diff --git a/change_log.txt b/change_log.txt
index 80f19b5b..1eceade8 100644
--- a/change_log.txt
+++ b/change_log.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 04/10/2009
+- check if mb string functions available otherwise fallback to normal string functions
 - added global variable scope SMARTY_GLOBAL_SCOPE 
 - enable 'variable' filter by default
 - fixed {$smarty.block.parent.foo} 
diff --git a/libs/Smarty.class.php b/libs/Smarty.class.php
index ba7aa894..32c5f4dd 100644
--- a/libs/Smarty.class.php
+++ b/libs/Smarty.class.php
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ class Smarty extends Smarty_Internal_TemplateBase {
     // config var settings
     public $config_overwrite = true; //Controls whether variables with the same name overwrite each other.
     public $config_booleanize = true; //Controls whether config values of on/true/yes and off/false/no get converted to boolean
-    public $config_read_hidden = true; //Controls whether hidden config sections/vars are read from the file.       
+    public $config_read_hidden = true; //Controls whether hidden config sections/vars are read from the file.         
     // config vars
     public $config_vars = array(); 
     // assigned tpl vars
@@ -167,13 +167,18 @@ class Smarty extends Smarty_Internal_TemplateBase {
     // start time for execution time calculation
     public $start_time = 0; 
     // set default time zone
-    public $set_timezone = true;
+    public $set_timezone = true; 
+    // has multibyte string functions?
+    public $has_mb = false;
     /**
     * Class constructor, initializes basic smarty properties
     */
     public function __construct()
     {
-        mb_internal_encoding($this->resource_char_set);
+        if (is_callable('mb_internal_encoding')) {
+            $this->has_mb = true;
+            mb_internal_encoding($this->resource_char_set);
+        } 
         if ($this->set_timezone and function_exists("date_default_timezone_set") and function_exists("date_default_timezone_get")) {
             date_default_timezone_set(date_default_timezone_get());
         } 
@@ -199,7 +204,6 @@ class Smarty extends Smarty_Internal_TemplateBase {
         $this->plugin_handler = new Smarty_Internal_Plugin_Handler;
         $this->loadPlugin('Smarty_Internal_Run_Filter');
         $this->filter_handler = new Smarty_Internal_Run_Filter;
-
         if (!$this->debugging && $this->debugging_ctrl == 'URL') {
             $_query_string = $this->request_use_auto_globals ? isset($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']) ? $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']:'' : isset($GLOBALS['HTTP_SERVER_VARS']['QUERY_STRING']) ? $GLOBALS['HTTP_SERVER_VARS']['QUERY_STRING']:'';
             if (false !== strpos($_query_string, $this->smarty_debug_id)) {
diff --git a/libs/plugins/modifier.escape.php b/libs/plugins/modifier.escape.php
index bf192459..a8ef9987 100644
--- a/libs/plugins/modifier.escape.php
+++ b/libs/plugins/modifier.escape.php
@@ -72,7 +72,11 @@ function smarty_modifier_escape($string, $esc_type = 'html', $char_set = null)
 
         case 'mail': 
             // safe way to display e-mail address on a web page
-            return mb_str_replace(array('@', '.'), array(' [AT] ', ' [DOT] '), $string);
+            if ($smarty->has_mb) {
+                return mb_str_replace(array('@', '.'), array(' [AT] ', ' [DOT] '), $string);
+            } else {
+                return str_replace(array('@', '.'), array(' [AT] ', ' [DOT] '), $string);
+            } 
 
         case 'nonstd': 
             // escape non-standard chars, such as ms document quotes
diff --git a/libs/plugins/modifier.lower.php b/libs/plugins/modifier.lower.php
index 5ae6c1fd..df64c5fc 100644
--- a/libs/plugins/modifier.lower.php
+++ b/libs/plugins/modifier.lower.php
@@ -1,26 +1,31 @@
 <?php
 /**
- * Smarty plugin
- * @package Smarty
- * @subpackage PluginsModifier
- */
-
+* Smarty plugin
+* 
+* @package Smarty
+* @subpackage PluginsModifier
+*/
 
