diff --git a/system/core/CodeIgniter.php b/system/core/CodeIgniter.php
index 044b647..1f10c45 100644
--- a/system/core/CodeIgniter.php
+++ b/system/core/CodeIgniter.php
@@ -124,6 +124,11 @@
  * ------------------------------------------------------
  *  Instantiate the config class
  * ------------------------------------------------------
+ *
+ * Note: It is important that Config is loaded first as
+ * most other classes depend on it either directly or by
+ * depending on another class that uses it.
+ *
  */
 	$CFG =& load_class('Config', 'core');
 
@@ -138,14 +143,58 @@
 
 /*
  * ------------------------------------------------------
- *  Instantiate the UTF-8 class
+ * Important charset-related stuff
  * ------------------------------------------------------
  *
- * Note: Order here is rather important as the UTF-8
- * class needs to be used very early on, but it cannot
- * properly determine if UTF-8 can be supported until
- * after the Config class is instantiated.
+ * Configure mbstring and/or iconv if they are enabled
+ * and set MB_ENABLED and ICONV_ENABLED constants, so
+ * that we don't repeatedly do extension_loaded() or
+ * function_exists() calls.
  *
+ * Note: UTF-8 class depends on this. It used to be done
+ * in it's constructor, but it's _not_ class-specific.
+ *
+ */
+	$charset = strtoupper(config_item('charset'));
+
+	if (extension_loaded('mbstring'))
+	{
+		define('MB_ENABLED', TRUE);
+		mb_internal_encoding($charset);
+		// This is required for mb_convert_encoding() to strip invalid characters.
+		// That's utilized by CI_Utf8, but it's also done for consistency with iconv.
+		mb_substitute_character('none');
+	}
+	else
+	{
+		define('MB_ENABLED', FALSE);
+	}
+
+	// There's an ICONV_IMPL constant, but the PHP manual says that using
+	// iconv's predefined constants is "strongly discouraged".
+	if (extension_loaded('iconv'))
+	{
+		define('ICONV_ENABLED', TRUE);
+		iconv_set_encoding('internal_encoding', $charset);
+	}
+	else
+	{
+		define('ICONV_ENABLED', FALSE);
+	}
+
+/*
+ * ------------------------------------------------------
+ *  Load compatibility features
+ * ------------------------------------------------------
+ */
+
+	require_once(BASEPATH.'core/compat/mbstring.php');
+	require_once(BASEPATH.'core/compat/password.php');
+
+/*
+ * ------------------------------------------------------
+ *  Instantiate the UTF-8 class
+ * ------------------------------------------------------
  */
 	$UNI =& load_class('Utf8', 'core');
 
diff --git a/system/core/Utf8.php b/system/core/Utf8.php
index b58c611..6ca1a02 100644
--- a/system/core/Utf8.php
+++ b/system/core/Utf8.php
@@ -48,42 +48,10 @@
 	 */
 	public function __construct()
 	{
-		log_message('debug', 'Utf8 Class Initialized');
-
-		$charset = strtoupper(config_item('charset'));
-
-		// set internal encoding for multibyte string functions if necessary
-		// and set a flag so we don't have to repeatedly use extension_loaded()
-		// or function_exists()
-		if (extension_loaded('mbstring'))
-		{
-			define('MB_ENABLED', TRUE);
-			mb_internal_encoding($charset);
-			// This is required for mb_convert_encoding() to strip invalid characters
-			ini_set('mbstring.substitute_character', 'none');
-		}
-		else
-		{
-			define('MB_ENABLED', FALSE);
-		}
-
-		// Do the same for iconv, which actually has more easy to remember
-		// predefined constants (such as ICONV_IMPL), but the iconv PHP
-		// manual page says that using them is "strongly discouraged".
-		if (extension_loaded('iconv'))
-		{
-			define('ICONV_ENABLED', TRUE);
-			iconv_set_encoding('internal_encoding', $charset);
-		}
-		else
-		{
-			define('ICONV_ENABLED', FALSE);
-		}
-
 		if (
 			defined('PREG_BAD_UTF8_ERROR')				// PCRE must support UTF-8
 			&& (ICONV_ENABLED === TRUE OR MB_ENABLED === TRUE)	// iconv or mbstring must be installed
-			&& $charset === 'UTF-8'					// Application charset must be UTF-8
+			&& strnatcasecmp(config_item('charset'), 'UTF-8') === 0	// Application charset must be UTF-8
 			)
 		{
 			define('UTF8_ENABLED', TRUE);
@@ -94,6 +62,8 @@
 			define('UTF8_ENABLED', FALSE);
 			log_message('debug', 'UTF-8 Support Disabled');
 		}
+
+		log_message('debug', 'Utf8 Class Initialized');
 	}
 
