diff --git a/doc/go_spec.html b/doc/go_spec.html
index 0e52d4d230c..43281c99531 100644
--- a/doc/go_spec.html
+++ b/doc/go_spec.html
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 <!-- title The Go Programming Language Specification -->
-<!-- subtitle Version of November 14, 2011 -->
+<!-- subtitle Version of November 22, 2011 -->
 
 <!--
 TODO
@@ -3346,42 +3346,50 @@ MyString(0x65e5)      // "\u65e5" == "日" == "\xe6\x97\xa5"
 </li>
 
 <li>
-Converting a value of type <code>[]byte</code> to a string type yields
+Converting a slice of bytes to a string type yields
 a string whose successive bytes are the elements of the slice.  If
 the slice value is <code>nil</code>, the result is the empty string.
 
 <pre>
-string([]byte{'h', 'e', 'l', 'l', '\xc3', '\xb8'})  // "hellø"
+string([]byte{'h', 'e', 'l', 'l', '\xc3', '\xb8'})   // "hellø"
+
+type MyBytes []byte
+string(MyBytes{'h', 'e', 'l', 'l', '\xc3', '\xb8'})  // "hellø"
 </pre>
 </li>
 
 <li>
-Converting a value of type <code>[]rune</code> to a string type yields
+Converting a slice of runes to a string type yields
 a string that is the concatenation of the individual rune values
 converted to strings.  If the slice value is <code>nil</code>, the
 result is the empty string.
 
 <pre>
-string([]rune{0x767d, 0x9d6c, 0x7fd4})  // "\u767d\u9d6c\u7fd4" == "白鵬翔"
+string([]rune{0x767d, 0x9d6c, 0x7fd4})   // "\u767d\u9d6c\u7fd4" == "白鵬翔"
+
+type MyRunes []rune
+string(MyRunes{0x767d, 0x9d6c, 0x7fd4})  // "\u767d\u9d6c\u7fd4" == "白鵬翔"
 </pre>
 </li>
 
 <li>
-Converting a value of a string type to <code>[]byte</code> (or <code>[]uint8</code>)
+Converting a value of a string type to a slice of bytes type
 yields a slice whose successive elements are the bytes of the string.
 If the string is empty, the result is <code>[]byte(nil)</code>.
 
 <pre>
 []byte("hellø")  // []byte{'h', 'e', 'l', 'l', '\xc3', '\xb8'}
+MyBytes("hellø") // []byte{'h', 'e', 'l', 'l', '\xc3', '\xb8'}
 </pre>
 </li>
 
 <li>
-Converting a value of a string type to <code>[]rune</code> yields a
-slice containing the individual Unicode code points of the string.
+Converting a value of a string type to a slice of runes type
+yields a slice containing the individual Unicode code points of the string.
 If the string is empty, the result is <code>[]rune(nil)</code>.
 <pre>
 []rune(MyString("白鵬翔"))  // []rune{0x767d, 0x9d6c, 0x7fd4}
+MyRunes("白鵬翔")           // []rune{0x767d, 0x9d6c, 0x7fd4}
 </pre>
 </li>
 </ol>
diff --git a/src/cmd/gc/subr.c b/src/cmd/gc/subr.c
index 913ea22d304..36dbb7b4377 100644
--- a/src/cmd/gc/subr.c
+++ b/src/cmd/gc/subr.c
@@ -1177,19 +1177,19 @@ convertop(Type *src, Type *dst, char **why)
 	if(isint[src->etype] && dst->etype == TSTRING)
 		return ORUNESTR;
 
-	if(isslice(src) && src->sym == nil && dst->etype == TSTRING) {
-		if(eqtype(src->type, bytetype))
+	if(isslice(src) && dst->etype == TSTRING) {
+		if(src->type->etype == bytetype->etype)
 			return OARRAYBYTESTR;
-		if(eqtype(src->type, runetype))
+		if(src->type->etype == runetype->etype)
 			return OARRAYRUNESTR;
 	}
 	
