diff --git a/src/utils/pathut.cpp b/src/utils/pathut.cpp
index bd3672d1..78839bd4 100644
--- a/src/utils/pathut.cpp
+++ b/src/utils/pathut.cpp
@@ -75,10 +75,6 @@
 
 #ifdef _WIN32
 
-#if !defined(S_IFLNK)
-#define S_IFLNK 0
-#endif
-
 #ifndef _MSC_VER
 #undef WINVER
 #define WINVER 0x0601
@@ -98,6 +94,10 @@
 #include <io.h>
 
 #include <sys/stat.h>
+
+#if !defined(S_IFLNK)
+#define S_IFLNK 0
+#endif
 #ifndef S_ISDIR
 # define S_ISDIR(ST_MODE) (((ST_MODE) & _S_IFMT) == _S_IFDIR)
 #endif
@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@
 #define MKDIR(a,b) _wmkdir(a)
 #define OPEN ::_wopen
 #define UNLINK _wunlink
+#define CHDIR _wchdir
 
 #define ftruncate _chsize_s
 
@@ -153,7 +154,8 @@
 #define MKDIR(a,b) mkdir(a,b)
 #define O_BINARY 0
 #define OPEN ::open
-#define UNLINK unlink
+#define UNLINK ::unlink
+#define CHDIR ::chdir
 
 #endif /* !_WIN32 */
 
@@ -161,29 +163,39 @@ using namespace std;
 
 #ifdef _WIN32
 
-bool wchartoutf8(const wchar_t *in, std::string& out)
+std::string wchartoutf8(const wchar_t *in, size_t len)
 {
-    // fprintf(stderr, "WCHARTOUTF8: in [%S]\n", in);
+    std::string out;
+    wchartoutf8(in, out, len);
+    return out;
+}
+
+bool wchartoutf8(const wchar_t *in, std::string& out, size_t wlen)
+{
+    LOGDEB1("WCHARTOUTF8: in [" << in << "]\n");
     out.clear();
     if (nullptr == in) {
         return true;
     }
-    size_t wlen = wcslen(in);
+    if (wlen == 0) {
+        wlen = wcslen(in);
+    }
+    int flags = WC_ERR_INVALID_CHARS|WC_NO_BEST_FIT_CHARS;
     int bytes = ::WideCharToMultiByte(
-        CP_UTF8, WC_ERR_INVALID_CHARS, in, wlen, nullptr, 0, nullptr, nullptr);
+        CP_UTF8, flags, in, wlen, nullptr, 0, nullptr, nullptr);
     if (bytes <= 0) {
-        std::cerr << "wchartoutf8: CONVERSION ERROR1\n";
+        LOGERR("wchartoutf8: conversion error1\n");
         return false;
     }
     char *cp = (char *)malloc(bytes+1);
     if (nullptr == cp) {
-        std::cerr << "wchartoutf8: MALLOC FAILED\n";
+        LOGERR("wchartoutf8: malloc failed\n");
         return false;
     }
     bytes = ::WideCharToMultiByte(
-        CP_UTF8, WC_ERR_INVALID_CHARS, in, wlen, cp, bytes, nullptr, nullptr);
+        CP_UTF8, flags, in, wlen, cp, bytes, nullptr, nullptr);
     if (bytes <= 0) {
-        std::cerr << "wchartoutf8: CONVERSION ERROR2\n";
+        LOGERR("wchartoutf8: CONVERSION ERROR2\n");
         free(cp);
         return false;
     }
@@ -204,17 +216,17 @@ bool utf8towchar(const std::string& in, wchar_t *out, size_t obytescap)
     int wcharcnt = MultiByteToWideChar(
         CP_UTF8, MB_ERR_INVALID_CHARS, in.c_str(), in.size(), nullptr, 0);
     if (wcharcnt <= 0) {
-        std::cerr << "utf8towchar: CONVERSION ERROR\n";
+        LOGERR("utf8towchar: conversion error for [" << in << "]\n");
         return false;
     }
     if (wcharcnt + 1 >  int(wcharsavail)) {
-        std::cerr << "utf8towchar: NOT ENOUGH SPACE\n";
+        LOGERR("utf8towchar: not enough space\n");
         return false;
     }
     wcharcnt = MultiByteToWideChar(
         CP_UTF8, MB_ERR_INVALID_CHARS, in.c_str(), in.size(), out, wcharsavail);
     if (wcharcnt <= 0) {
-        std::cerr << "utf8towchar: CONVERSION ERROR\n";
+        LOGERR("utf8towchar: conversion error for [" << in << "]\n");
         return false;
     }
     out[wcharcnt] = 0;
@@ -836,6 +848,12 @@ bool path_makepath(const string& ipath, int mode)
     return true;
 }
 
+bool path_chdir(const std::string& path)
+{
+    SYSPATH(path, syspath);
+    return CHDIR(syspath) == 0;
+}
+
 #if !defined(__GNUC__) || __GNUC__ > 4 || defined(__clang__)
 // Not sure what g++ version supports fstream assignment but 4.9
 // (jessie) certainly does not
diff --git a/src/utils/pathut.h b/src/utils/pathut.h
index 3bcfc874..646a0517 100644
--- a/src/utils/pathut.h
+++ b/src/utils/pathut.h
@@ -109,7 +109,8 @@ extern bool path_readable(const std::string& path);
 extern std::string path_PATHsep();
 
 #ifdef _WIN32
-extern bool wchartoutf8(const wchar_t *in, std::string& out);
+extern bool wchartoutf8(const wchar_t *in, std::string& out, size_t len = 0);
+extern std::string wchartoutf8(const wchar_t *in, size_t len = 0);
 extern bool utf8towchar(const std::string& in, wchar_t *out, size_t obytescap);
 #define SYSPATH(PATH, SPATH) wchar_t PATH ## _buf[2048];      \
     utf8towchar(PATH, PATH ## _buf, 2048);                    \
@@ -132,6 +133,9 @@ bool fsocc(const std::string& path, int *pc, long long *avmbs = 0);
 /// mkdir -p
 extern bool path_makepath(const std::string& path, int mode);
 
+///
+extern bool path_chdir(const std::string& path);
+
 /* Open file, trying to do the right thing with non-ASCII paths on
  * Windows, where it only works with MSVC at the moment if the path is
  * not ASCII, because it uses fstream(wchar_t*), which is an MSVC