 	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/system/core/compat/mbstring.php b/system/core/compat/mbstring.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..91ea801
--- /dev/null
+++ b/system/core/compat/mbstring.php
@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * CodeIgniter
+ *
+ * An open source application development framework for PHP 5.2.4 or newer
+ *
+ * NOTICE OF LICENSE
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Open Software License version 3.0
+ *
+ * This source file is subject to the Open Software License (OSL 3.0) that is
+ * bundled with this package in the files license.txt / license.rst.  It is
+ * also available through the world wide web at this URL:
+ * http://opensource.org/licenses/OSL-3.0
+ * If you did not receive a copy of the license and are unable to obtain it
+ * through the world wide web, please send an email to
+ * licensing@ellislab.com so we can send you a copy immediately.
+ *
+ * @package		CodeIgniter
+ * @author		EllisLab Dev Team
+ * @copyright	Copyright (c) 2008 - 2014, EllisLab, Inc. (http://ellislab.com/)
+ * @license		http://opensource.org/licenses/OSL-3.0 Open Software License (OSL 3.0)
+ * @link		http://codeigniter.com
+ * @since		Version 3.0
+ * @filesource
+ */
+defined('BASEPATH') OR exit('No direct script access allowed');
+
+/**
+ * PHP ext/mbstring compatibility package
+ *
+ * @package		CodeIgniter
+ * @subpackage	CodeIgniter
+ * @category	Compatibility
+ * @author		Andrey Andreev
+ * @link		http://codeigniter.com/user_guide/
+ * @link		http://php.net/mbstring
+ */
+
+// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+if (MB_ENABLED === TRUE)
+{
+	return;
+}
+
+// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+if ( ! function_exists('mb_strlen'))
+{
+	/**
+	 * mb_strlen()
+	 *
+	 * WARNING: This function WILL fall-back to strlen()
+	 * if iconv is not available!
+	 *
+	 * @link	http://php.net/mb_strlen
+	 * @param	string	$str
+	 * @param	string	$encoding
+	 * @return	string
+	 */
+	function mb_strlen($str, $encoding = NULL)
+	{
+		if (ICONV_ENABLED === TRUE)
+		{
+			return iconv_strlen($str, isset($charset) ? $charset : config_item('charset'));
+		}
+
+		log_message('debug', 'Compatibility (mbstring): iconv_strlen() is not available, falling back to strlen().');
+		return strlen($str);
+	}
+}
+
+// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+if ( ! function_exists('mb_strpos'))
+{
+	/**
+	 * mb_strpos()
+	 *
+	 * WARNING: This function WILL fall-back to strpos()
+	 * if iconv is not available!
+	 *
+	 * @link	http://php.net/mb_strpos()
+	 * @param	string	$haystack
+	 * @param	string	$needle
+	 * @param	int	$offset
+	 * @param	string	$encoding
+	 * @return	mixed
+	 */
+	function mb_strpos($haystack, $needle, $offset = 0, $encoding = NULL)
+	{
+		if (ICONV_ENABLED === TRUE)
+		{
+			return iconv_strpos($haystack, $needle, $offset, isset($encoding) ? $encoding : config_item('charset'));
+		}
+
+		log_message('debug', 'Compatibility (mbstring): iconv_strpos() is not available, falling back to strpos().');
+		return strpos($haystack, $needle, $offset);
+	}
+}
+
+// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+if ( ! function_exists('mb_substr'))
+{
+	/**
+	 * mb_substr()
+	 *
+	 * WARNING: This function WILL fall-back to substr()
+	 * if iconv is not available.
+	 *
+	 * @link	http://php.net/mb_substr
+	 * @param	string	$str
+	 * @param	int	$start
+	 * @param	int 	$length
+	 * @param	string	$encoding
+	 * @return	string
+	 */
+	function mb_substr($str, $start, $length = NULL, $encoding = NULL)
+	{
+		if (ICONV_ENABLED === TRUE)
+		{
+			isset($encoding) OR $encoding = config_item('charset');
+			return iconv_substr(
+				$str,
+				$start,
+				isset($length) ? $length : iconv_strlen($str, $encoding), // NULL doesn't work
+				$encoding
+			);
+		}
+
+		log_message('debug', 'Compatibility (mbstring): iconv_substr() is not available, falling back to substr().');
+		return isset($length)
+			? substr($str, $start, $length)
+			: substr($str, $start);
+	}
+}
+
+/* End of file mbstring.php */
+/* Location: ./system/core/compat/mbstring.php */
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/system/core/compat/password.php b/system/core/compat/password.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..92fdedb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/system/core/compat/password.php
@@ -0,0 +1,216 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * CodeIgniter
+ *
+ * An open source application development framework for PHP 5.2.4 or newer
+ *
+ * NOTICE OF LICENSE
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Open Software License version 3.0
+ *
+ * This source file is subject to the Open Software License (OSL 3.0) that is
+ * bundled with this package in the files license.txt / license.rst.  It is
+ * also available through the world wide web at this URL:
+ * http://opensource.org/licenses/OSL-3.0
+ * If you did not receive a copy of the license and are unable to obtain it
+ * through the world wide web, please send an email to
+ * licensing@ellislab.com so we can send you a copy immediately.
+ *
+ * @package		CodeIgniter
+ * @author		EllisLab Dev Team
+ * @copyright	Copyright (c) 2008 - 2014, EllisLab, Inc. (http://ellislab.com/)
+ * @license		http://opensource.org/licenses/OSL-3.0 Open Software License (OSL 3.0)
+ * @link		http://codeigniter.com
+ * @since		Version 3.0
+ * @filesource
+ */
+defined('BASEPATH') OR exit('No direct script access allowed');
+
+/**
+ * PHP ext/standard/password compatibility package
