diff --git a/modules/juce_audio_plugin_client/VST/juce_VST_Wrapper.cpp b/modules/juce_audio_plugin_client/VST/juce_VST_Wrapper.cpp
index b5ddcf6152..8f76de968f 100644
--- a/modules/juce_audio_plugin_client/VST/juce_VST_Wrapper.cpp
+++ b/modules/juce_audio_plugin_client/VST/juce_VST_Wrapper.cpp
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ namespace juce
   extern void initialiseMac();
   extern void* attachComponentToWindowRef (Component* component, void* windowRef);
   extern void detachComponentFromWindowRef (Component* component, void* nsWindow);
-  extern void setNativeHostWindowSize (void* nsWindow, Component* editorComp, int newWidth, int newHeight, const PluginHostType& host);
+  extern void setNativeHostWindowSize (void* nsWindow, Component* editorComp, int newWidth, int newHeight);
   extern void checkWindowVisibility (void* nsWindow, Component* component);
   extern bool forwardCurrentKeyEventToHost (Component* component);
  #endif
@@ -1252,7 +1252,7 @@ public:
             {
                 // some hosts don't support the sizeWindow call, so do it manually..
                #if JUCE_MAC
-                setNativeHostWindowSize (hostWindow, editorComp, newWidth, newHeight, getHostType());
+                setNativeHostWindowSize (hostWindow, editorComp, newWidth, newHeight);
 
                #elif JUCE_LINUX
                 // (Currently, all linux hosts support sizeWindow, so this should never need to happen)
diff --git a/modules/juce_audio_plugin_client/VST/juce_VST_Wrapper.mm b/modules/juce_audio_plugin_client/VST/juce_VST_Wrapper.mm
index 79e2182077..3b00d0a87d 100644
--- a/modules/juce_audio_plugin_client/VST/juce_VST_Wrapper.mm
+++ b/modules/juce_audio_plugin_client/VST/juce_VST_Wrapper.mm
@@ -208,8 +208,8 @@ void detachComponentFromWindowRef (Component* comp, void* nsWindow)
     }
 }
 
-void setNativeHostWindowSize (void* nsWindow, Component* component, int newWidth, int newHeight, const PluginHostType& host);
-void setNativeHostWindowSize (void* nsWindow, Component* component, int newWidth, int newHeight, const PluginHostType& host)
+void setNativeHostWindowSize (void* nsWindow, Component* component, int newWidth, int newHeight);
+void setNativeHostWindowSize (void* nsWindow, Component* component, int newWidth, int newHeight)
 {
     JUCE_AUTORELEASEPOOL
     {
diff --git a/modules/juce_audio_processors/processors/juce_AudioProcessor.cpp b/modules/juce_audio_processors/processors/juce_AudioProcessor.cpp
index 0105d8a122..9b6aa01bb9 100644
--- a/modules/juce_audio_processors/processors/juce_AudioProcessor.cpp
+++ b/modules/juce_audio_processors/processors/juce_AudioProcessor.cpp
@@ -114,6 +114,8 @@ void AudioProcessor::setLatencySamples (const int newLatency)
 void AudioProcessor::setParameterNotifyingHost (const int parameterIndex,
                                                 const float newValue)
 {
+    jassert (MessageManager::getInstance()->isThisTheMessageThread());
+
     setParameter (parameterIndex, newValue);
     sendParamChangeMessageToListeners (parameterIndex, newValue);
 }
diff --git a/modules/juce_browser_plugin/wrapper/juce_ActiveX_GlueCode.cpp b/modules/juce_browser_plugin/wrapper/juce_ActiveX_GlueCode.cpp
index f9a7ddd3aa..9fa365d2f7 100644
--- a/modules/juce_browser_plugin/wrapper/juce_ActiveX_GlueCode.cpp
+++ b/modules/juce_browser_plugin/wrapper/juce_ActiveX_GlueCode.cpp
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ public:
 private:
     StringPool identifierPool;
 
