diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index fe9fb9a5..873d23f8 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 - vips_image_write() severs all links between images, when it can ... thanks
   Warren and Nakilon
 - vector path for convolution is more accurate and can handle larger masks
+- linear and cubic kernels for reduce are higer quality
 
 29/8/17 started 8.5.9
 - make --fail stop jpeg read on any libjpeg warning, thanks @mceachen
diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index 9b84c591..83c169a8 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -1,9 +1,4 @@
-- vips_image_write() to a temp file is rather broken
-
-  things like reorder and upstream/downstream will still be keeping links after
-  write, so unreffing the input will eventually trigger a crash
-
-  rewind should break more things ... does it remove upsteam/downstream? does it
+- rewind should break more things ... does it remove upsteam/downstream? does it
   just need to remove reorder links?
 
   perhaps reorder should use upstream/downstream, then it will be broken anyway
diff --git a/libvips/resample/reduce.c b/libvips/resample/reduce.c
index 729a4d3a..0b80c88b 100644
--- a/libvips/resample/reduce.c
+++ b/libvips/resample/reduce.c
@@ -57,14 +57,12 @@
 /**
  * VipsKernel: 
  * @VIPS_KERNEL_NEAREST: The nearest pixel to the point.
- * @VIPS_KERNEL_LINEAR: Calculate a pixel value using linear interpolation.
- * @VIPS_KERNEL_CUBIC: Calculate using a 4-element cubic kernel.
- * @VIPS_KERNEL_LANCZOS2: Calculate with a two-lobe Lanczos kernel.
- * @VIPS_KERNEL_LANCZOS3: Calculate with a three-lobe Lanczos kernel.
+ * @VIPS_KERNEL_LINEAR: Convolve with a triangle filter. 
+ * @VIPS_KERNEL_CUBIC: Convolve with a cubic filter. 
+ * @VIPS_KERNEL_LANCZOS2: Convolve with a two-lobe Lanczos kernel.
+ * @VIPS_KERNEL_LANCZOS3: Convolve with a three-lobe Lanczos kernel.
  *
  * The resampling kernels vips supports. See vips_reduce(), for example.  
- *
- * The Lanczos kernels vary in size with the downsampling ratio. 
  */
 
 typedef struct _VipsReduce {
diff --git a/libvips/resample/reduceh.cpp b/libvips/resample/reduceh.cpp
index a13ad0d6..b9c98c75 100644
--- a/libvips/resample/reduceh.cpp
+++ b/libvips/resample/reduceh.cpp
@@ -101,10 +101,10 @@ vips_reduce_get_points( VipsKernel kernel, double shrink )
 		return( 1 ); 
 
 	case VIPS_KERNEL_LINEAR:
-		return( 2 ); 
+		return( rint( 2 * shrink ) + 1 ); 
 
 	case VIPS_KERNEL_CUBIC:
-		return( 4 ); 
+		return( rint( 4 * shrink ) + 1 ); 
 
 	case VIPS_KERNEL_LANCZOS2:
 		/* Needs to be in sync with calculate_coefficients_lanczos().
@@ -131,12 +131,11 @@ vips_reduce_make_mask( double *c, VipsKernel kernel, double shrink, double x )
 		break;
 
 	case VIPS_KERNEL_LINEAR:
-		c[0] = 1.0 - x;
-		c[1] = x;
+		calculate_coefficients_triangle( c, shrink, x ); 
 		break;
 
 	case VIPS_KERNEL_CUBIC:
-		calculate_coefficients_catmull( c, x ); 
+		calculate_coefficients_adaptive_catmull( c, shrink, x ); 
 		break;
 
 	case VIPS_KERNEL_LANCZOS2:
diff --git a/libvips/resample/resize.c b/libvips/resample/resize.c
index ab046f26..64a849ab 100644
--- a/libvips/resample/resize.c
+++ b/libvips/resample/resize.c
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@
  * 	- add @centre option
  * 6/3/17	
  * 	- moved the cache to shrinkv
+ * 15/10/17
+ * 	- make LINEAR and CUBIC adaptive
  */
 