+ *
+ * @package		CodeIgniter
+ * @subpackage	CodeIgniter
+ * @category	Compatibility
+ * @author		Andrey Andreev
+ * @link		http://codeigniter.com/user_guide/
+ * @link		http://php.net/password
+ */
+
+// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+if (is_php('5.5') OR ! is_php('5.3.7') OR ! defined('CRYPT_BLOWFISH') OR CRYPT_BLOWFISH !== 1)
+{
+	return;
+}
+
+// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+defined('PASSWORD_BCRYPT') OR define('PASSWORD_BCRYPT', 1);
+defined('PASSWORD_DEFAULT') OR define('PASSWORD_DEFAULT', PASSWORD_BCRYPT);
+
+// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+if ( ! function_exists('password_get_info'))
+{
+	/**
+	 * password_get_info()
+	 *
+	 * @link	http://php.net/password_get_info
+	 * @param	string	$hash
+	 * @return	array
+	 */
+	function password_get_info($hash)
+	{
+		return (strlen($hash) < 60 OR sscanf($hash, '$2y$%d', $hash) !== 1)
+			? array('algo' => 0, 'algoName' => 'unknown', 'options' => array())
+			: array('algo' => 1, 'algoName' => 'bcrypt', 'options' => array('cost' => $hash));
+	}
+}
+
+// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+if ( ! function_exists('password_hash'))
+{
+	/**
+	 * password_hash()
+	 *
+	 * @link	http://php.net/password_hash
+	 * @param	string	$password
+	 * @param	int	$algo
+	 * @param	array	$options
+	 * @return	mixed
+	 */
+	function password_hash($password, $algo, array $options = array())
+	{
+		if ($algo !== 1)
+		{
+			trigger_error('password_hash(): Unknown hashing algorithm: '.(int) $algo, E_USER_WARNING);
+			return NULL;
+		}
+
+		if (isset($options['cost']) && ($options['cost'] < 4 OR $options['cost'] > 31))
+		{
+			trigger_error('password_hash(): Invalid bcrypt cost parameter specified: '.(int) $options['cost'], E_USER_WARNING);
+			return NULL;
+		}
+
+		if (isset($options['salt']) && strlen($options['salt']) < 22)
+		{
+			trigger_error('password_hash(): Provided salt is too short: '.strlen($options['salt']).' expecting 22', E_USER_WARNING);
+			return NULL;
+		}
+		elseif ( ! isset($options['salt']))
+		{
+			if (defined('MCRYPT_DEV_URANDOM'))
+			{
+				$options['salt'] = mcrypt_create_iv(16, MCRYPT_DEV_URANDOM);
+			}
+			elseif (function_exists('openssl_random_pseudo_bytes'))
+			{
+				$options['salt'] = openssl_random_pseudo_bytes(16);
+			}
+			elseif (DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR === '/' && (is_readable($dev = '/dev/arandom') OR is_readable($dev = '/dev/urandom')))
+			{
+				if (($fp = fopen($dev, 'rb')) === FALSE)
+				{
+					log_message('error', 'compat/password: Unable to open '.$dev.' for reading.');
+					return FALSE;
+				}
+
+				$options['salt'] = '';
+				for ($read = 0; $read < 16; $read = strlen($options['salt']))
+				{
+					if (($read = fread($fp, 16 - $read)) === FALSE)
+					{
+						log_message('error', 'compat/password: Error while reading from '.$dev.'.');
+						return FALSE;
+					}
+					$options['salt'] .= $read;
+				}
+
+				fclose($fp);
+			}
+			else
+			{
+				log_message('error', 'compat/password: No CSPRNG available.');
+				return FALSE;
+			}
+
+			$options['salt'] = str_replace('+', '.', rtrim(base64_encode($options['salt']), '='));
+		}
+		elseif ( ! preg_match('#^[a-zA-Z0-9./]+$#D', $options['salt']))
+		{
+			$options['salt'] = str_replace('+', '.', rtrim(base64_encode($options['salt']), '='));
+		}
+
+		isset($options['cost']) OR $options['cost'] = 10;
+		return crypt($password, sprintf('$2y$%02d$%s', $options['cost'], $options['salt']));
+	}
+}
+
+// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+if ( ! function_exists('password_needs_rehash'))
+{
+	/**
+	 * password_needs_rehash()
+	 *
+	 * @link	http://php.net/password_needs_rehash
+	 * @param	string	$hash
+	 * @param	int	$algo
+	 * @param	array	$options
+	 * @return	bool
+	 */
+	function password_needs_rehash($hash, $algo, array $options = array())
+	{
+		$info = password_get_info($hash);
+
+		if ($algo !== $info['algo'])
+		{
+			return TRUE;
+		}
+		elseif ($algo === 1)
+		{
+			$options['cost'] = isset($options['cost']) ? (int) $options['cost'] : 10;
+			return ($info['options']['cost'] !== $options['cost']);
+		}
+
+		// Odd at first glance, but according to a comment in PHP's own unit tests,
+		// because it is an unknown algorithm - it's valid and therefore doesn't
+		// need rehashing.
+		return FALSE;
+	}
+}
+
+// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+if ( ! function_exists('password_verify'))
+{
+	/**
+	 * password_verify()
+	 *
+	 * @link	http://php.net/password_verify
+	 * @param	string	$password
+	 * @param	string	$hash
+	 * @return	bool
+	 */
+	function password_verify($password, $hash)
+	{
+		if (strlen($hash) !== 60 OR strlen($password = crypt($password, $hash)) !== 60)
+		{
+			return FALSE;
+		}
+
+		$compare = 0;
+		for ($i = 0; $i < 60; $i++)
+		{
+			$compare |= (ord($password[$i]) ^ ord($hash[$i]));
+		}
+
+		return ($compare === 0);
+	}
+}
+
+/* End of file password.php */
+/* Location: ./system/core/compat/password.php */
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/system/helpers/inflector_helper.php b/system/helpers/inflector_helper.php
index 210d0fd..b44594e 100644
--- a/system/helpers/inflector_helper.php
+++ b/system/helpers/inflector_helper.php
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@
 	 */
 	function underscore($str)
 	{
-		return preg_replace('/[\s]+/', '_', strtolower(trim($str)));
+		return preg_replace('/[\s]+/', '_', trim(MB_ENABLED ? mb_strtolower($str) : strtolower($str)));
 	}
 }
 
