diff --git a/cplusplus/include/vips/Makefile.am b/cplusplus/include/vips/Makefile.am
index dcb3d8fd..c7c39ddd 100644
--- a/cplusplus/include/vips/Makefile.am
+++ b/cplusplus/include/vips/Makefile.am
@@ -12,5 +12,3 @@ vips-operators.h:
 	echo "// this file is generated automatically, do not edit!" >> vips-operators.h; \
 	./../../gen-operators.py -g h >> vips-operators.h
 
-EXTRA_DIST = \
-	     gen-operators-h.py
diff --git a/libvips/include/vips/header.h b/libvips/include/vips/header.h
index fac633ba..7ee443ce 100644
--- a/libvips/include/vips/header.h
+++ b/libvips/include/vips/header.h
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ gchar **vips_image_get_fields( VipsImage *image );
 void vips_image_set_area( VipsImage *image, 
 	const char *name, VipsCallbackFn free_fn, void *data );
 int vips_image_get_area( const VipsImage *image, 
-	const char *name, void **data );
+	const char *name, const void **data );
 void vips_image_set_blob( VipsImage *image, 
 	const char *name, 
 	VipsCallbackFn free_fn, const void *data, size_t length );
diff --git a/libvips/iofuncs/header.c b/libvips/iofuncs/header.c
index 56a0fe78..e79ce2cb 100644
--- a/libvips/iofuncs/header.c
+++ b/libvips/iofuncs/header.c
@@ -1337,7 +1337,8 @@ meta_get_value( const VipsImage *image,
  * Returns: 0 on success, -1 otherwise.
  */
 int
-vips_image_get_area( const VipsImage *image, const char *name, void **data )
+vips_image_get_area( const VipsImage *image, 
+	const char *name, const void **data )
 {
 	GValue value_copy = { 0 };
 
diff --git a/libvipsCC/VImage.cc b/libvipsCC/VImage.cc
index 0eaa61ea..33fdd088 100644
--- a/libvipsCC/VImage.cc
+++ b/libvipsCC/VImage.cc
@@ -409,9 +409,9 @@ const char *VImage::meta_get_string( const char *field )
 	return( result );
 }
 
-void *VImage::meta_get_area( const char *field ) 
+const void *VImage::meta_get_area( const char *field ) 
 {
-	void *result;
+	const void *result;
 
 	if( im_meta_get_area( _ref->im, field, &result ) )
 		verror();
@@ -419,9 +419,9 @@ void *VImage::meta_get_area( const char *field )
 	return( result );
 }
 
-void *VImage::meta_get_blob( const char *field, size_t *length ) 
+const void *VImage::meta_get_blob( const char *field, size_t *length ) 
 {
-	void *result;
+	const void *result;
 
 	if( im_meta_get_blob( _ref->im, field, &result, length ) )
 		verror();
diff --git a/libvipsCC/include/vips/VImage.h b/libvipsCC/include/vips/VImage.h
index b1a1ed02..43163da8 100644
--- a/libvipsCC/include/vips/VImage.h
+++ b/libvipsCC/include/vips/VImage.h
@@ -275,8 +275,8 @@ public:
 	int meta_get_int( const char *field );
 	double meta_get_double( const char *field );
 	const char *meta_get_string( const char *field );
-	void *meta_get_area( const char *field );
-	void *meta_get_blob( const char *field, size_t *length );
+	const void *meta_get_area( const char *field );
+	const void *meta_get_blob( const char *field, size_t *length );
 
 	void meta_set( const char *field, int value );
 	void meta_set( const char *field, double value );
diff --git a/po/POTFILES.in b/po/POTFILES.in
index 2843ea71..cf46bec7 100644
--- a/po/POTFILES.in
+++ b/po/POTFILES.in
@@ -267,7 +267,6 @@ libvips/iofuncs/sinkscreen.c
 libvips/iofuncs/object.c
 libvips/iofuncs/buf.c
 libvips/iofuncs/vipsmarshal.c
-libvips/iofuncs/base64.c
 libvips/morphology/morph.c
 libvips/morphology/rank.c
 libvips/morphology/countlines.c
@@ -396,7 +395,6 @@ libvips/include/vips/foreign.h
 libvips/include/vips/transform.h
 libvips/include/vips/memory.h
 libvips/iofuncs/sink.h
-libvips/iofuncs/base64.h
 libvips/iofuncs/vipsmarshal.h
 libvips/morphology/pmorphology.h
 libvips/mosaicing/pmosaicing.h