 /**
- * Smarty lower modifier plugin
- *
- * Type:     modifier<br>
- * Name:     lower<br>
- * Purpose:  convert string to lowercase
- * @link http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.modifier.lower.php
- *          lower (Smarty online manual)
- * @author   Monte Ohrt <monte at ohrt dot com>
- * @param string
- * @return string
- */
+* Smarty lower modifier plugin
+* 
+* Type:     modifier<br>
+* Name:     lower<br>
+* Purpose:  convert string to lowercase
+* 
+* @link http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.modifier.lower.php lower (Smarty online manual)
+* @author Monte Ohrt <monte at ohrt dot com> 
+* @param string $ 
+* @return string 
+*/
 function smarty_modifier_lower($string)
 {
-    return mb_strtolower($string);
-}
+    $smarty = Smarty::instance();
+    if ($smarty->has_mb) {
+        return mb_strtolower($string);
+    } else {
+        return strtolower($string);
+    } 
+} 
 
 ?>
diff --git a/libs/plugins/modifier.regex_replace.php b/libs/plugins/modifier.regex_replace.php
index fac34c85..c2ca0b4e 100644
--- a/libs/plugins/modifier.regex_replace.php
+++ b/libs/plugins/modifier.regex_replace.php
@@ -1,46 +1,61 @@
 <?php
 /**
- * Smarty plugin
- * @package Smarty
- * @subpackage PluginsModifier
- */
-
+* Smarty plugin
+* 
+* @package Smarty
+* @subpackage PluginsModifier
+*/
 
 /**
- * Smarty regex_replace modifier plugin
- *
- * Type:     modifier<br>
- * Name:     regex_replace<br>
- * Purpose:  regular expression search/replace
- * @link http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.modifier.regex.replace.php
- *          regex_replace (Smarty online manual)
- * @author   Monte Ohrt <monte at ohrt dot com>
- * @param string
- * @param string|array
- * @param string|array
- * @return string
- */
+* Smarty regex_replace modifier plugin
+* 
+* Type:     modifier<br>
+* Name:     regex_replace<br>
+* Purpose:  regular expression search/replace
+* 
+* @link http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.modifier.regex.replace.php regex_replace (Smarty online manual)
+* @author Monte Ohrt <monte at ohrt dot com> 
+* @param string $ 
+* @param string $ |array
+* @param string $ |array
+* @return string 
+*/
 function smarty_modifier_regex_replace($string, $search, $replace)
 {
-    if(is_array($search)) {
-      foreach($search as $idx => $s)
+    $smarty = Smarty::instance();
+
+    if (is_array($search)) {
+        foreach($search as $idx => $s)
         $search[$idx] = _smarty_regex_replace_check($s);
     } else {
-      $search = _smarty_regex_replace_check($search);
-    }       
+        $search = _smarty_regex_replace_check($search);
+    } 
 
-    return mb_ereg_replace($search, $replace, $string);
-}
+    if ($smarty->has_mb) {
+        return mb_ereg_replace($search, $replace, $string);
+    } else {
+        return ereg_replace($search, $replace, $string);
+    } 
+} 
 
 function _smarty_regex_replace_check($search)
 {
-    if (($pos = mb_strpos($search,"\0")) !== false)
-      $search = mb_substr($search,0,$pos);
-    if (mb_preg_match('!([a-zA-Z\s]+)$!s', $search, $match) && (mb_strpos($match[1], 'e') !== false)) {
-        /* remove eval-modifier from $search */
-        $search = mb_substr($search, 0, -mb_strlen($match[1])) . mb_ereg_replace('![e\s]+!', '', $match[1]);
-    }
+    if ($smarty->has_mb) {
+        if (($pos = mb_strpos($search, "\0")) !== false)
+            $search = mb_substr($search, 0, $pos);
+        if (mb_preg_match('!([a-zA-Z\s]+)$!s', $search, $match) && (mb_strpos($match[1], 'e') !== false)) {
+            /* remove eval-modifier from $search */
+            $search = mb_substr($search, 0, - mb_strlen($match[1])) . mb_ereg_replace('![e\s]+!', '', $match[1]);
+        } 
+    } else {
+        if (($pos = strpos($search, "\0")) !== false)
+            $search = substr($search, 0, $pos);
+        if (mb_preg_match('!([a-zA-Z\s]+)$!s', $search, $match) && (strpos($match[1], 'e') !== false)) {
+            /* remove eval-modifier from $search */
+            $search = substr($search, 0, - strlen($match[1])) . ereg_replace('![e\s]+!', '', $match[1]);
+        } 
+    } 
     return $search;
-}
+} 
 