 /*
@@ -101,13 +103,10 @@ G_DEFINE_TYPE( VipsResize, vips_resize, VIPS_TYPE_RESAMPLE );
  * This depends on the scale and the kernel we will use for residual resizing.
  * For upsizing and nearest-neighbour downsize, we want no shrinking. 
  *
- * Linear and cubic are fixed-size kernels and for a 0 offset are point
- * samplers. We will get aliasing if we do more than a x2 shrink with them.
- *
- * Lanczos is adaptive: the size of the kernel changes with the shrink factor.
- * We will get the best quality (but be the slowest) if we let reduce do all
- * the work. Leave it the final 200 - 300% to do as a compromise for
- * efficiency. 
+ * The others are adaptive: the size of the kernel changes with the shrink 
+ * factor. We will get the best quality (but be the slowest) if we let 
+ * reduce do all the work. Leave it the final 200 - 300% to do as a compromise 
+ * for efficiency. 
  *
  * FIXME: this is rather ugly. Kernel should be a class and this info should be
  * stored in there. 
@@ -127,12 +126,9 @@ vips_resize_int_shrink( VipsResize *resize, double scale )
 
 		case VIPS_KERNEL_LINEAR:
 		case VIPS_KERNEL_CUBIC:
-		default:
-			shrink = VIPS_FLOOR( 1.0 / scale );
-			break;
-
 		case VIPS_KERNEL_LANCZOS2:
 		case VIPS_KERNEL_LANCZOS3:
+		default:
 			shrink = VIPS_MAX( 1, VIPS_FLOOR( 1.0 / (scale * 2) ) );
 			break;
 		}
diff --git a/libvips/resample/templates.h b/libvips/resample/templates.h
index 8c026ac0..ac06dc85 100644
--- a/libvips/resample/templates.h
+++ b/libvips/resample/templates.h
@@ -311,6 +311,48 @@ calculate_coefficients_catmull( double c[4], const double x )
 	c[2] = cthr;
 }
 
+/* Calculate a catmull kernel for shrinking. 
+ */
+static void inline
+calculate_coefficients_adaptive_catmull( double *c, 
+	const double shrink, const double x )
+{
+	/* Needs to be in sync with vips_reduce_get_points().
+	 */
+	const int n_points = rint( 4 * shrink ) + 1; 
+
+	int i;
+	double sum; 
+
+	sum = 0;
+	for( i = 0; i < n_points; i++ ) {
+		const double xp = (i - (2 * shrink - 1) - x) / shrink;
+		const double axp = VIPS_FABS( xp ); 
+		const double axp2 = axp * axp;
+		const double axp3 = axp2 * axp;
+		const double a = -0.5;
+
+		double l;
+
+		if( axp <= 1 ) 
+			l = (a + 2) * axp3 - 
+				(a + 3) * axp2 + 1;
+		else if( axp <= 2 )
+			l = a * axp3 - 
+				5 * a * axp2 + 
+				8 * a * axp - 
+				4 * a;
+		else 
+			l = 0.0;
+
+		c[i] = l;
+		sum += l;
+	}
+
+	for( i = 0; i < n_points; i++ ) 
+		c[i] /= sum;
+}
+
 /* Given an x in [0,1] (we can have x == 1 when building tables),
  * calculate c0 .. c(@a * @shrink + 1), the lanczos coefficients. This is called
  * from the interpolator as well as from the table builder.
@@ -355,6 +397,37 @@ calculate_coefficients_lanczos( double *c,
 		c[i] /= sum;
 }
 
+/* Given an x in [0,1] (we can have x == 1 when building tables),
+ * calculate c0 .. c(@shrink + 1), the triangle coefficients. This is called
+ * from the interpolator as well as from the table builder.
+ */
+static void inline
+calculate_coefficients_triangle( double *c, const double shrink, const double x )
+{
+	/* Needs to be in sync with vips_reduce_get_points().
+	 */
+	const int n_points = rint( 2 * shrink ) + 1;
+
+	int i;
+	double sum; 
+
+	sum = 0;
+	for( i = 0; i < n_points; i++ ) {
+		double xp = (i - (shrink - 1) - x) / shrink;
+
+		double l;
+
+		l = 1.0 - VIPS_FABS( xp );
+		l = VIPS_MAX( 0.0, l ); 
+
+		c[i] = l;
+		sum += l;
+	}
+
+	for( i = 0; i < n_points; i++ ) 
+		c[i] /= sum;
+}
+
 /* Our inner loop for resampling with a convolution. Operate on elements of 
  * type T, gather results in an intermediate of type IT.
  */