diff --git a/include/ntfs-3g/misc.h b/include/ntfs-3g/misc.h
index a1d685f6..dbdee9a9 100644
--- a/include/ntfs-3g/misc.h
+++ b/include/ntfs-3g/misc.h
@@ -28,13 +28,16 @@
 
 struct CACHED_GENERIC {
 	struct CACHED_GENERIC *next;
-	char *pathname;
+	void *variable;
+	size_t varsize;
 	void *fixed[0];
 } ;
 
 struct CACHED_INODE {
 	struct CACHED_INODE *next;
 	const char *pathname;
+	size_t varsize;
+		/* above fields must match "struct CACHED_GENERIC" */
 	u64 inum;
 } ;
 
diff --git a/include/ntfs-3g/security.h b/include/ntfs-3g/security.h
index 28084a6d..2e4c56a3 100644
--- a/include/ntfs-3g/security.h
+++ b/include/ntfs-3g/security.h
@@ -43,7 +43,8 @@ struct MAPPING {
 };
 
 /*
- *	Entry in the permissions cache
+ *		Entry in the permissions cache
+ *	Note : this cache is not organized as a generic cache
  */
 
 struct CACHED_PERMISSIONS {
@@ -61,7 +62,9 @@ struct CACHED_PERMISSIONS {
 
 struct CACHED_PERMISSIONS_LEGACY {
 	struct CACHED_PERMISSIONS_LEGACY *next;
-	char *unused;
+	void *variable;
+	size_t varsize;
+		/* above fields must match "struct CACHED_GENERIC" */
 	u64 mft_no;
 	struct CACHED_PERMISSIONS perm;
 } ;
@@ -72,7 +75,9 @@ struct CACHED_PERMISSIONS_LEGACY {
 
 struct CACHED_SECURID {
 	struct CACHED_SECURID *next;
-	void *unused;
+	void *variable;
+	size_t varsize;
+		/* above fields must match "struct CACHED_GENERIC" */
 	uid_t uid;
 	gid_t gid;
 	unsigned int dmode;
@@ -81,6 +86,7 @@ struct CACHED_SECURID {
 
 /*
  *	Header of the security cache
+ *	(has no cache structure by itself)
  */
 
 struct CACHED_PERMISSIONS_HEADER {
@@ -168,8 +174,7 @@ le32 ntfs_alloc_securid(struct SECURITY_CONTEXT *scx,
 int ntfs_set_owner(struct SECURITY_CONTEXT *scx,
 		const char *path, ntfs_inode *ni, uid_t uid, gid_t gid);
 int ntfs_set_owner_mode(struct SECURITY_CONTEXT *scx,
-		ntfs_inode *ni,
-		uid_t uid, gid_t gid, mode_t mode);
+		ntfs_inode *ni, uid_t uid, gid_t gid, mode_t mode);
 le32 ntfs_inherited_id(struct SECURITY_CONTEXT *scx,
 		const char *dir_path, ntfs_inode *dir_ni, BOOL fordir);
 int ntfs_open_secure(ntfs_volume *vol);
diff --git a/libntfs-3g/dir.c b/libntfs-3g/dir.c
index 457e1cbe..56ef4e1d 100644
--- a/libntfs-3g/dir.c
+++ b/libntfs-3g/dir.c
@@ -87,7 +87,8 @@ ntfschar NTFS_INDEX_R[3] = { const_cpu_to_le16('$'), const_cpu_to_le16('R'),
 static int inode_cache_compare(const struct CACHED_GENERIC *cached,
 			const struct CACHED_GENERIC *wanted)
 {
-	return (strcmp(cached->pathname, wanted->pathname));
+	return (!cached->variable
+		    || strcmp(cached->variable, wanted->variable));
 }
 
 /*
@@ -102,10 +103,12 @@ static int inode_cache_inv_compare(const struct CACHED_GENERIC *cached,
 {
 	int len;
 
-	len = strlen(wanted->pathname);
-	return (strncmp(cached->pathname, wanted->pathname,len)
-			|| ((cached->pathname[len] != '\0')
-			   && (cached->pathname[len] != '/')));
+	len = strlen(wanted->variable);
+	return (!cached->variable
+			|| strncmp((const char*)cached->variable,
+				(const char*)wanted->variable,len)
+			|| ((((const char*)cached->variable)[len] != '\0')
+			   && (((const char*)cached->variable)[len] != '/')));
 }
 