 ?>
diff --git a/libs/plugins/modifier.replace.php b/libs/plugins/modifier.replace.php
index 117ccc7a..57439741 100644
--- a/libs/plugins/modifier.replace.php
+++ b/libs/plugins/modifier.replace.php
@@ -38,7 +38,12 @@ function smarty_modifier_replace($string, $search, $replace)
             return $haystack;
         } 
     } 
-    return mb_str_replace($search, $replace, $string);
+    $smarty = Smarty::instance();
+    if ($smarty->has_mb) {
+        return mb_str_replace($search, $replace, $string);
+    } else {
+        return str_replace($search, $replace, $string);
+    } 
 } 
 
 ?>
diff --git a/libs/plugins/modifier.spacify.php b/libs/plugins/modifier.spacify.php
index def5375b..391488b7 100644
--- a/libs/plugins/modifier.spacify.php
+++ b/libs/plugins/modifier.spacify.php
@@ -1,27 +1,32 @@
 <?php
 /**
- * Smarty plugin
- * @package Smarty
- * @subpackage PluginsModifier
- */
-
+* Smarty plugin
+* 
+* @package Smarty
+* @subpackage PluginsModifier
+*/
 
 /**
- * Smarty spacify modifier plugin
- *
- * Type:     modifier<br>
- * Name:     spacify<br>
- * Purpose:  add spaces between characters in a string
- * @link http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.modifier.spacify.php
- *          spacify (Smarty online manual)
- * @author   Monte Ohrt <monte at ohrt dot com>
- * @param string
- * @param string
- * @return string
- */
+* Smarty spacify modifier plugin
+* 
+* Type:     modifier<br>
+* Name:     spacify<br>
+* Purpose:  add spaces between characters in a string
+* 
+* @link http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.modifier.spacify.php spacify (Smarty online manual)
+* @author Monte Ohrt <monte at ohrt dot com> 
+* @param string $ 
+* @param string $ 
+* @return string 
+*/
 function smarty_modifier_spacify($string, $spacify_char = ' ')
 {
-    return implode($spacify_char,
-                   mb_split('//', $string, -1));
-}
+    $smarty = Smarty::instance();
+    if ($smarty->has_mb) {
+        return implode($spacify_char, mb_split('//', $string, -1));
+    } else {
+        return implode($spacify_char, split('//', $string, -1));
+    } 
+} 
+
 ?>
diff --git a/libs/plugins/modifier.strip.php b/libs/plugins/modifier.strip.php
index 66ba7edc..35eb98be 100644
--- a/libs/plugins/modifier.strip.php
+++ b/libs/plugins/modifier.strip.php
@@ -1,30 +1,36 @@
 <?php
 /**
- * Smarty plugin
- * @package Smarty
- * @subpackage PluginsModifier
- */
-
+* Smarty plugin
+* 
+* @package Smarty
+* @subpackage PluginsModifier
+*/
 