 	// 7. src is a string and dst is []byte or []rune.
 	// String to slice.
-	if(src->etype == TSTRING && isslice(dst) && dst->sym == nil) {
-		if(eqtype(dst->type, bytetype))
+	if(src->etype == TSTRING && isslice(dst)) {
+		if(dst->type->etype == bytetype->etype)
 			return OSTRARRAYBYTE;
-		if(eqtype(dst->type, runetype))
+		if(dst->type->etype == runetype->etype)
 			return OSTRARRAYRUNE;
 	}
 	
diff --git a/src/pkg/encoding/xml/xml_test.go b/src/pkg/encoding/xml/xml_test.go
index bcb22afde00..828fac53ab3 100644
--- a/src/pkg/encoding/xml/xml_test.go
+++ b/src/pkg/encoding/xml/xml_test.go
@@ -29,71 +29,69 @@ const testInput = `
 </body><!-- missing final newline -->`
 
 var rawTokens = []Token{
-	CharData([]byte("\n")),
+	CharData("\n"),
 	ProcInst{"xml", []byte(`version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"`)},
-	CharData([]byte("\n")),
-	Directive([]byte(`DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
+	CharData("\n"),
+	Directive(`DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"`),
-	),
-	CharData([]byte("\n")),
+	CharData("\n"),
 	StartElement{Name{"", "body"}, []Attr{{Name{"xmlns", "foo"}, "ns1"}, {Name{"", "xmlns"}, "ns2"}, {Name{"xmlns", "tag"}, "ns3"}}},
-	CharData([]byte("\n  ")),
+	CharData("\n  "),
 	StartElement{Name{"", "hello"}, []Attr{{Name{"", "lang"}, "en"}}},
-	CharData([]byte("World <>'\" 白鵬翔")),
+	CharData("World <>'\" 白鵬翔"),
 	EndElement{Name{"", "hello"}},
-	CharData([]byte("\n  ")),
+	CharData("\n  "),
 	StartElement{Name{"", "goodbye"}, []Attr{}},
 	EndElement{Name{"", "goodbye"}},
-	CharData([]byte("\n  ")),
+	CharData("\n  "),
 	StartElement{Name{"", "outer"}, []Attr{{Name{"foo", "attr"}, "value"}, {Name{"xmlns", "tag"}, "ns4"}}},
-	CharData([]byte("\n    ")),
+	CharData("\n    "),
 	StartElement{Name{"", "inner"}, []Attr{}},
 	EndElement{Name{"", "inner"}},
-	CharData([]byte("\n  ")),
+	CharData("\n  "),
 	EndElement{Name{"", "outer"}},
-	CharData([]byte("\n  ")),
+	CharData("\n  "),
 	StartElement{Name{"tag", "name"}, []Attr{}},
-	CharData([]byte("\n    ")),
-	CharData([]byte("Some text here.")),
-	CharData([]byte("\n  ")),
+	CharData("\n    "),
+	CharData("Some text here."),
+	CharData("\n  "),
 	EndElement{Name{"tag", "name"}},
-	CharData([]byte("\n")),
+	CharData("\n"),
 	EndElement{Name{"", "body"}},
-	Comment([]byte(" missing final newline ")),
+	Comment(" missing final newline "),
 }
 
