diff --git a/COPYING b/COPYING
index 2fcb217..88798ab 120000
--- a/COPYING
+++ b/COPYING
@@ -1 +1 @@
-/usr/share/automake-1.13/COPYING
\ No newline at end of file
+/usr/share/automake-1.15/COPYING
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 8b641e3..ddcdb76 120000
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -1 +1 @@
-/usr/share/automake-1.13/INSTALL
\ No newline at end of file
+/usr/share/automake-1.15/INSTALL
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/exceptions.hxx b/src/exceptions.hxx
index e1bfd49..27bf1b1 100644
--- a/src/exceptions.hxx
+++ b/src/exceptions.hxx
@@ -16,8 +16,9 @@ class Exception: public std::exception {
     Exception(QString w): _what(w) {}
     ~Exception() throw() {}
     const char* what() const throw() {
-      _bytes = _what.toUtf8();
-      return _bytes.data();
+      static QByteArray bytes;
+      bytes = _what.toUtf8();
+      return bytes.data();
     }
     void line(int linenr) {
       if (linenr>0) _what=QString::number(linenr)+" "+_what;
@@ -26,7 +27,6 @@ class Exception: public std::exception {
       if (filename.size()) _what=filename+":"+_what;
     }
   protected:
-    QByteArray _bytes;
     QString _what;
 };