diff --git a/src/factory/Convert.cpp b/src/factory/Convert.cpp
index f8ec4a1..af39b21 100644
--- a/src/factory/Convert.cpp
+++ b/src/factory/Convert.cpp
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ using std::string;
 namespace epics { namespace pvData {
 
 
-static std::vector<string> split(string commaSeparatedList) {
+static std::vector<string> split(const string& commaSeparatedList) {
     string::size_type numValues = 1;
     string::size_type index=0;
     while(true) {
diff --git a/src/misc/reftrack.cpp b/src/misc/reftrack.cpp
index 18f3307..7c1a88a 100644
--- a/src/misc/reftrack.cpp
+++ b/src/misc/reftrack.cpp
@@ -271,10 +271,10 @@ char* epicsRefSnapshotCurrent()
         snap.update();
         std::ostringstream strm;
         strm<<snap;
-        const char *str = strm.str().c_str();
-        char *ret = (char*)malloc(strlen(str)+1);
+        std::string str = strm.str();
+        char *ret = (char*)malloc(str.length()+1);
         if(ret)
-            strcpy(ret, str);
+            strcpy(ret, str.c_str());
         return ret;
     }catch(std::exception& e){
         return epicsStrDup(e.what());