 var cookedTokens = []Token{
-	CharData([]byte("\n")),
+	CharData("\n"),
 	ProcInst{"xml", []byte(`version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"`)},
-	CharData([]byte("\n")),
-	Directive([]byte(`DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
+	CharData("\n"),
+	Directive(`DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"`),
-	),
-	CharData([]byte("\n")),
+	CharData("\n"),
 	StartElement{Name{"ns2", "body"}, []Attr{{Name{"xmlns", "foo"}, "ns1"}, {Name{"", "xmlns"}, "ns2"}, {Name{"xmlns", "tag"}, "ns3"}}},
-	CharData([]byte("\n  ")),
+	CharData("\n  "),
 	StartElement{Name{"ns2", "hello"}, []Attr{{Name{"", "lang"}, "en"}}},
-	CharData([]byte("World <>'\" 白鵬翔")),
+	CharData("World <>'\" 白鵬翔"),
 	EndElement{Name{"ns2", "hello"}},
-	CharData([]byte("\n  ")),
+	CharData("\n  "),
 	StartElement{Name{"ns2", "goodbye"}, []Attr{}},
 	EndElement{Name{"ns2", "goodbye"}},
-	CharData([]byte("\n  ")),
+	CharData("\n  "),
 	StartElement{Name{"ns2", "outer"}, []Attr{{Name{"ns1", "attr"}, "value"}, {Name{"xmlns", "tag"}, "ns4"}}},
-	CharData([]byte("\n    ")),
+	CharData("\n    "),
 	StartElement{Name{"ns2", "inner"}, []Attr{}},
 	EndElement{Name{"ns2", "inner"}},
-	CharData([]byte("\n  ")),
+	CharData("\n  "),
 	EndElement{Name{"ns2", "outer"}},
-	CharData([]byte("\n  ")),
+	CharData("\n  "),
 	StartElement{Name{"ns3", "name"}, []Attr{}},
-	CharData([]byte("\n    ")),
-	CharData([]byte("Some text here.")),
-	CharData([]byte("\n  ")),
+	CharData("\n    "),
+	CharData("Some text here."),
+	CharData("\n  "),
 	EndElement{Name{"ns3", "name"}},
-	CharData([]byte("\n")),
+	CharData("\n"),
 	EndElement{Name{"ns2", "body"}},
-	Comment([]byte(" missing final newline ")),
+	Comment(" missing final newline "),
 }
 
 const testInputAltEncoding = `
@@ -101,11 +99,11 @@ const testInputAltEncoding = `
 <TAG>VALUE</TAG>`
 
 var rawTokensAltEncoding = []Token{
-	CharData([]byte("\n")),
+	CharData("\n"),
 	ProcInst{"xml", []byte(`version="1.0" encoding="x-testing-uppercase"`)},
-	CharData([]byte("\n")),
+	CharData("\n"),
 	StartElement{Name{"", "tag"}, []Attr{}},
-	CharData([]byte("value")),
+	CharData("value"),
 	EndElement{Name{"", "tag"}},
 }
 
@@ -270,21 +268,21 @@ var nestedDirectivesInput = `
 `
 
 var nestedDirectivesTokens = []Token{
-	CharData([]byte("\n")),
-	Directive([]byte(`DOCTYPE [<!ENTITY rdf "http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">]`)),
-	CharData([]byte("\n")),
-	Directive([]byte(`DOCTYPE [<!ENTITY xlt ">">]`)),
-	CharData([]byte("\n")),
-	Directive([]byte(`DOCTYPE [<!ENTITY xlt "<">]`)),
-	CharData([]byte("\n")),
-	Directive([]byte(`DOCTYPE [<!ENTITY xlt '>'>]`)),
-	CharData([]byte("\n")),
-	Directive([]byte(`DOCTYPE [<!ENTITY xlt '<'>]`)),
-	CharData([]byte("\n")),
-	Directive([]byte(`DOCTYPE [<!ENTITY xlt '">'>]`)),
-	CharData([]byte("\n")),
-	Directive([]byte(`DOCTYPE [<!ENTITY xlt "'<">]`)),
-	CharData([]byte("\n")),
+	CharData("\n"),
+	Directive(`DOCTYPE [<!ENTITY rdf "http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">]`),
+	CharData("\n"),
+	Directive(`DOCTYPE [<!ENTITY xlt ">">]`),
+	CharData("\n"),
+	Directive(`DOCTYPE [<!ENTITY xlt "<">]`),
+	CharData("\n"),
+	Directive(`DOCTYPE [<!ENTITY xlt '>'>]`),
+	CharData("\n"),
+	Directive(`DOCTYPE [<!ENTITY xlt '<'>]`),
+	CharData("\n"),
+	Directive(`DOCTYPE [<!ENTITY xlt '">'>]`),
+	CharData("\n"),
+	Directive(`DOCTYPE [<!ENTITY xlt "'<">]`),
+	CharData("\n"),
 }
 
 func TestNestedDirectives(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/src/pkg/net/http/sniff.go b/src/pkg/net/http/sniff.go
index 5707c7f057f..c1c78e2417d 100644
--- a/src/pkg/net/http/sniff.go
+++ b/src/pkg/net/http/sniff.go
@@ -48,23 +48,23 @@ type sniffSig interface {
 
