diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index 8d1f23b4..0ed93622 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -1,3 +1,34 @@
+- try
+
+	vips copy big8.v x.tif[pyramid,bigtiff,tile,tile-width=256,tile-height=256] --vips-progress
+
+  where big8.v is >4gb
+
+  get:
+
+TIFFFetchDirectory: /tmp/vips-1-0RA3GW.tif: Can not read TIFF directory count
+TIFFReadDirectory: /tmp/vips-1-0RA3GW.tif: Failed to read directory at offset 0
+vips2tiff: unable to open "/tmp/vips-1-0RA3GW.tif" for input
+
+  where /tmp/vips-1-0RA3GW.tif is the largest pyramid layer
+
+  perhaps a flushing problem? predictor?
+
+
+
+
+- load an image in nip2
+
+  enter 
+
+  	insert 100 0 A1 A1
+
+  save as vips .. leak!
+
+  save as jpg, no leak
+
+
+
 - try
 
 	vips im_extract_bands /tmp/input.tiff /tmp/out.tif 0 3
diff --git a/libvips/conversion/insert.c b/libvips/conversion/insert.c
index c100fa82..2f22d58b 100644
--- a/libvips/conversion/insert.c
+++ b/libvips/conversion/insert.c
@@ -350,7 +350,9 @@ vips_insert_class_init( VipsInsertClass *class )
 	vobject_class->description = _( "insert an image" );
 	vobject_class->build = vips_insert_build;
 
-	operation_class->flags = VIPS_OPERATION_SEQUENTIAL;
+	/* Not sequential, since the image being inserted may be clipped and
+	 * we may need to skip the top or bottom.
+	 */
 
 	VIPS_ARG_IMAGE( class, "main", -1, 
 		_( "Main" ), 
diff --git a/libvips/deprecated/im_png2vips.c b/libvips/deprecated/im_png2vips.c
index 5d899c4e..ad38fa8b 100644
--- a/libvips/deprecated/im_png2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/deprecated/im_png2vips.c
@@ -46,8 +46,8 @@
 
 #include "../foreign/vipspng.h"
 
-int
-im_png2vips( const char *name, IMAGE *out )
+static int
+png2vips( const char *name, IMAGE *out, gboolean header_only )
 {
 	char filename[FILENAME_MAX];
 	char mode[FILENAME_MAX];
@@ -66,19 +66,43 @@ im_png2vips( const char *name, IMAGE *out )
 	 * used writeline.
 	 *
 	 * If we're writing the image to a "p", switch it to a "t".
+	 *
+	 * Don't do this for header read, since we don't want to force a
+	 * malloc if all we are doing is looking at fields.
 	 */
 
-	if( out->dtype == VIPS_IMAGE_PARTIAL ) {
+	if( !header_only && 
+		out->dtype == VIPS_IMAGE_PARTIAL ) {
 		if( vips__image_wio_output( out ) ) 
 			return( -1 );
 	}
 
-	if( vips__png_read( filename, out ) )
-		return( -1 );
+	if( header_only ) {
+		if( vips__png_read( filename, out ) )
+			return( -1 );
+	}
+	else {
+		if( vips__png_header( filename, out ) )
+			return( -1 );
+	}
 
 	return( 0 );
 }
 
+int
+im_png2vips( const char *name, IMAGE *out )
+{
+	return( png2vips( name, out, FALSE ) ); 
+}
+
+/* By having a separate header func, we get lazy.c to open via disc/mem.
+ */
+static int
+im_png2vips_header( const char *name, IMAGE *out )
+{
+	return( png2vips( name, out, TRUE ) ); 
+}
+
 static int
 ispng( const char *filename )
 {
@@ -100,6 +124,7 @@ vips_format_png_class_init( VipsFormatPngClass *class )
 	object_class->description = _( "PNG" );
 
 	format_class->is_a = ispng;
+	format_class->header = im_png2vips_header;
 	format_class->load = im_png2vips;
 	format_class->save = im_vips2png;
 	format_class->suffs = png_suffs;
diff --git a/libvips/deprecated/im_tiff2vips.c b/libvips/deprecated/im_tiff2vips.c
index 1e0fb6ff..f385c8fe 100644
--- a/libvips/deprecated/im_tiff2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/deprecated/im_tiff2vips.c
@@ -50,8 +50,8 @@
 
 #include "../foreign/tiff.h"
 
-int
-im_tiff2vips( const char *name, IMAGE *out )
+static int
+tiff2vips( const char *name, IMAGE *out, gboolean header_only )
 {
 	char filename[FILENAME_MAX];
 	char mode[FILENAME_MAX];
@@ -76,20 +76,44 @@ im_tiff2vips( const char *name, IMAGE *out )
 	 *
 	 * If we're writing the image to a "p", switch it to a "t". And only
 	 * for non-tiled (strip) images which we write with writeline.
+	 *
+	 * Don't do this for header read, since we don't want to force a
+	 * malloc if all we are doing is looking at fields.
 	 */
 
-	if( !vips__istifftiled( filename ) &&
+	if( !header_only &&
+		!vips__istifftiled( filename ) &&
 		out->dtype == VIPS_IMAGE_PARTIAL ) {
 		if( vips__image_wio_output( out ) ) 
 			return( -1 );
 	}
 