 /**
- * Smarty strip modifier plugin
- *
- * Type:     modifier<br>
- * Name:     strip<br>
- * Purpose:  Replace all repeated spaces, newlines, tabs
- *           with a single space or supplied replacement string.<br>
- * Example:  {$var|strip} {$var|strip:"&nbsp;"}
- * Date:     September 25th, 2002
- * @link http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.modifier.strip.php
- *          strip (Smarty online manual)
- * @author   Monte Ohrt <monte at ohrt dot com>
- * @version  1.0
- * @param string
- * @param string
- * @return string
- */
+* Smarty strip modifier plugin
+* 
+* Type:     modifier<br>
+* Name:     strip<br>
+* Purpose:  Replace all repeated spaces, newlines, tabs
+*            with a single space or supplied replacement string.<br>
+* Example:  {$var|strip} {$var|strip:"&nbsp;"}
+* Date:     September 25th, 2002
+* 
+* @link http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.modifier.strip.php strip (Smarty online manual)
+* @author Monte Ohrt <monte at ohrt dot com> 
+* @version 1.0
+* @param string $ 
+* @param string $ 
+* @return string 
+*/
 function smarty_modifier_strip($text, $replace = ' ')
 {
-    return mb_ereg_replace('!\s+!', $replace, $text,'p');
-}
+    $smarty = Smarty::instance();
+    if ($smarty->has_mb) {
+        return mb_ereg_replace('!\s+!', $replace, $text, 'p');
+    } else {
+        return ereg_replace('!\s+!', $replace, $text, 'p');
+    } 
+} 
+
 ?>
diff --git a/libs/plugins/modifier.strip_tags.php b/libs/plugins/modifier.strip_tags.php
index d51f98bf..cfc0929c 100644
--- a/libs/plugins/modifier.strip_tags.php
+++ b/libs/plugins/modifier.strip_tags.php
@@ -1,29 +1,36 @@
 <?php
 /**
- * Smarty plugin
- * @package Smarty
- * @subpackage PluginsModifier
- */
-
+* Smarty plugin
+* 
+* @package Smarty
+* @subpackage PluginsModifier
+*/
 
 /**
- * Smarty strip_tags modifier plugin
- *
- * Type:     modifier<br>
- * Name:     strip_tags<br>
- * Purpose:  strip html tags from text
- * @link http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.modifier.strip.tags.php
- *          strip_tags (Smarty online manual)
- * @author   Monte Ohrt <monte at ohrt dot com>
- * @param string
- * @param boolean
- * @return string
- */
+* Smarty strip_tags modifier plugin
+* 
+* Type:     modifier<br>
+* Name:     strip_tags<br>
+* Purpose:  strip html tags from text
+* 
+* @link http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.modifier.strip.tags.php strip_tags (Smarty online manual)
+* @author Monte Ohrt <monte at ohrt dot com> 
+* @param string $ 
+* @param boolean $ 
+* @return string 
+*/
 function smarty_modifier_strip_tags($string, $replace_with_space = true)
 {
-    if ($replace_with_space)
-        return mb_ereg_replace('!<[^>]*?>!', ' ', $string,'p');
-    else
+    $smarty = Smarty::instance();
+    if ($replace_with_space) {
+        if ($smarty->has_mb) {
+            return mb_ereg_replace('!<[^>]*?>!', ' ', $string, 'p');
+        } else {
+            return ereg_replace('!<[^>]*?>!', ' ', $string, 'p');
+        } 
+    } else {
         return strip_tags($string);
-}
+    } 
+} 
+
 ?>
diff --git a/libs/plugins/modifier.truncate.php b/libs/plugins/modifier.truncate.php
index e7121fea..5e382a6d 100644
--- a/libs/plugins/modifier.truncate.php
+++ b/libs/plugins/modifier.truncate.php
@@ -12,29 +12,30 @@
 * Type:     modifier<br>
 * Name:     truncate<br>
 * Purpose:  Truncate a string to a certain length if necessary,
-*            optionally splitting in the middle of a word, and
-*            appending the $etc string or inserting $etc into the middle.
+*             optionally splitting in the middle of a word, and
+*             appending the $etc string or inserting $etc into the middle.
 * 
 * @link http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.modifier.truncate.php truncate (Smarty online manual)
 * @author Monte Ohrt <monte at ohrt dot com> 
-* @param string $string input string 
+* @param string $string input string
 * @param integer $length lenght of truncated text
-* @param string $etc end string 
+* @param string $etc end string
 * @param boolean $break_words truncate at word boundary
 * @param boolean $middle truncate in the middle of text
 * @return string truncated string
 */
-    function smarty_modifier_truncate($string, $length = 80, $etc = '...',
-                                  $break_words = false, $middle = false)     
-    {
-
-       if ($length == 0)
-            return '';
+function smarty_modifier_truncate($string, $length = 80, $etc = '...',
+    $break_words = false, $middle = false)
+{
+    if ($length == 0)
+        return '';
 