-    static DISPID getHashFromString (const String::CharPointerType& s) noexcept
+    static DISPID getHashFromString (const String::CharPointerType s) noexcept
     {
         return (DISPID) (pointer_sized_int) s.getAddress();
     }
diff --git a/modules/juce_core/memory/juce_Atomic.h b/modules/juce_core/memory/juce_Atomic.h
index 1c846f0556..b7d364a9d0 100644
--- a/modules/juce_core/memory/juce_Atomic.h
+++ b/modules/juce_core/memory/juce_Atomic.h
@@ -153,10 +153,13 @@ public:
     volatile Type value;
 
 private:
-    static inline Type castFrom32Bit (int32 value) noexcept   { return *(Type*) &value; }
-    static inline Type castFrom64Bit (int64 value) noexcept   { return *(Type*) &value; }
-    static inline int32 castTo32Bit (Type value) noexcept     { return *(int32*) &value; }
-    static inline int64 castTo64Bit (Type value) noexcept     { return *(int64*) &value; }
+    template <typename Dest, typename Source>
+    static inline Dest castTo (Source value) noexcept         { union { Dest d; Source s; } u; u.s = value; return u.d; }
+
+    static inline Type castFrom32Bit (int32 value) noexcept   { return castTo <Type, int32> (value); }
+    static inline Type castFrom64Bit (int64 value) noexcept   { return castTo <Type, int64> (value); }
+    static inline int32 castTo32Bit (Type value) noexcept     { return castTo <int32, Type> (value); }
+    static inline int64 castTo64Bit (Type value) noexcept     { return castTo <int64, Type> (value); }
 
     Type operator++ (int); // better to just use pre-increment with atomics..
     Type operator-- (int);
diff --git a/modules/juce_core/native/juce_linux_SystemStats.cpp b/modules/juce_core/native/juce_linux_SystemStats.cpp
index ccbb307c9a..40e917c66b 100644
--- a/modules/juce_core/native/juce_linux_SystemStats.cpp
+++ b/modules/juce_core/native/juce_linux_SystemStats.cpp
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ int SystemStats::getMemorySizeInMegabytes()
     struct sysinfo sysi;
 
     if (sysinfo (&sysi) == 0)
-        return (sysi.totalram * sysi.mem_unit / (1024 * 1024));
+        return sysi.totalram * sysi.mem_unit / (1024 * 1024);
 
     return 0;
 }
@@ -99,11 +99,8 @@ String SystemStats::getLogonName()
     const char* user = getenv ("USER");
 
     if (user == nullptr)
-    {
-        struct passwd* const pw = getpwuid (getuid());
-        if (pw != nullptr)
+        if (passwd* const pw = getpwuid (getuid()))
             user = pw->pw_name;
-    }
 
     return CharPointer_UTF8 (user);
 }
@@ -122,11 +119,12 @@ String SystemStats::getComputerName()
     return String::empty;
 }
 
-String getLocaleValue (nl_item key)
+static String getLocaleValue (nl_item key)
 {
     const char* oldLocale = ::setlocale (LC_ALL, "");
-    return String (const_cast <const char*> (nl_langinfo (key)));
+    String result (String::fromUTF8 (nl_langinfo (key)));
     ::setlocale (LC_ALL, oldLocale);
+    return result;
 }
 
 String SystemStats::getUserLanguage()    { return getLocaleValue (_NL_IDENTIFICATION_LANGUAGE); }
diff --git a/modules/juce_core/native/juce_linux_Threads.cpp b/modules/juce_core/native/juce_linux_Threads.cpp
index 36bbf0aaa9..bbf01c8034 100644
--- a/modules/juce_core/native/juce_linux_Threads.cpp
+++ b/modules/juce_core/native/juce_linux_Threads.cpp
@@ -59,6 +59,9 @@ void Process::terminate()
 
 JUCE_API bool JUCE_CALLTYPE juce_isRunningUnderDebugger()
 {
+   #if JUCE_BSD
+    return false;
+   #else
     static char testResult = 0;
 
     if (testResult == 0)
@@ -73,6 +76,7 @@ JUCE_API bool JUCE_CALLTYPE juce_isRunningUnderDebugger()
     }
 
     return testResult < 0;
+   #endif
 }
 
 JUCE_API bool JUCE_CALLTYPE Process::isRunningUnderDebugger()
diff --git a/modules/juce_core/system/juce_TargetPlatform.h b/modules/juce_core/system/juce_TargetPlatform.h
index 3aec45245c..79d9fe1be6 100644
--- a/modules/juce_core/system/juce_TargetPlatform.h
+++ b/modules/juce_core/system/juce_TargetPlatform.h
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@
   #else
     #define     JUCE_MAC 1
   #endif
+#elif defined (__FreeBSD__)
+  #define       JUCE_BSD 1
 #else
   #error "Unknown platform!"
 #endif
diff --git a/modules/juce_core/text/juce_String.cpp b/modules/juce_core/text/juce_String.cpp
index 92d4c43fc4..11fb5b7c03 100644
--- a/modules/juce_core/text/juce_String.cpp
+++ b/modules/juce_core/text/juce_String.cpp
@@ -1205,8 +1205,8 @@ public:
         dest = result.getCharPointer();
     }
 