 #endif
@@ -497,6 +500,7 @@ ntfs_inode *ntfs_pathname_to_inode(ntfs_volume *vol, ntfs_inode *parent,
 			 */
 		if (*fullname) {
 			item.pathname = fullname;
+			item.varsize = strlen(fullname) + 1;
 			cached = (struct CACHED_INODE*)ntfs_fetch_cache(
 				vol->inode_cache, GENERIC(&item),
 				inode_cache_compare);
@@ -553,6 +557,7 @@ ntfs_inode *ntfs_pathname_to_inode(ntfs_volume *vol, ntfs_inode *parent,
 			inum = ntfs_inode_lookup_by_name(ni, unicode, len);
 		else {
 			item.pathname = fullname;
+			item.varsize = strlen(fullname) + 1;
 			cached = (struct CACHED_INODE*)ntfs_fetch_cache(
 					vol->inode_cache, GENERIC(&item),
 					inode_cache_compare);
diff --git a/libntfs-3g/misc.c b/libntfs-3g/misc.c
index f44b236f..5c3f2f56 100644
--- a/libntfs-3g/misc.c
+++ b/libntfs-3g/misc.c
@@ -136,15 +136,14 @@ struct CACHED_GENERIC *ntfs_enter_cache(struct CACHE_HEADER *cache,
 			/*
 			 * Search sequentially in LRU list to locate the end,
 			 * and find out whether the entry is already in list
-			 * As we normally go to the end, no statitics is
+			 * As we normally go to the end, no statistics is
 			 * kept.
 		 	 */
 		current = cache->most_recent_entry;
 		previous = (struct CACHED_GENERIC*)NULL;
 		before = (struct CACHED_GENERIC*)NULL;
 		while (current
-			&& (!current->pathname
-			   || compare(current, item))) {
+		   && compare(current, item)) {
 			before = previous;
 			previous = current;
 			current = current->next;
@@ -162,35 +161,37 @@ struct CACHED_GENERIC *ntfs_enter_cache(struct CACHE_HEADER *cache,
 			if (cache->free_entry) {
 				current = cache->free_entry;
 				cache->free_entry = cache->free_entry->next;
-				if (item->pathname) {
-					current->pathname = ntfs_malloc(
-						strlen(item->pathname) + 1);
+				if (item->varsize) {
+					current->variable = ntfs_malloc(
+						item->varsize);
 				} else
-					current->pathname = (char*)NULL;
+					current->variable = (void*)NULL;
+				current->varsize = item->varsize;
 			} else {
 				before->next = (struct CACHED_GENERIC*)NULL;
 				current = previous;
-				if (item->pathname) {
-					if (current->pathname)
-						current->pathname = realloc(
-							current->pathname,
-							strlen(item->pathname) + 1);
+				if (item->varsize) {
+					if (current->varsize)
+						current->variable = realloc(
+							current->variable,
+							item->varsize);
 					else
-						current->pathname = ntfs_malloc(
-							strlen(item->pathname) + 1);
+						current->variable = ntfs_malloc(
+							item->varsize);
 				} else {
-					if (current->pathname)
-						free(current->pathname);
-					current->pathname = (char*)NULL;
+					if (current->varsize)
+						free(current->variable);
+					current->variable = (void*)NULL;
 				}
+				current->varsize = item->varsize;
 			}
 			current->next = cache->most_recent_entry;
 			cache->most_recent_entry = current;
 			memcpy(current->fixed, item->fixed, cache->fixed_size);
-			if (item->pathname) {
-				if (current->pathname) {
-					strcpy(current->pathname,
-						item->pathname);
+			if (item->varsize) {
+				if (current->variable) {
+					memcpy(current->variable,
+						item->variable, item->varsize);
 				} else {
 					/*
 					 * no more memory for variable part
@@ -202,8 +203,10 @@ struct CACHED_GENERIC *ntfs_enter_cache(struct CACHE_HEADER *cache,
 					cache->free_entry = current;
 					current = (struct CACHED_GENERIC*)NULL;
 				}
-			} else
-				current->pathname = (char*)NULL;
+			} else {
+				current->variable = (void*)NULL;
+				current->varsize = 0;
+			}
 		}
 		cache->writes++;
 	}
@@ -248,8 +251,9 @@ int ntfs_invalidate_cache(struct CACHE_HEADER *cache,
 					cache->most_recent_entry = current->next;
 				current->next = cache->free_entry;
 				cache->free_entry = current;
-				if (current->pathname)
-					free(current->pathname);
+				if (current->variable)
+					free(current->variable);
+				current->varsize = 0;
 				if (previous)
 					current = previous->next;
 				else
@@ -274,8 +278,8 @@ static void ntfs_free_cache(struct CACHE_HEADER *cache)
 