 // Data matching the table in section 6.
 var sniffSignatures = []sniffSig{
-	htmlSig([]byte("<!DOCTYPE HTML")),
-	htmlSig([]byte("<HTML")),
-	htmlSig([]byte("<HEAD")),
-	htmlSig([]byte("<SCRIPT")),
-	htmlSig([]byte("<IFRAME")),
-	htmlSig([]byte("<H1")),
-	htmlSig([]byte("<DIV")),
-	htmlSig([]byte("<FONT")),
-	htmlSig([]byte("<TABLE")),
-	htmlSig([]byte("<A")),
-	htmlSig([]byte("<STYLE")),
-	htmlSig([]byte("<TITLE")),
-	htmlSig([]byte("<B")),
-	htmlSig([]byte("<BODY")),
-	htmlSig([]byte("<BR")),
-	htmlSig([]byte("<P")),
-	htmlSig([]byte("<!--")),
+	htmlSig("<!DOCTYPE HTML"),
+	htmlSig("<HTML"),
+	htmlSig("<HEAD"),
+	htmlSig("<SCRIPT"),
+	htmlSig("<IFRAME"),
+	htmlSig("<H1"),
+	htmlSig("<DIV"),
+	htmlSig("<FONT"),
+	htmlSig("<TABLE"),
+	htmlSig("<A"),
+	htmlSig("<STYLE"),
+	htmlSig("<TITLE"),
+	htmlSig("<B"),
+	htmlSig("<BODY"),
+	htmlSig("<BR"),
+	htmlSig("<P"),
+	htmlSig("<!--"),
 
 	&maskedSig{mask: []byte("\xFF\xFF\xFF\xFF\xFF"), pat: []byte("<?xml"), skipWS: true, ct: "text/xml; charset=utf-8"},
 
diff --git a/src/pkg/net/mail/message.go b/src/pkg/net/mail/message.go
index 95246b2fa1d..a1a86d3c6f7 100644
--- a/src/pkg/net/mail/message.go
+++ b/src/pkg/net/mail/message.go
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ func (a *Address) String() string {
 type addrParser []byte
 
 func newAddrParser(s string) *addrParser {
-	p := addrParser([]byte(s))
+	p := addrParser(s)
 	return &p
 }
 
