diff --git a/etc/makepkg.conf.in b/etc/makepkg.conf.in
index 7a75cdf3..a7ddaa0f 100644
--- a/etc/makepkg.conf.in
+++ b/etc/makepkg.conf.in
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ USE_COLOR="y"
 NOSTRIP=0
 #-- Keep doc and info directories
 KEEPDOCS=0
+#-- Use ccache when building
+USE_CCACHE=0
 
 #########################################################################
 # PACKAGE OUTPUT
@@ -63,9 +65,14 @@ KEEPDOCS=0
 #   Most of this will probably not need to be changed by and end user
 #########################################################################
 #
+#-- Name of the script which makepkg reads
 BUILDSCRIPT="PKGBUILD"
+#-- Extension of the resultant package
 PKGEXT="pkg.tar.gz"
-INTEGRITY_CHECK="sha1"
-
+#-- File integrity checks to use. Valid:
+#   md5, sha1, sha256, sha384, sha512
+INTEGRITY_CHECK=(md5 sha1)
+#-- The root to use when building from source
 source "/etc/abs/abs.conf"
 SRCROOT=$ABSROOT
+
diff --git a/lib/libalpm/error.c b/lib/libalpm/error.c
index f1d7356c..1597f0cb 100644
--- a/lib/libalpm/error.c
+++ b/lib/libalpm/error.c
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ char *alpm_strerror(int err)
 		case PM_ERR_MEMORY:
 			return _("out of memory!");
 		case PM_ERR_SYSTEM:
-			return _("unexpected error");
+			return _("unexpected system error");
 		case PM_ERR_BADPERMS:
 			return _("insufficient privileges");
 		case PM_ERR_WRONG_ARGS:
diff --git a/lib/libalpm/util.c b/lib/libalpm/util.c
index ddaecebb..f1f74202 100644
--- a/lib/libalpm/util.c
+++ b/lib/libalpm/util.c
@@ -273,8 +273,10 @@ int _alpm_unpack(const char *archive, const char *prefix, const char *fn)
 	archive_read_support_compression_all(_archive);
 	archive_read_support_format_all(_archive);
 
-	if(archive_read_open_file(_archive, archive, ARCHIVE_DEFAULT_BYTES_PER_BLOCK) != ARCHIVE_OK)
+	if(archive_read_open_file(_archive, archive, ARCHIVE_DEFAULT_BYTES_PER_BLOCK) != ARCHIVE_OK) {
+		_alpm_log(PM_LOG_ERROR, _("could not open %s: %s\n"), archive, archive_error_string(_archive));
 		RET_ERR(PM_ERR_PKG_OPEN, -1);
+	}
 
 	while(archive_read_next_header(_archive, &entry) == ARCHIVE_OK) {
 		if (fn && strcmp(fn, archive_entry_pathname(entry))) {
@@ -285,7 +287,7 @@ int _alpm_unpack(const char *archive, const char *prefix, const char *fn)
 		snprintf(expath, PATH_MAX, "%s/%s", prefix, archive_entry_pathname(entry));
 		archive_entry_set_pathname(entry, expath);
 		if(archive_read_extract(_archive, entry, ARCHIVE_EXTRACT_FLAGS) != ARCHIVE_OK) {
-			fprintf(stderr, _("could not extract %s: %s\n"), archive_entry_pathname(entry), archive_error_string(_archive));
+			_alpm_log(PM_LOG_ERROR, _("could not extract %s: %s\n"), archive_entry_pathname(entry), archive_error_string(_archive));
 			 return(1);
 		}
 
diff --git a/src/pacman/sync.c b/src/pacman/sync.c
index c4932e89..345f9fd4 100644
--- a/src/pacman/sync.c
+++ b/src/pacman/sync.c
@@ -59,9 +59,9 @@ static int sync_cleancache(int level)
 	char dirpath[PATH_MAX];
 
 	alpm_get_option(PM_OPT_ROOT, &lroot);
-	root = (void *)&lroot;
+	root = (void *)lroot;
 	alpm_get_option(PM_OPT_CACHEDIR, &lcachedir);
-	cachedir = (void *)&lcachedir;
+	cachedir = (void *)lcachedir;
 
 	snprintf(dirpath, PATH_MAX, "%s%s", root, cachedir);