diff --git a/src/ca/legacy/pcas/generic/casStrmClient.cc b/src/ca/legacy/pcas/generic/casStrmClient.cc
index 8db94adb3..e23256d3f 100644
--- a/src/ca/legacy/pcas/generic/casStrmClient.cc
+++ b/src/ca/legacy/pcas/generic/casStrmClient.cc
@@ -856,8 +856,20 @@ caStatus casStrmClient::monitorResponse (
     casChannelI & chan, const caHdrLargeArray & msg, 
     const gdd & desc, const caStatus completionStatus )
 {
+    aitUint32 elementCount = 0;
+    if (desc.isContainer()) {
+        aitUint32 index;
+        int gdds = gddApplicationTypeTable::app_table.mapAppToIndex
+            ( desc.applicationType(), gddAppType_value, index );
+        if ( gdds ) {
+            return S_cas_badType;
+        }
+        elementCount = desc.getDD(index)->getDataSizeElements();
+    } else {
+        elementCount = desc.getDataSizeElements();
+    }
     ca_uint32_t count = (msg.m_count == 0) ?
-                            (ca_uint32_t)desc.getDataSizeElements() :
+                            (ca_uint32_t)elementCount :
                              msg.m_count;
 
     void * pPayload = 0;
diff --git a/src/libCom/test/epicsStdioTest.c b/src/libCom/test/epicsStdioTest.c
index d649aa061..952c0c5ae 100644
--- a/src/libCom/test/epicsStdioTest.c
+++ b/src/libCom/test/epicsStdioTest.c
@@ -37,7 +37,14 @@ static void testEpicsSnprintf(void) {
     const char *expected = exbuffer;
     int size;
     int rtn, rlen;
-    
+
+#ifdef _WIN32
+#if (defined(_MSC_VER) && _MSC_VER < 1900) || \
+    (defined(_MINGW) && defined(_TWO_DIGIT_EXPONENT))
+    _set_output_format(_TWO_DIGIT_EXPONENT);
+#endif
+#endif
+
     sprintf(exbuffer, format, ivalue, fvalue, svalue);
     rlen = strlen(expected)+1;
     
@@ -121,11 +128,7 @@ void testStdoutRedir (const char *report)
 
 MAIN(epicsStdioTest)
 {
-#ifdef _WIN32
-    testPlan(166);
-#else
     testPlan(163);
-#endif
     testEpicsSnprintf();
     testStdoutRedir("report");
     return testDone();
diff --git a/src/template/base/top/configure/CONFIG_SITE b/src/template/base/top/configure/CONFIG_SITE
index 208aa7e68..212485ebe 100644
--- a/src/template/base/top/configure/CONFIG_SITE
+++ b/src/template/base/top/configure/CONFIG_SITE
@@ -34,3 +34,10 @@ CHECK_RELEASE = YES
 #   or CROSS_OPT settings from base/configure/CONFIG_SITE
 #HOST_OPT = NO
 #CROSS_OPT = NO
+
+# These allow developers to override the CONFIG_SITE variable
+# settings without having to modify the configure/CONFIG_SITE
+# file itself.
+-include $(TOP)/../CONFIG_SITE.local
+-include $(TOP)/configure/CONFIG_SITE.local
+
diff --git a/src/template/base/top/configure/RELEASE b/src/template/base/top/configure/RELEASE
index ba28bcb26..dbd742b45 100644
--- a/src/template/base/top/configure/RELEASE
+++ b/src/template/base/top/configure/RELEASE
@@ -35,3 +35,9 @@ EPICS_BASE = _EPICS_BASE_
 # Set RULES here if you want to use build rules from somewhere
 # other than EPICS_BASE:
 #RULES = $(MODULES)/build-rules
+
+# These allow developers to override the RELEASE variable settings
+# without having to modify the configure/RELEASE file itself.
+-include $(TOP)/../RELEASE.local
+-include $(TOP)/configure/RELEASE.local
+