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@
 	 */
 	function humanize($str, $separator = '_')
 	{
-		return ucwords(preg_replace('/['.$separator.']+/', ' ', strtolower(trim($str))));
+		return ucwords(preg_replace('/['.$separator.']+/', ' ', trim(MB_ENABLED ? mb_strtolower($str) : strtolower($str))));
 	}
 }
 
@@ -223,12 +223,13 @@
 	 */
 	function is_countable($word)
 	{
-		return ! in_array(strtolower($word),
-					array(
-						'equipment', 'information', 'rice', 'money',
-						'species', 'series', 'fish', 'meta'
-					)
-			);
+		return ! in_array(
+			strtolower($word),
+			array(
+				'equipment', 'information', 'rice', 'money',
+				'species', 'series', 'fish', 'meta'
+			)
+		);
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/system/helpers/text_helper.php b/system/helpers/text_helper.php
index 206ce55..76e1735 100644
--- a/system/helpers/text_helper.php
+++ b/system/helpers/text_helper.php
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@
 	 */
 	function character_limiter($str, $n = 500, $end_char = '&#8230;')
 	{
-		if (strlen($str) < $n)
+		if (mb_strlen($str) < $n)
 		{
 			return $str;
 		}
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@
 		// a bit complicated, but faster than preg_replace with \s+
 		$str = preg_replace('/ {2,}/', ' ', str_replace(array("\r", "\n", "\t", "\x0B", "\x0C"), ' ', $str));
 
-		if (strlen($str) <= $n)
+		if (mb_strlen($str) <= $n)
 		{
 			return $str;
 		}
@@ -103,10 +103,10 @@
 		{
 			$out .= $val.' ';
 
-			if (strlen($out) >= $n)
+			if (mb_strlen($out) >= $n)
 			{
 				$out = trim($out);
-				return (strlen($out) === strlen($str)) ? $out : $out.$end_char;
+				return (mb_strlen($out) === mb_strlen($str)) ? $out : $out.$end_char;
 			}
 		}
 	}
@@ -445,14 +445,14 @@
 		{
 			// Is the line within the allowed character count?
 			// If so we'll join it to the output and continue
-			if (strlen($line) <= $charlim)
+			if (mb_strlen($line) <= $charlim)
 			{
 				$output .= $line."\n";
 				continue;
 			}
 
 			$temp = '';
-			while ((strlen($line)) > $charlim)
+			while (mb_strlen($line) > $charlim)
 			{
 				// If the over-length word is a URL we won't wrap it
 				if (preg_match('!\[url.+\]|://|wwww.!', $line))
@@ -461,8 +461,8 @@
 				}
 
 				// Trim the word down
-				$temp .= substr($line, 0, $charlim - 1);
-				$line = substr($line, $charlim - 1);
+				$temp .= mb_substr($line, 0, $charlim - 1);
+				$line = mb_substr($line, $charlim - 1);
 			}
 
 			// If $temp contains data it means we had to split up an over-length
@@ -512,21 +512,21 @@
 		$str = trim(strip_tags($str));
 
 		// Is the string long enough to ellipsize?
-		if (strlen($str) <= $max_length)
+		if (mb_strlen($str) <= $max_length)
 		{
 			return $str;
 		}
 
