diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8f49da41..c7388724 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -109,8 +109,9 @@ Static analysis with:
 
 # Dependencies 
 
-libvips has to have gettext, glib-2.x and libxml-2.0. The build system needs 
-sh, pkg-config, swig, gtk-doc-tools, automake, gobject-introspection and gnu make.
+libvips has to have gettext, glib-2.x and libxml-2.0. The build system
+needs sh, pkg-config, swig, gtk-doc-tools, automake, gobject-introspection
+and gnu make.
 
 # Optional dependencies
 
@@ -155,10 +156,6 @@ If available, libvips adds support for creating image pyramids with dzsave.
 The TIFF library. It needs to be built with support for JPEG and
 ZIP compression. 3.4b037 and later are known to be OK. 
 
-## libz
-
-If your TIFF library includes ZIP compression, you'll need this too.
-
 ## fftw3
 
 If libvips finds this library, it uses it for fourier transforms. It
diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index a8297c31..4905a8df 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+- need a --nodoc flag for freebsd
+
+  stops anything in doc/ running
 
 - threadpool recyling might be useful for dzsave?
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 6552b539..e036b3ed 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -63,13 +63,25 @@ GOBJECT_INTROSPECTION_CHECK([1.30.0])
 introspection_sources=$(cd libvips ; find . -name "*.c")
 filter_list="deprecated "
 
+# contains(string, substring)
+#
+# Returns 0 if the specified string contains the specified substring,
+# otherwise returns 1.
+contains() {
+  string="$1"
+  substring="$2"
+  if test "${string#*$substring}" != "$string"; then
+    return 0    # $substring is in $string
+  else
+    return 1 	# $substring is not in $string
+  fi
+}
+
 introspection_sources2=
 for name in $introspection_sources; do
   found=0
   for filter in $filter_list; do
-    # FIXME .. argh a bash-ism :( not sure of a nice, portable way to do 
-    # regexp matching
-    if [[[ $name == *${filter}* ]]]; then
+    if contains $name ${filter}; then
       found=1
     fi
   done    
@@ -112,6 +124,23 @@ else
   fi
 fi
 
+# we are a C library with some optional C++ components inside it
+# on most platforms, we just include -lstdc++ in the link line for programs
+# using vips, but not all
+
+# we ought to write a proper configure test for this :( 
+
+AC_MSG_CHECKING([for needs -lstdc++])
+case "$host_os" in
+  freebsd*)
+    vips_needs_stdcpp=no
+    ;;
+  *)
+    vips_needs_stdcpp=yes
+    ;;
+esac
+AC_MSG_RESULT([$vips_needs_stdcpp])
+
 AC_MSG_CHECKING([for native Win32])
 case "$host" in
   *-*-mingw*)
@@ -221,7 +250,9 @@ if test x"$enable_cxx" != x"no"; then
     # need -lstdc++ for (eg.) the C++ format loaders
     # this gets added to vips.pc to help mingw and friends link programs
     # using libvips
-    VIPS_CXX_LIBS="-lstdc++"
+    if test x"$vips_needs_stdcpp" != x"no"; then
+      VIPS_CXX_LIBS="-lstdc++"
+    fi
     enable_cxx=yes
   fi
 fi
@@ -338,7 +369,7 @@ PKG_CHECK_MODULES(THREADS, glib-2.0 >= 2.32,[
   ]
 )
 
-# after 2.36 the type system inits itself
+# with 2.36 and after the type system inits itself
 PKG_CHECK_MODULES(TYPE_INIT, glib-2.0 < 2.36,[
   AC_DEFINE(NEED_TYPE_INIT,1,[define if your glib needs g_type_init().])
   ],[