-    StringCreationHelper (const String::CharPointerType& source_)
-        : source (source_), dest (nullptr), allocatedBytes (StringHolder::getAllocatedNumBytes (source)), bytesWritten (0)
+    StringCreationHelper (const String::CharPointerType s)
+        : source (s), dest (nullptr), allocatedBytes (StringHolder::getAllocatedNumBytes (s)), bytesWritten (0)
     {
         result.preallocateBytes (allocatedBytes);
         dest = result.getCharPointer();
@@ -1536,7 +1536,8 @@ String String::quoted (const juce_wchar quoteCharacter) const
 }
 
 //==============================================================================
-static String::CharPointerType findTrimmedEnd (const String::CharPointerType& start, String::CharPointerType end)
+static String::CharPointerType findTrimmedEnd (const String::CharPointerType start,
+                                               String::CharPointerType end)
 {
     while (end > start)
     {
diff --git a/modules/juce_core/text/juce_TextDiff.cpp b/modules/juce_core/text/juce_TextDiff.cpp
index a5a7d7d058..177cd130d0 100644
--- a/modules/juce_core/text/juce_TextDiff.cpp
+++ b/modules/juce_core/text/juce_TextDiff.cpp
@@ -35,14 +35,14 @@ struct TextDiffHelpers
         StringRegion (const String& s) noexcept
             : text (s.getCharPointer()), start (0), length (s.length()) {}
 
-        StringRegion (const String::CharPointerType& t, int s, int len)  noexcept
+        StringRegion (const String::CharPointerType t, int s, int len)  noexcept
             : text (t), start (s), length (len) {}
 
         String::CharPointerType text;
         int start, length;
     };
 
-    static void addInsertion (TextDiff& td, const String::CharPointerType& text, int index, int length)
+    static void addInsertion (TextDiff& td, const String::CharPointerType text, int index, int length)
     {
         TextDiff::Change c;
         c.insertedText = String (text, (size_t) length);
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ struct TextDiffHelpers
     }
 
     static int findLongestCommonSubstring (String::CharPointerType a, const int lenA,
-                                           const String::CharPointerType& b, const int lenB,
+                                           const String::CharPointerType b, const int lenB,
                                            int& indexInA, int& indexInB)
     {
         if (lenA == 0 || lenB == 0)
diff --git a/modules/juce_gui_extra/code_editor/juce_CPlusPlusCodeTokeniserFunctions.h b/modules/juce_gui_extra/code_editor/juce_CPlusPlusCodeTokeniserFunctions.h
index 86c0fcfc20..796042d0af 100644
--- a/modules/juce_gui_extra/code_editor/juce_CPlusPlusCodeTokeniserFunctions.h
+++ b/modules/juce_gui_extra/code_editor/juce_CPlusPlusCodeTokeniserFunctions.h
@@ -541,8 +541,8 @@ struct CppTokeniserFunctions
     */
     struct StringIterator
     {
-        StringIterator (const String& s) noexcept                  : t (s.getCharPointer()), numChars (0) {}
-        StringIterator (const String::CharPointerType& s) noexcept : t (s), numChars (0) {}
+        StringIterator (const String& s) noexcept            : t (s.getCharPointer()), numChars (0) {}
+        StringIterator (String::CharPointerType s) noexcept  : t (s), numChars (0) {}
 
         juce_wchar nextChar() noexcept      { if (isEOF()) return 0; ++numChars; return t.getAndAdvance(); }
         juce_wchar peekNextChar()noexcept   { return *t; }
diff --git a/modules/juce_gui_extra/code_editor/juce_CodeDocument.cpp b/modules/juce_gui_extra/code_editor/juce_CodeDocument.cpp
index 678c0eca21..63523143ae 100644
--- a/modules/juce_gui_extra/code_editor/juce_CodeDocument.cpp
+++ b/modules/juce_gui_extra/code_editor/juce_CodeDocument.cpp
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 class CodeDocumentLine
 {
 public:
-    CodeDocumentLine (const String::CharPointerType& l,
+    CodeDocumentLine (const String::CharPointerType l,
                       const int lineLen,
                       const int numNewLineChars,
                       const int startInFile)