-		$beg = substr($str, 0, floor($max_length * $position));
+		$beg = mb_substr($str, 0, floor($max_length * $position));
 		$position = ($position > 1) ? 1 : $position;
 
 		if ($position === 1)
 		{
-			$end = substr($str, 0, -($max_length - strlen($beg)));
+			$end = mb_substr($str, 0, -($max_length - mb_strlen($beg)));
 		}
 		else
 		{
-			$end = substr($str, -($max_length - strlen($beg)));
+			$end = mb_substr($str, -($max_length - mb_strlen($beg)));
 		}
 
 		return $beg.$ellipsis.$end;
diff --git a/tests/Bootstrap.php b/tests/Bootstrap.php
index c98d885..439c7fd 100644
--- a/tests/Bootstrap.php
+++ b/tests/Bootstrap.php
@@ -40,6 +40,32 @@
 // Prep our test environment
 include_once $dir.'/mocks/core/common.php';
 include_once SYSTEM_PATH.'core/Common.php';
+
+
+if (extension_loaded('mbstring'))
+{
+	defined('MB_ENABLED') OR define('MB_ENABLED', TRUE);
+	mb_internal_encoding('UTF-8');
+	mb_substitute_character('none');
+}
+else
+{
+	defined('MB_ENABLED') OR define('MB_ENABLED', FALSE);
+}
+
+if (extension_loaded('iconv'))
+{
+	defined('ICONV_ENABLED') OR define('ICONV_ENABLED', TRUE);
+	iconv_set_encoding('internal_encoding', 'UTF-8');
+}
+else
+{
+	defined('ICONV_ENABLED') OR define('ICONV_ENABLED', FALSE);
+}
+
+include_once SYSTEM_PATH.'core/compat/mbstring.php';
+include_once SYSTEM_PATH.'core/compat/password.php';
+
 include_once $dir.'/mocks/autoloader.php';
 spl_autoload_register('autoload');
 