diff --git a/test/convert1.go b/test/convert1.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9de1b7e0170
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/convert1.go
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+// errchk $G -e $D/$F.go
+
+// Copyright 2011 The Go Authors.  All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package main
+
+type Tbyte []byte
+type Trune []rune
+type Tint64 []int64
+type Tstring string
+
+func main() {
+	s := "hello"
+	sb := []byte("hello")
+	sr := []rune("hello")
+	si := []int64{'h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o'}
+
+	ts := Tstring(s)
+	tsb := Tbyte(sb)
+	tsr := Trune(sr)
+	tsi := Tint64(si)
+
+	_ = string(s)
+	_ = []byte(s)
+	_ = []rune(s)
+	_ = []int64(s) // ERROR "cannot convert.*\[\]int64"
+	_ = Tstring(s)
+	_ = Tbyte(s)
+	_ = Trune(s)
+	_ = Tint64(s) // ERROR "cannot convert.*Tint64"
+
+	_ = string(sb)
+	_ = []byte(sb)
+	_ = []rune(sb)  // ERROR "cannot convert.*\[\]rune"
+	_ = []int64(sb) // ERROR "cannot convert.*\[\]int64"
+	_ = Tstring(sb)
+	_ = Tbyte(sb)
+	_ = Trune(sb)  // ERROR "cannot convert.*Trune"
+	_ = Tint64(sb) // ERROR "cannot convert.*Tint64"
+
+	_ = string(sr)
+	_ = []byte(sr) // ERROR "cannot convert.*\[\]byte"
+	_ = []rune(sr)
+	_ = []int64(sr) // ERROR "cannot convert.*\[\]int64"
+	_ = Tstring(sr)
+	_ = Tbyte(sr) // ERROR "cannot convert.*Tbyte"
+	_ = Trune(sr)
+	_ = Tint64(sr) // ERROR "cannot convert.*Tint64"
+
+	_ = string(si) // ERROR "cannot convert.* string"
+	_ = []byte(si) // ERROR "cannot convert.*\[\]byte"
+	_ = []rune(si) // ERROR "cannot convert.*\[\]rune"
+	_ = []int64(si)
+	_ = Tstring(si) // ERROR "cannot convert.*Tstring"
+	_ = Tbyte(si)   // ERROR "cannot convert.*Tbyte"
+	_ = Trune(si)   // ERROR "cannot convert.*Trune"
+	_ = Tint64(si)
+
+	_ = string(ts)
+	_ = []byte(ts)
+	_ = []rune(ts)
+	_ = []int64(ts) // ERROR "cannot convert.*\[\]int64"
+	_ = Tstring(ts)
+	_ = Tbyte(ts)
+	_ = Trune(ts)
+	_ = Tint64(ts) // ERROR "cannot convert.*Tint64"
+
+	_ = string(tsb)
+	_ = []byte(tsb)
+	_ = []rune(tsb)  // ERROR "cannot convert.*\[\]rune"
+	_ = []int64(tsb) // ERROR "cannot convert.*\[\]int64"
+	_ = Tstring(tsb)
+	_ = Tbyte(tsb)
+	_ = Trune(tsb)  // ERROR "cannot convert.*Trune"
+	_ = Tint64(tsb) // ERROR "cannot convert.*Tint64"
+
+	_ = string(tsr)
+	_ = []byte(tsr) // ERROR "cannot convert.*\[\]byte"
+	_ = []rune(tsr)
+	_ = []int64(tsr) // ERROR "cannot convert.*\[\]int64"
+	_ = Tstring(tsr)
+	_ = Tbyte(tsr) // ERROR "cannot convert.*Tbyte"
+	_ = Trune(tsr)
+	_ = Tint64(tsr) // ERROR "cannot convert.*Tint64"
+
+	_ = string(tsi) // ERROR "cannot convert.* string"
+	_ = []byte(tsi) // ERROR "cannot convert.*\[\]byte"
+	_ = []rune(tsi) // ERROR "cannot convert.*\[\]rune"
+	_ = []int64(tsi)
+	_ = Tstring(tsi) // ERROR "cannot convert.*Tstring"
+	_ = Tbyte(tsi)   // ERROR "cannot convert.*Tbyte"
+	_ = Trune(tsi)   // ERROR "cannot convert.*Trune"
+	_ = Tint64(tsi)
+}
diff --git a/test/convlit.go b/test/convlit.go
index 2e3b15bda10..1e82d1f2f56 100644
--- a/test/convlit.go
+++ b/test/convlit.go
@@ -54,12 +54,12 @@ var _ = []byte(ss)
 var _ []rune = ss // ERROR "cannot use|incompatible|invalid"
 var _ []byte = ss // ERROR "cannot use|incompatible|invalid"
 
-// named slice is not
+// named slice is now ok
 type Trune []rune
 type Tbyte []byte
 
-var _ = Trune("abc") // ERROR "convert|incompatible|invalid"
-var _ = Tbyte("abc") // ERROR "convert|incompatible|invalid"
+var _ = Trune("abc") // ok
+var _ = Tbyte("abc") // ok
 
 // implicit is still not
 var _ Trune = "abc" // ERROR "cannot use|incompatible|invalid"
diff --git a/test/named1.go b/test/named1.go
index fe71df844f0..64e492886e7 100644
--- a/test/named1.go
+++ b/test/named1.go
@@ -54,8 +54,8 @@ func main() {
 
 	_, bb := <-c
 	asBool(bb) // ERROR "cannot use.*type bool.*as type Bool"
-	_, b = <-c     // ERROR "cannot .* bool.*type Bool"
+	_, b = <-c // ERROR "cannot .* bool.*type Bool"
 	_ = b
 
-	asString(String(slice)) // ERROR "cannot .*type Slice.*type String"
+	asString(String(slice)) // ok
 }