diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 7dd59702..ecb24534 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 5/12/11 started 7.26.7
 - lazy read from tiled tiff from layers other than 0 was broken
+- optional args to vips_call*() do not work, disabled (fixed correctly in
+  master)
 
 12/10/11 started 7.26.6
 - NOCACHE was not being set correctly on OS X causing performance 
diff --git a/libvips/iofuncs/operation.c b/libvips/iofuncs/operation.c
index 7606f786..7b246e19 100644
--- a/libvips/iofuncs/operation.c
+++ b/libvips/iofuncs/operation.c
@@ -301,6 +301,7 @@ vips_operation_set_valist_required( VipsOperation *operation, va_list ap )
 	return( 0 );
 }
 
+/* See comments on calls below.
 static int
 vips_operation_set_valist_optional( VipsOperation *operation, va_list ap )
 {
@@ -311,6 +312,7 @@ vips_operation_set_valist_optional( VipsOperation *operation, va_list ap )
 
 	return( 0 );
 }
+ */
 
 static void
 vips_operation_get_valist( VipsOperation *operation, va_list ap )
@@ -385,11 +387,19 @@ vips_call( const char *operation_name, ... )
 	vips_object_print( VIPS_OBJECT( operation ) );
 #endif /*VIPS_DEBUG*/
 
+	/* This code is broken. Fixed correctly in the next version, but for
+	 * here just ignore optional arguments.
 	va_start( ap, operation_name );
 	result = vips_operation_set_valist_required( operation, ap )  ||
 		vips_operation_set_valist_optional( operation, ap ) ||
 		vips_object_build( VIPS_OBJECT( operation ) );
 	va_end( ap );
+	 */
+
+	va_start( ap, operation_name );
+	result = vips_operation_set_valist_required( operation, ap )  ||
+		vips_object_build( VIPS_OBJECT( operation ) );
+	va_end( ap );
 
 	/* Build failed: junk args and back out.
 	 */
@@ -432,11 +442,19 @@ vips_call_split( const char *operation_name, va_list optional, ... )
 	vips_object_print( VIPS_OBJECT( operation ) );
 #endif /*VIPS_DEBUG*/
 
+	/* This code is broken. Fixed correctly in the next version, but for
+	 * here just ignore optional arguments.
 	va_start( required, optional );
 	result = vips_operation_set_valist_required( operation, required ) ||
 		vips_operation_set_valist_optional( operation, optional ) ||
 		vips_object_build( VIPS_OBJECT( operation ) );
 	va_end( required );
+	 */
+
+	va_start( required, optional );
+	result = vips_operation_set_valist_required( operation, required ) ||
+		vips_object_build( VIPS_OBJECT( operation ) );
+	va_end( required );
 
 	/* Build failed: junk args and back out.
 	 */
diff --git a/po/vips7.pot b/po/vips7.pot
index 83838edd..2db57244 100644
--- a/po/vips7.pot
+++ b/po/vips7.pot
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ msgstr ""
 "Project-Id-Version: PACKAGE VERSION\n"
 "Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: http://bugzilla.gnome.org/enter_bug.cgi?"
 "product=glib&keywords=I18N+L10N&component=general\n"
-"POT-Creation-Date: 2011-10-18 16:43+0100\n"
+"POT-Creation-Date: 2011-12-08 10:46+0000\n"
 "PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n"
 "Last-Translator: FULL NAME <EMAIL@ADDRESS>\n"
 "Language-Team: LANGUAGE <LL@li.org>\n"
@@ -1028,7 +1028,7 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "TIFF file does not contain page %d"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: ../libvips/format/im_tiff2vips.c:1646
+#: ../libvips/format/im_tiff2vips.c:1649
 msgid "TIFF"
 msgstr ""
 
@@ -1341,7 +1341,7 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "VIPS operations"
 msgstr ""
 
-#: ../libvips/iofuncs/operation.c:605
+#: ../libvips/iofuncs/operation.c:623
 msgid "too few arguments"
 msgstr ""