diff --git a/tests/codeigniter/core/compat/mbstring_test.php b/tests/codeigniter/core/compat/mbstring_test.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4152224
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/codeigniter/core/compat/mbstring_test.php
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+<?php
+
+class mbstring_test extends CI_TestCase {
+
+	public function test_bootstrap()
+	{
+		if (MB_ENABLED)
+		{
+			return $this->markTestSkipped('ext/mbstring is loaded');
+		}
+
+		$this->assertTrue(function_exists('mb_strlen'));
+		$this->assertTrue(function_exists('mb_substr'));
+	}
+
+	// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+	/**
+	 * @depends	test_bootstrap
+	 */
+	public function test_mb_strlen()
+	{
+		$this->assertEquals(ICONV_ENABLED ? 4 : 8, mb_strlen('тест'));
+		$this->assertEquals(ICONV_ENABLED ? 4 : 8, mb_strlen('тест', 'UTF-8'));
+	}
+
+	// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+	/**
+	 * @depends	test_boostrap
+	 */
+	public function test_mb_strpos()
+	{
+		$this->assertEquals(ICONV_ENABLED ? 3 : 6, mb_strpos('тест', 'с'));
+		$this->assertFalse(mb_strpos('тест', 'с', 3));
+		$this->assertEquals(ICONV_ENABLED ? 3 : 6, mb_strpos('тест', 'с', 1, 'UTF-8'));
+	}
+
+	// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+	/**
+	 * @depends	test_boostrap
+	 */
+	public function test_mb_substr()
+	{
+		$this->assertEquals(ICONV_ENABLED ? 'стинг' : 'естинг', mb_substr('тестинг', 2));
+		$this->assertEquals(ICONV_ENABLED ? 'нг' : 'г', mb_substr('тестинг', -2));
+		$this->assertEquals(ICONV_ENABLED ? 'ст' : 'е', mb_substr('тестинг', 2, 2));
+		$this->assertEquals(ICONV_ENABLED ? 'стинг' : 'естинг', mb_substr('тестинг', 2, 'UTF-8'));
+		$this->assertEquals(ICONV_ENABLED ? 'нг' : 'г', mb_substr('тестинг', -2, 'UTF-8'));
+		$this->assertEquals(ICONV_ENABLED ? 'ст' : 'е', mb_substr('тестинг', 2, 2, 'UTF-8'));
+	}
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/codeigniter/core/compat/password_test.php b/tests/codeigniter/core/compat/password_test.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4014e74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/codeigniter/core/compat/password_test.php
@@ -0,0 +1,158 @@
+<?php
+
+class password_test extends CI_TestCase {
+
+	public function test_bootstrap()
+	{
+		if (is_php('5.5'))
+		{
+			return $this->markTestSkipped('ext/standard/password is available on PHP 5.5');
+		}
+		elseif ( ! is_php('5.3.7'))
+		{
+			$this->assertFalse(defined('PASSWORD_BCRYPT'));
+			return $this->markTestSkipped("PHP versions prior to 5.3.7 don't have the '2y' Blowfish version");
+		}
+		elseif ( ! defined('CRYPT_BLOWFISH') OR CRYPT_BLOWFISH !== 1)
+		{
+			$this->assertFalse(defined('PASSWORD_BCRYPT'));
+			return $this->markTestSkipped('CRYPT_BLOWFISH is not available');
+		}
+
+		$this->assertTrue(defined('PASSWORD_BCRYPT'));
+		$this->assertTrue(defined('PASSWORD_DEFAULT'));
+		$this->assertEquals(1, PASSWORD_BCRYPT);
+		$this->assertEquals(PASSWORD_BCRYPT, PASSWORD_DEFAULT);
+		$this->assertTrue(function_exists('password_get_info'));
+		$this->assertTrue(function_exists('password_hash'));
+		$this->assertTrue(function_exists('password_needs_rehash'));
+		$this->assertTrue(function_exists('password_verify'));
+	}
+
+	// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+	/**
+	 * password_get_info() test
+	 *
+	 * Borrowed from PHP's own tests
+	 *
+	 * @depends	test_bootstrap
+	 */
+	public function test_password_get_info()
+	{
+		$expected = array(
+			'algo' => 1,
+			'algoName' => 'bcrypt',
+			'options' => array('cost' => 10)
+		);
+
+		// default
+		$this->assertEquals($expected, password_get_info('$2y$10$MTIzNDU2Nzg5MDEyMzQ1Nej0NmcAWSLR.oP7XOR9HD/vjUuOj100y'));
+
+		$expected['options']['cost'] = 11;
+
+		// cost
+		$this->assertEquals($expected, password_get_info('$2y$11$MTIzNDU2Nzg5MDEyMzQ1Nej0NmcAWSLR.oP7XOR9HD/vjUuOj100y'));
+
+		$expected = array(
+			'algo' => 0,
+			'algoName' => 'unknown',
+			'options' => array()
+		);
+
+		// invalid length
+		$this->assertEquals($expected, password_get_info('$2y$11$MTIzNDU2Nzg5MDEyMzQ1Nej0NmcAWSLR.oP7XOR9HD/vjUuOj100'));
+
+		// non-bcrypt
+		$this->assertEquals($expected, password_get_info('$1$rasmusle$rISCgZzpwk3UhDidwXvin0'));
+	}
+
+	// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+	/**
+	 * password_hash() test
+	 *
+	 * Borrowed from PHP's own tests
+	 *
+	 * @depends	test_bootstrap
+	 */
+	public function test_password_hash()
+	{
+		// FALSE is returned if no CSPRNG source is available
+		if ( ! defined('MCRYPT_DEV_URANDOM') && ! function_exists('openssl_random_pseudo_bytes')
+			&& (DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR !== '/' OR ! is_readable('/dev/arandom') OR ! is_readable('/dev/urandom'))
+			)
+		{
+			$this->assertFalse(password_hash('foo', PASSWORD_BCRYPT));
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			$this->assertEquals(60, strlen(password_hash('foo', PASSWORD_BCRYPT)));
+			$this->assertTrue(($hash = password_hash('foo', PASSWORD_BCRYPT)) === crypt('foo', $hash));
+		}
+
+		$this->assertEquals(
+			'$2y$07$usesomesillystringfore2uDLvp1Ii2e./U9C8sBjqp8I90dH6hi',
+			password_hash('rasmuslerdorf', PASSWORD_BCRYPT, array('cost' => 7, 'salt' => 'usesomesillystringforsalt'))
+		);
+
+		$this->assertEquals(
+			'$2y$10$MTIzNDU2Nzg5MDEyMzQ1Nej0NmcAWSLR.oP7XOR9HD/vjUuOj100y',
+			password_hash('test', PASSWORD_BCRYPT, array('salt' => '123456789012345678901'.chr(0)))
+		);
+	}
+
+	// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+	/**
+	 * password_needs_rehash() test
+	 *
+	 * Borrowed from PHP's own tests
+	 *
+	 * @depends	test_password_get_info
+	 */
+	public function test_password_needs_rehash()
+	{
+		// invalid hash: always rehash
+		$this->assertTrue(password_needs_rehash('', PASSWORD_BCRYPT));
+
+		// valid, because it's an unknown algorithm
+		$this->assertFalse(password_needs_rehash('', 0));
+
+		// valid with same cost
+		$this->assertFalse(password_needs_rehash('$2y$10$MTIzNDU2Nzg5MDEyMzQ1Nej0NmcAWSLR.oP7XOR9HD/vjUuOj100y', PASSWORD_BCRYPT, array('cost' => 10)));
+
+		// valid with same cost and additional parameters
+		$this->assertFalse(password_needs_rehash('$2y$10$MTIzNDU2Nzg5MDEyMzQ1Nej0NmcAWSLR.oP7XOR9HD/vjUuOj100y', PASSWORD_BCRYPT, array('cost' => 10, 'foo' => 3)));
+
+		// invalid: different (lower) cost
+		$this->assertTrue(password_needs_rehash('$2y$10$MTIzNDU2Nzg5MDEyMzQ1Nej0NmcAWSLR.oP7XOR9HD/vjUuOj100y', PASSWORD_BCRYPT, array('cost' => 09)));
+
+		// invalid: different (higher) cost
+		$this->assertTrue(password_needs_rehash('$2y$10$MTIzNDU2Nzg5MDEyMzQ1Nej0NmcAWSLR.oP7XOR9HD/vjUuOj100y', PASSWORD_BCRYPT, array('cost' => 11)));
+
+		// valid with default cost
+		$this->assertFalse(password_needs_rehash('$2y$'.str_pad(10, 2, '0', STR_PAD_LEFT).'$MTIzNDU2Nzg5MDEyMzQ1Nej0NmcAWSLR.oP7XOR9HD/vjUuOj100y', PASSWORD_BCRYPT));
+
+		// invalid: 'foo' is cast to 0
+		$this->assertTrue(password_needs_rehash('$2y$10$MTIzNDU2Nzg5MDEyMzQ1Nej0NmcAWSLR.oP7XOR9HD/vjUuOj100y', PASSWORD_BCRYPT, array('cost' => 'foo')));
+	}
+
+	// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+	/**
+	 * password_verify() test
+	 *
+	 * Borrowed from PHP's own tests
+	 *
+	 * @depends	test_bootstrap
+	 */
+	public function test_password_verify()
+	{
+		$this->assertFalse(password_verify(123, 123));
+		$this->assertFalse(password_verify('foo', '$2a$07$usesomesillystringforsalt$'));
+		$this->assertFalse(password_verify('rasmusler', '$2a$07$usesomesillystringfore2uDLvp1Ii2e./U9C8sBjqp8I90dH6hi'));
+		$this->assertTrue(password_verify('rasmuslerdorf', '$2a$07$usesomesillystringfore2uDLvp1Ii2e./U9C8sBjqp8I90dH6hi'));
+	}
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/codeigniter/libraries/Encryption_test.php b/tests/codeigniter/libraries/Encryption_test.php
index 54db2b4..a8b5bc8 100644
--- a/tests/codeigniter/libraries/Encryption_test.php
+++ b/tests/codeigniter/libraries/Encryption_test.php
@@ -179,6 +179,9 @@
 	 * Testing the three methods separately is not realistic as they are
 	 * designed to work together. A more thorough test for initialize()
 	 * though is the OpenSSL/MCrypt compatibility test.
+	 *
+	 * @depends	test_hkdf
+	 * @depends	test__get_params
 	 */
 	public function test_initialize_encrypt_decrypt()
 	{
@@ -202,6 +205,8 @@
 
