8 = VIPS_ARRAY( out, len, VipsPel )) ||
diff --git a/libvips/include/vips/util.h b/libvips/include/vips/util.h
index 4bd3f069..dc559de4 100644
--- a/libvips/include/vips/util.h
+++ b/libvips/include/vips/util.h
@@ -186,6 +186,8 @@ gboolean vips_ispostfix( const char *a, const char *b );
 gboolean vips_isprefix( const char *a, const char *b );
 char *vips_break_token( char *str, const char *brk );
 
+void vips__chomp( char *str );
+
 int vips_vsnprintf( char *str, size_t size, const char *format, va_list ap );
 int vips_snprintf( char *str, size_t size, const char *format, ... )
 	__attribute__((format(printf, 3, 4)));
diff --git a/libvips/iofuncs/system.c b/libvips/iofuncs/system.c
index 1082ec1c..15b34ff6 100644
--- a/libvips/iofuncs/system.c
+++ b/libvips/iofuncs/system.c
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@
  * 4/6/13
  * 	- redo as a class
  * 	- input and output images are now optional
+ * 3/5/14
+ * 	- switch to g_spawn_command_line_sync() from popen() ... helps stop
+ * 	  stray command-windows on Windows
  */
 
 /*
@@ -120,7 +123,10 @@ vips_system_build( VipsObject *object )
 	char txt[VIPS_PATH_MAX];
 	VipsBuf buf = VIPS_BUF_STATIC( txt );
 	char *p;
+	char *std_output;
+	char *std_error;
 	int result;
+	GError *error = NULL;
 
 	if( VIPS_OBJECT_CLASS( vips_system_parent_class )->build( object ) )
 		return( -1 );
@@ -169,26 +175,53 @@ vips_system_build( VipsObject *object )
 	 * compatibility with older printf-based vips_system()s which
 	 * needed a double %%.
 	 */
-	for( p = cmd; *p; p++ ) 
-		if( p[0] == '%' && 
+	for( p = cmd; *p; p++ )
+		if( p[0] == '%' &&
 			p[1] == '%' )
-			memmove( p, p + 1, strlen( p ) ); 
+			memmove( p, p + 1, strlen( p ) );
 
-	if( !(fp = vips_popenf( "%s", "r", cmd )) )
-		return( -1 );
+	if( !g_spawn_command_line_sync( cmd, 
+		&std_output, &std_error, &result, &error ) ) {
+		if( error ) {
+			vips_error( class->nickname, "%s", error->message );
+			g_error_free( error );
+		}
+		if( std_error ) {
+			vips__chomp( std_error ); 
+			if( strcmp( std_error, "" ) != 0 )
+				vips_error( class->nickname, 
+					"error output: %s", std_error );
+			VIPS_FREE( std_error );
+		}
+		if( std_output ) {
+			vips__chomp( std_output ); 
+			if( strcmp( std_output, "" ) != 0 )
+				vips_error( class->nickname, 
+					"output: %s", std_output );
+			VIPS_FREE( std_output );
+		}
+		vips_error_system( result, class->nickname, 
+			"%s", _( "command failed" ) ); 
 
-	while( fgets( line, VIPS_PATH_MAX, fp ) ) 
-		if( !vips_buf_appends( &buf, line ) )
-			break; 
-
-	g_object_set( system, "log", vips_buf_all( &buf ), NULL ); 
-
-	if( (result = pclose( fp )) ) {
-		vips_error( class->nickname, 
-			_( "command failed: \"%s\"" ), system->cmd_format );
 		return( -1 ); 
 	}
 
+	g_assert( !result ); 
+
+	if( std_error ) {
+		vips__chomp( std_error ); 
+		if( strcmp( std_error, "" ) != 0 )
+			vips_warn( class->nickname, 
+				_( "stderr output: %s" ), std_error ); 
+	}
+	if( std_output ) {
+		vips__chomp( std_output ); 
+		g_object_set( system, "log", std_output, NULL ); 
+	}
+
+	VIPS_FREE( std_output );
+	VIPS_FREE( std_error );
+
 	if( system->out_name ) {
 		VipsImage *out; 
 
@@ -206,6 +239,7 @@ vips_system_class_init( VipsSystemClass *class )
 {
 	GObjectClass *gobject_class = G_OBJECT_CLASS( class );
 	VipsObjectClass *vobject_class = VIPS_OBJECT_CLASS( class );
+	VipsOperationClass *operation_class = VIPS_OPERATION_CLASS( class );
 
 	gobject_class->dispose = vips_system_dispose;
 	gobject_class->set_property = vips_object_set_property;
@@ -215,6 +249,10 @@ vips_system_class_init( VipsSystemClass *class )
 	vobject_class->description = _( "run an external command" );
 	vobject_class->build = vips_system_build;
 
+	/* Commands can have side-effects, so don't cache them. 
+	 */
+	operation_class->flags = VIPS_OPERATION_NOCACHE;
+
 	VIPS_ARG_BOXED( class, "in", 0, 
 		_( "Input" ), 
 		_( "Array of input images" ),
diff --git a/libvips/iofuncs/util.c b/libvips/iofuncs/util.c
index c8840010..5a408152 100644
--- a/libvips/iofuncs/util.c
+++ b/libvips/iofuncs/util.c
@@ -1206,6 +1206,17 @@ vips_mkdirf( const char *name, ... )
         return( 0 );
 }
 
+/* Chop off any trailing whitespace.
+ */
+void
+vips__chomp( char *str )
+{
+	char *p;
+
+	for( p = str + strlen( str ); p > str && isspace( p[-1] ); p-- )
+		p[-1] = '\0';
+}
+
 /* Break a command-line argument into tokens separated by whitespace. 
  *
  * Strings can't be adjacent, so "hello world" (without quotes) is a single