-	if( vips__tiff_read( filename, out, page ) )
-		return( -1 );
+	if( header_only ) {
+		if( vips__tiff_read_header( filename, out, page ) )
+			return( -1 );
+	}
+	else {
+		if( vips__tiff_read( filename, out, page ) )
+			return( -1 );
+	}
 
 	return( 0 );
 }
 
+int
+im_tiff2vips( const char *name, IMAGE *out )
+{
+	return( tiff2vips( name, out, FALSE ) ); 
+}
+
+/* By having a separate header func, we get lazy.c to open via disc/mem.
+ */
+static int
+im_tiff2vips_header( const char *name, IMAGE *out )
+{
+	return( tiff2vips( name, out, TRUE ) ); 
+}
+
 static VipsFormatFlags
 tiff_flags( const char *name )
 {
@@ -127,6 +151,7 @@ vips_format_tiff_class_init( VipsFormatTiffClass *class )
 	object_class->description = _( "TIFF" );
 
 	format_class->is_a = istiff;
+	format_class->header = im_tiff2vips_header;
 	format_class->load = im_tiff2vips;
 	format_class->save = im_vips2tiff;
 	format_class->get_flags = tiff_flags;
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/vips2tiff.c b/libvips/foreign/vips2tiff.c
index 116922b7..ded4d304 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/vips2tiff.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/vips2tiff.c
@@ -160,8 +160,9 @@
  */
 
 /* 
-#define DEBUG
+#define DEBUG_VERBOSE
  */
+#define DEBUG
 
 #ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
 #include <config.h>
@@ -916,11 +917,11 @@ save_tile( TiffWrite *tw,
 	 */
 	pack2tiff( tw, reg, tbuf, area );
 
-#ifdef DEBUG
+#ifdef DEBUG_VERBOSE
 	printf( "Writing %dx%d pixels at position %dx%d to image %s\n",
 		tw->tilew, tw->tileh, area->left, area->top,
 		TIFFFileName( tif ) );
-#endif /*DEBUG*/
+#endif /*DEBUG_VERBOSE*/
 
 	/* Write to TIFF! easy.
 	 */
@@ -1141,13 +1142,23 @@ delete_files( TiffWrite *tw )
 	PyramidLayer *layer = tw->layer;
 
 	if( tw->bname ) {
+#ifndef DEBUG
 		unlink( tw->bname );
+#else
+		printf( "delete_files: leaving %s\n", tw->bname );
+#endif /*DEBUG*/
+
 		tw->bname = NULL;
 	}
 
 	for( layer = tw->layer; layer; layer = layer->below ) 
 		if( layer->lname ) {
+#ifndef DEBUG
 			unlink( layer->lname );
+#else
+			printf( "delete_files: leaving %s\n", layer->lname );
+#endif /*DEBUG*/
+
 			layer->lname = NULL;
 		}
 }
@@ -1157,9 +1168,7 @@ delete_files( TiffWrite *tw )
 static void
 free_tiff_write( TiffWrite *tw )
 {
-#ifndef DEBUG
 	delete_files( tw );
-#endif /*DEBUG*/
 
 	VIPS_FREEF( TIFFClose, tw->tif );
 	VIPS_FREEF( vips_free, tw->tbuf );
@@ -1340,7 +1349,7 @@ tiff_copy( TiffWrite *tw, TIFF *out, TIFF *in )
 	CopyField( TIFFTAG_ROWSPERSTRIP, i32 );
 	CopyField( TIFFTAG_SUBFILETYPE, i32 );
 
-	if( tw->predictor != -1 ) 
+	if( tw->predictor != 1 ) 
 		TIFFSetField( out, TIFFTAG_PREDICTOR, tw->predictor );
 
 	/* TIFFTAG_JPEGQUALITY is a pesudo-tag, so we can't copy it.
diff --git a/libvips/include/vips/foreign.h b/libvips/include/vips/foreign.h
index cbe30807..09d27c6f 100644
--- a/libvips/include/vips/foreign.h
+++ b/libvips/include/vips/foreign.h
@@ -346,7 +346,7 @@ typedef enum {
 /**
  * VipsForeignTiffPredictor:
  * @VIPS_FOREIGN_TIFF_PREDICTOR_NONE: no prediction
- * @VIPS_FOREIGN_TIFF_PREDICTOR_HORIZONTAL: horizontal differenceing
+ * @VIPS_FOREIGN_TIFF_PREDICTOR_HORIZONTAL: horizontal differencing
  * @VIPS_FOREIGN_TIFF_PREDICTOR_FLOAT: float predictor
  *
  * The predictor can help deflate and lzw compression. The values are fixed by
diff --git a/libvips/mosaicing/global_balance.c b/libvips/mosaicing/global_balance.c
index f51e70de..34c5a668 100644
--- a/libvips/mosaicing/global_balance.c
+++ b/libvips/mosaicing/global_balance.c
@@ -92,8 +92,8 @@
  */
 
 /* Define for debug output.
- */
 #define DEBUG
+ */
 
 #ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
 #include <config.h>