 	/**
 	 * encrypt(), decrypt test with custom parameters
+	 *
+	 * @depends	test___get_params
 	 */
 	public function test_encrypt_decrypt_custom()
 	{
@@ -239,7 +244,7 @@
 	{
 		if ($this->encryption->drivers['mcrypt'] === FALSE)
 		{
-			return $this->markTestAsSkipped('Cannot test MCrypt because it is not available.');
+			return $this->markTestSkipped('Cannot test MCrypt because it is not available.');
 		}
 
 		$this->assertTrue(is_resource($this->encryption->__driver_get_handle('mcrypt', 'rijndael-128', 'cbc')));
@@ -254,7 +259,7 @@
 	{
 		if ($this->encryption->drivers['openssl'] === FALSE)
 		{
-			return $this->markTestAsSkipped('Cannot test OpenSSL because it is not available.');
+			return $this->markTestSkipped('Cannot test OpenSSL because it is not available.');
 		}
 
 		$this->assertEquals('aes-128-cbc', $this->encryption->__driver_get_handle('openssl', 'aes-128', 'cbc'));
@@ -272,7 +277,7 @@
 	{
 		if ( ! $this->encryption->drivers['mcrypt'] OR ! $this->encryption->drivers['openssl'])
 		{
-			$this->markTestAsSkipped('Both MCrypt and OpenSSL support are required for portability tests.');
+			$this->markTestSkipped('Both MCrypt and OpenSSL support are required for portability tests.');
 			return;
 		}
 
diff --git a/tests/codeigniter/libraries/Table_test.php b/tests/codeigniter/libraries/Table_test.php
index 4bfbdd6..8e74524 100644
--- a/tests/codeigniter/libraries/Table_test.php
+++ b/tests/codeigniter/libraries/Table_test.php
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
 	}
 
 	/*
-	 * @depends testPrepArgs
+	 * @depends	test_prep_args
 	 */
 	public function test_set_heading()
 	{
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@
 	}
 
 	/*
-	 * @depends testPrepArgs
+	 * @depends	test_prep_args
 	 */
 	public function test_add_row()
 	{
diff --git a/tests/mocks/autoloader.php b/tests/mocks/autoloader.php
index 1bcde79..3394276 100644
--- a/tests/mocks/autoloader.php
+++ b/tests/mocks/autoloader.php
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@
 
 	if ( ! file_exists($file))
 	{
-    return FALSE;
+		return FALSE;
 	}
 
 	include_once($file);
diff --git a/tests/mocks/core/common.php b/tests/mocks/core/common.php
index b073f23..9eb6b09 100644
--- a/tests/mocks/core/common.php
+++ b/tests/mocks/core/common.php
@@ -87,40 +87,6 @@
 	}
 }
 
-// This is sort of meh. Should probably be mocked up with
-// controllable output, so that we can test some of our
-// security code. The function itself will be tested in the
-// bootstrap testsuite.
-// --------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-if ( ! function_exists('remove_invisible_characters'))
-{
-	function remove_invisible_characters($str, $url_encoded = TRUE)
-	{
-		$non_displayables = array();
-
-		// every control character except newline (dec 10)
-		// carriage return (dec 13), and horizontal tab (dec 09)
-
-		if ($url_encoded)
-		{
-			$non_displayables[] = '/%0[0-8bcef]/';	// url encoded 00-08, 11, 12, 14, 15
-			$non_displayables[] = '/%1[0-9a-f]/';	// url encoded 16-31
-		}
-
-		$non_displayables[] = '/[\x00-\x08\x0B\x0C\x0E-\x1F\x7F]+/S';	// 00-08, 11, 12, 14-31, 127
-
-		do
-		{
-			$str = preg_replace($non_displayables, '', $str, -1, $count);
-		}
-		while ($count);
-
-		return $str;
-	}
-}
-
-
 // Clean up error messages
 // --------------------------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -150,23 +116,6 @@
 