 	if (cache) {
 		for (entry=cache->most_recent_entry; entry; entry=entry->next)
-			if (entry->pathname)
-				free(entry->pathname);
+			if (entry->variable)
+				free(entry->variable);
 		free(cache);
 	}
 }
@@ -310,12 +314,14 @@ static struct CACHE_HEADER *ntfs_create_cache(const char *name,
 		for (i=0; i<(item_count - 1); i++) {
 			q = (struct CACHED_GENERIC*)((char*)p + full_item_size);
 			p->next = q;
-			p->pathname = (char*)NULL;
+			p->variable = (void*)NULL;
+			p->varsize = 0;
 			p = q;
 		}
 			/* special for the last entry */
 		p->next =  (struct CACHED_GENERIC*)NULL;
-		p->pathname = (char*)NULL;
+		p->variable = (void*)NULL;
+		p->varsize = 0;
 	}
 	return (cache);
 }
diff --git a/libntfs-3g/security.c b/libntfs-3g/security.c
index 8cfc1c0a..73e1c191 100644
--- a/libntfs-3g/security.c
+++ b/libntfs-3g/security.c
@@ -2119,7 +2119,8 @@ static struct CACHED_PERMISSIONS *enter_cache(struct SECURITY_CONTEXT *scx,
 			wanted.perm.inh_fileid = cpu_to_le32(0);
 			wanted.perm.inh_dirid = cpu_to_le32(0);
 			wanted.mft_no = ni->mft_no;
-			wanted.unused = (char*)NULL;
+			wanted.variable = (void*)NULL;
+			wanted.varsize = 0;
 			legacy = (struct CACHED_PERMISSIONS_LEGACY*)ntfs_enter_cache(
 				scx->vol->legacy_cache, GENERIC(&wanted),
 				(cache_compare)leg_compare);
@@ -2177,7 +2178,8 @@ static struct CACHED_PERMISSIONS *fetch_cache(struct SECURITY_CONTEXT *scx,
 			struct CACHED_PERMISSIONS_LEGACY *legacy;
 
 			wanted.mft_no = ni->mft_no;
-			wanted.unused = (char*)NULL;
+			wanted.variable = (void*)NULL;
+			wanted.varsize = 0;
 			legacy = (struct CACHED_PERMISSIONS_LEGACY*)ntfs_fetch_cache(
 				scx->vol->legacy_cache, GENERIC(&wanted),
 				(cache_compare)leg_compare);
@@ -3385,7 +3387,8 @@ le32 ntfs_alloc_securid(struct SECURITY_CONTEXT *scx,
 	wanted.gid = gid;
 	wanted.dmode = mode & 07777;
 	if (isdir) wanted.dmode |= 0x10000;
-	wanted.unused = (char*)NULL;
+	wanted.variable = (void*)NULL;
+	wanted.varsize = 0;
 	cached = (const struct CACHED_SECURID*)ntfs_fetch_cache(
 			scx->vol->securid_cache, GENERIC(&wanted),
 			(cache_compare)compare);
@@ -3459,7 +3462,8 @@ int ntfs_set_owner_mode(struct SECURITY_CONTEXT *scx, ntfs_inode *ni,
 		wanted.gid = gid;
 		wanted.dmode = mode & 07777;
 		if (isdir) wanted.dmode |= 0x10000;
-		wanted.unused = (char*)NULL;
+		wanted.variable = (void*)NULL;
+		wanted.varsize = 0;
 		cached = (const struct CACHED_SECURID*)ntfs_fetch_cache(
 				scx->vol->securid_cache, GENERIC(&wanted),
 				(cache_compare)compare);
@@ -3501,7 +3505,8 @@ int ntfs_set_owner_mode(struct SECURITY_CONTEXT *scx, ntfs_inode *ni,
 					struct CACHED_PERMISSIONS_LEGACY legacy;
 
 					legacy.mft_no = ni->mft_no;
-					legacy.unused = (char*)NULL;
+					legacy.variable = (void*)NULL;
+					legacy.varsize = 0;
 					ntfs_invalidate_cache(scx->vol->legacy_cache,
 						GENERIC(&legacy),
 						(cache_compare)leg_compare);