diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 94db98e5..672157a3 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+  - fixed bug with passing $smarty as reference in Smarty.compiler.class (messju)
   - corrected output with {strip} and PHP tag newlines (Monte)
   - added possibility to register function-callbacks as "array(&$obj, 'method)"
     this affects register_function(), -block, -compiler_function, -modifier, 
diff --git a/libs/Smarty.class.php b/libs/Smarty.class.php
index d7e94b35..14ebe7c8 100644
--- a/libs/Smarty.class.php
+++ b/libs/Smarty.class.php
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ class Smarty
     var $cache_modified_check = false;
 
     /**
-     * This determines how Smarty handles <?php ?> tags in templates.
+     * This determines how Smarty handles "<?php ... ?>" tags in templates.
      * possible values:
      * <ul>
      *  <li>SMARTY_PHP_PASSTHRU -> print tags as plain text</li>
@@ -1330,7 +1330,7 @@ class Smarty
                 touch($_compile_file,filemtime($_file_path));
             }
         }
-        
+
         if ($this->debugging) {
             $debug_start_time = $this->_get_microtime();
         }
diff --git a/libs/Smarty_Compiler.class.php b/libs/Smarty_Compiler.class.php
index e49228da..268e14bc 100644
--- a/libs/Smarty_Compiler.class.php
+++ b/libs/Smarty_Compiler.class.php
@@ -229,7 +229,8 @@ class Smarty_Compiler extends Smarty {
             foreach ($this->_plugins['prefilter'] as $filter_name => $prefilter) {
                 if ($prefilter === false) continue;
                 if ($prefilter[3] || $this->_plugin_implementation_exists($prefilter[0])) {
-                    $template_source = call_user_func($prefilter[0], $template_source, $this);
+                    $template_source = call_user_func_array($prefilter[0],
+                                                            array($template_source, &$this));
                     $this->_plugins['prefilter'][$filter_name][3] = true;
                 } else {
                     $this->_trigger_fatal_error("[plugin] prefilter '$filter_name' is not implemented");
@@ -336,7 +337,8 @@ class Smarty_Compiler extends Smarty {
             foreach ($this->_plugins['postfilter'] as $filter_name => $postfilter) {
                 if ($postfilter === false) continue;
                 if ($postfilter[3] || $this->_plugin_implementation_exists($postfilter[0])) {
-                    $template_compiled = call_user_func($postfilter[0], $template_compiled, $this);
+                    $template_compiled = call_user_func_array($postfilter[0],
+                                                              array($template_compiled, &$this));
                     $this->_plugins['postfilter'][$filter_name][3] = true;
                 } else {
                     $this->_trigger_fatal_error("Smarty plugin error: postfilter '$filter_name' is not implemented");
@@ -559,7 +561,8 @@ class Smarty_Compiler extends Smarty {
          */
         if ($found) {
             if ($have_function) {
-                $output = '<?php ' . call_user_func($plugin_func, $tag_args, $this) . ' ?>';
+                $output = '<?php ' . call_user_func_array($plugin_func,
+                                                          array($tag_args, &$this)) . ' ?>';
             } else {
                 $this->_syntax_error($message, E_USER_WARNING, __FILE__, __LINE__);
             }