 // We assume a few things about our environment ...
 // --------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-if ( ! function_exists('is_php'))
-{
-	function is_php($version = '5.0.0')
-	{
-		return ! (version_compare(PHP_VERSION, $version) < 0);
-	}
-}
-
-if ( ! function_exists('is_really_writable'))
-{
-	function is_really_writable($file)
-	{
-		return is_writable($file);
-	}
-}
-
 if ( ! function_exists('is_loaded'))
 {
 	function &is_loaded()
diff --git a/tests/mocks/core/utf8.php b/tests/mocks/core/utf8.php
index 9dda43a..30b78ad 100644
--- a/tests/mocks/core/utf8.php
+++ b/tests/mocks/core/utf8.php
@@ -3,35 +3,14 @@
 class Mock_Core_Utf8 extends CI_Utf8 {
 
 	/**
-	 * We need to define several constants as
-	 * the same process within CI_Utf8 class constructor.
+	 * We need to define UTF8_ENABLED the same way that
+	 * CI_Utf8 constructor does.
 	 *
 	 * @covers CI_Utf8::__construct()
 	 */
 	public function __construct()
 	{
 		defined('UTF8_ENABLED') OR define('UTF8_ENABLED', TRUE);
-
-		if (extension_loaded('mbstring'))
-		{
-			defined('MB_ENABLED') OR define('MB_ENABLED', TRUE);
-			mb_internal_encoding('UTF-8');
-			ini_set('mbstring.substitute_character', 'none');
-		}
-		else
-		{
-			defined('MB_ENABLED') OR define('MB_ENABLED', FALSE);
-		}
-
-		if (extension_loaded('iconv'))
-		{
-			defined('ICONV_ENABLED') OR define('ICONV_ENABLED', TRUE);
-			iconv_set_encoding('internal_encoding', 'UTF-8');
-		}
-		else
-		{
-			defined('ICONV_ENABLED') OR define('ICONV_ENABLED', FALSE);
-		}
 	}
 
 	public function is_ascii_test($str)
diff --git a/user_guide_src/source/changelog.rst b/user_guide_src/source/changelog.rst
index 76ee7ed..c8cbbb9 100644
--- a/user_guide_src/source/changelog.rst
+++ b/user_guide_src/source/changelog.rst
@@ -90,7 +90,8 @@
    -  :doc:`Inflector Helper <helpers/inflector_helper>` changes include:
 
       - Changed :func:`humanize()` to allow passing an input separator as its second parameter.
-      - Refactored :func:`plural()` and :func:`singular()` to avoid double pluralization and support more words.
+      - Changed :func:`humanize()` and :func:`underscore()` to utilize `mbstring <http://php.net/mbstring>`_, if available.
+      - Changed :func:`plural()` and :func:`singular()` to avoid double pluralization and support more words.
 
    -  :doc:`Download Helper <helpers/download_helper>` changes include:
 
@@ -132,10 +133,14 @@
       - Added *colors* configuration to allow customization for the *background*, *border*, *text* and *grid* colors.
       - Added *filename* to the returned array elements.
 
+   -  :doc:`Text Helper <helpers/text_helper>` changes include:
+
+      - Changed the default tag for use in :func:`highlight_phrase()` to ``<mark>`` (formerly ``<strong>``).
+      - Changed :func:`character_limiter()`, :func:`word_wrap()` and :func:`ellipsize()` to utilize `mbstring <http://php.net/mbstring>`_ or `iconv <http://php.net/iconv>`_, if available.
+
    -  :doc:`Directory Helper <helpers/directory_helper>` :func:`directory_map()` will now append ``DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR`` to directory names in the returned array.
    -  :doc:`Array Helper <helpers/array_helper>` :func:`element()` and :func:`elements()` now return NULL instead of FALSE when the required elements don't exist.
    -  :doc:`Language Helper <helpers/language_helper>` :func:`lang()` now accepts an optional list of additional HTML attributes.
-   -  Changed the default tag for use in :doc:`Text Helper <helpers/text_helper>` :func:`highlight_phrase()` to ``<mark>`` (formerly ``<strong>``).
    -  Deprecated the :doc:`Email Helper <helpers/email_helper>` as its ``valid_email()``, ``send_email()`` functions are now only aliases for PHP native functions ``filter_var()`` and ``mail()`` respectively.
 
 -  Database
@@ -500,6 +505,7 @@
       -  ``UTF8_ENABLED`` now requires only one of `Multibyte String <http://php.net/mbstring>`_ or `iconv <http://php.net/iconv>`_ to be available instead of both.
       -  Changed method ``clean_string()`` to utilize ``mb_convert_encoding()`` if it is available but ``iconv()`` is not.
 
+   -  Added compatibility layers for PHP's `mbstring <http://php.net/mbstring>`_ (limited support) and `password <http://php.net/password>`_ extensions.
    -  Removed ``CI_CORE`` boolean constant from *CodeIgniter.php* (no longer Reactor and Core versions).
    -  Log Library will now try to create the **log_path** directory if it doesn't exist.
    -  Added support for HTTP-Only cookies with new config option *cookie_httponly* (default FALSE).