+    $smarty = Smarty::instance();
+    if ($smarty->has_mb) {
         if (mb_strlen($string) > $length) {
             $length -= min($length, mb_strlen($etc));
             if (!$break_words && !$middle) {
-                $string = mb_ereg_replace('/\s+?(\S+)?$/', '', mb_substr($string, 0, $length + 1),'p');
+                $string = mb_ereg_replace('/\s+?(\S+)?$/', '', mb_substr($string, 0, $length + 1), 'p');
             } 
             if (!$middle) {
                 return mb_substr($string, 0, $length) . $etc;
@@ -44,5 +45,21 @@
         } else {
             return $string;
         } 
+    } else {
+        if (strlen($string) > $length) {
+            $length -= min($length, strlen($etc));
+            if (!$break_words && !$middle) {
+                $string = ereg_replace('/\s+?(\S+)?$/', '', substr($string, 0, $length + 1), 'p');
+            } 
+            if (!$middle) {
+                return substr($string, 0, $length) . $etc;
+            } else {
+                return substr($string, 0, $length / 2) . $etc . substr($string, - $length / 2);
+            } 
+        } else {
+            return $string;
+        } 
     } 
+} 
+
 ?>
diff --git a/libs/plugins/modifier.upper.php b/libs/plugins/modifier.upper.php
index dc5fd859..2b5d9b0b 100644
--- a/libs/plugins/modifier.upper.php
+++ b/libs/plugins/modifier.upper.php
@@ -1,26 +1,31 @@
 <?php
 /**
- * Smarty plugin
- * @package Smarty
- * @subpackage PluginsModifier
- */
-
+* Smarty plugin
+* 
+* @package Smarty
+* @subpackage PluginsModifier
+*/
 
 /**
- * Smarty upper modifier plugin
- *
- * Type:     modifier<br>
- * Name:     upper<br>
- * Purpose:  convert string to uppercase
- * @link http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.modifier.upper.php
- *          upper (Smarty online manual)
- * @author   Monte Ohrt <monte at ohrt dot com>
- * @param string
- * @return string
- */
+* Smarty upper modifier plugin
+* 
+* Type:     modifier<br>
+* Name:     upper<br>
+* Purpose:  convert string to uppercase
+* 
+* @link http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.modifier.upper.php upper (Smarty online manual)
+* @author Monte Ohrt <monte at ohrt dot com> 
+* @param string $ 
+* @return string 
+*/
 function smarty_modifier_upper($string)
 {
-    return mb_strtoupper($string);
-}
+    $smarty = Smarty::instance();
+    if ($smarty->has_mb) {
+        return mb_strtoupper($string);
+    } else {
+        return strtoupper($string);
+    } 
+} 
 
 ?>
diff --git a/libs/sysplugins/internal.compilebase.php b/libs/sysplugins/internal.compilebase.php
index ab0e415d..4bb1e51f 100644
--- a/libs/sysplugins/internal.compilebase.php
+++ b/libs/sysplugins/internal.compilebase.php
@@ -55,8 +55,8 @@ abstract class Smarty_Internal_CompileBase
         if ($this->optional_attributes != array('_any')) {
             $tmp_array = array_merge($this->required_attributes, $this->optional_attributes);
             foreach ($args as $key => $dummy) {
-                if (!in_array($key, $tmp_array) && $key != 0) {
-                    $this->compiler->trigger_template_error("unexspected \"" . $key . "\" attribute");
+                 if (!in_array($key, $tmp_array) && $key !== 0) {
+                   $this->compiler->trigger_template_error("unexspected \"" . $key . "\" attribute");
                 } 
             } 
         }