diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 3f9fd59614..47495b2d0e 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,16 @@
+2005-04-06  Sven Neumann  <sven@gimp.org>
+
+	* libgimpconfig/gimpconfig-path.[ch] (gimp_param_spec_config_path):
+	declare default_value as const and allocate a copy.
+
+	* app/config/gimpbaseconfig.[ch]: gives access to the default values
+	for temp and swap path.
+
+	* app/base/base.c (base_init): create the temp directory if it
+	doesn't exist (bug #172682).
+
+	* plug-ins/uri/uri-backend-gnomevfs.c: fixed path in error message.
+
 2005-04-06  Sven Neumann  <sven@gimp.org>
 
 	* docs/Makefile.am: install a link to the gimp(1) man-page for
diff --git a/app/base/base.c b/app/base/base.c
index 37de7ec612..1e4e2270ee 100644
--- a/app/base/base.c
+++ b/app/base/base.c
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ base_init (GimpBaseConfig *config,
            gboolean        use_cpu_accel)
 {
   gboolean  swap_is_ok;
+  gchar    *temp_dir;
 
   g_return_val_if_fail (GIMP_IS_BASE_CONFIG (config), FALSE);
   g_return_val_if_fail (base_config == NULL, FALSE);
@@ -87,12 +88,30 @@ base_init (GimpBaseConfig *config,
 
   /* Add the swap file */
   if (! config->swap_path)
-    g_object_set (config, "swap_path", "${gimp_dir}", NULL);
+    g_object_set (config,
+                  "swap-path", gimp_base_config_default_swap_path,
+                  NULL);
 
   tile_swap_init (config->swap_path);
 
   swap_is_ok = tile_swap_test ();
 
+  /*  create the temp directory if it doesn't exist  */
+  if (! config->temp_path)
+    g_object_set (config,
+                  "temp-path", gimp_base_config_default_temp_path,
+                  NULL);
+
+  temp_dir = gimp_config_path_expand (config->temp_path, TRUE, NULL);
+
+  if (! g_file_test (temp_dir, G_FILE_TEST_EXISTS))
+    g_mkdir (temp_dir,
+             S_IRUSR | S_IXUSR | S_IWUSR |
+             S_IRGRP | S_IXGRP |
+             S_IROTH | S_IXOTH);
+
+  g_free (temp_dir);
+
   pixel_processor_init (config->num_processors);
   g_signal_connect (config, "notify::num-processors",
                     G_CALLBACK (base_num_processors_notify),
diff --git a/app/config/gimpbaseconfig.c b/app/config/gimpbaseconfig.c
index 2cf7927f1f..eadc15fdca 100644
--- a/app/config/gimpbaseconfig.c
+++ b/app/config/gimpbaseconfig.c
@@ -36,6 +36,11 @@
 #include "gimp-intl.h"
 
 
+const gchar *gimp_base_config_default_swap_path = "${gimp_dir}";
+const gchar *gimp_base_config_default_temp_path =
+  "${gimp_dir}" G_DIR_SEPARATOR_S "tmp";
+
+
 static void  gimp_base_config_class_init   (GimpBaseConfigClass *klass);
 static void  gimp_base_config_finalize     (GObject             *object);
 static void  gimp_base_config_set_property (GObject             *object,
@@ -105,12 +110,12 @@ gimp_base_config_class_init (GimpBaseConfigClass *klass)
   GIMP_CONFIG_INSTALL_PROP_PATH (object_class, PROP_TEMP_PATH,
                                  "temp-path", TEMP_PATH_BLURB,
 				 GIMP_CONFIG_PATH_DIR,
-                                 "${gimp_dir}" G_DIR_SEPARATOR_S "tmp",
+                                 gimp_base_config_default_temp_path,
                                  GIMP_CONFIG_PARAM_RESTART);
   GIMP_CONFIG_INSTALL_PROP_PATH (object_class, PROP_SWAP_PATH,
                                  "swap-path", SWAP_PATH_BLURB,
 				 GIMP_CONFIG_PATH_DIR,
-                                 "${gimp_dir}",
+                                 gimp_base_config_default_swap_path,
                                  GIMP_CONFIG_PARAM_RESTART);
   GIMP_CONFIG_INSTALL_PROP_BOOLEAN (object_class, PROP_STINGY_MEMORY_USE,
                                     "stingy-memory-use",
diff --git a/app/config/gimpbaseconfig.h b/app/config/gimpbaseconfig.h
index 2f48769ae6..20266f058f 100644
--- a/app/config/gimpbaseconfig.h
+++ b/app/config/gimpbaseconfig.h
@@ -51,6 +51,10 @@ struct _GimpBaseConfigClass
 };
 
 
+extern const gchar *gimp_base_config_default_swap_path;
+extern const gchar *gimp_base_config_default_temp_path;
+
+
 GType  gimp_base_config_get_type (void) G_GNUC_CONST;
 
 
diff --git a/libgimpconfig/gimpconfig-path.c b/libgimpconfig/gimpconfig-path.c
index 8790750350..b8001a3165 100644
--- a/libgimpconfig/gimpconfig-path.c
+++ b/libgimpconfig/gimpconfig-path.c
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ gimp_param_spec_config_path (const gchar        *name,
                              const gchar        *nick,
                              const gchar        *blurb,
                              GimpConfigPathType  type,
-                             gchar              *default_value,
+                             const gchar        *default_value,
                              GParamFlags         flags)
 {
   GParamSpecString *pspec;
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ gimp_param_spec_config_path (const gchar        *name,
   pspec = g_param_spec_internal (GIMP_TYPE_PARAM_CONFIG_PATH,
                                  name, nick, blurb, flags);
 
-  pspec->default_value = default_value;
+  pspec->default_value = g_strdup (default_value);
 
   GIMP_PARAM_SPEC_CONFIG_PATH (pspec)->type = type;
 
diff --git a/libgimpconfig/gimpconfig-path.h b/libgimpconfig/gimpconfig-path.h
index 3f49ad1b9c..d74628f627 100644
--- a/libgimpconfig/gimpconfig-path.h
+++ b/libgimpconfig/gimpconfig-path.h
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ GParamSpec        * gimp_param_spec_config_path      (const gchar  *name,
                                                       const gchar  *nick,
                                                       const gchar  *blurb,
                                                       GimpConfigPathType  type,
-                                                      gchar        *default_value,
+                                                      const gchar  *default_value,
                                                       GParamFlags   flags);
 
 GimpConfigPathType  gimp_param_spec_config_path_type (GParamSpec   *pspec);
diff --git a/plug-ins/uri/uri-backend-gnomevfs.c b/plug-ins/uri/uri-backend-gnomevfs.c
index 78eef62468..5b36e8bf6f 100644
--- a/plug-ins/uri/uri-backend-gnomevfs.c
+++ b/plug-ins/uri/uri-backend-gnomevfs.c
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ copy_uri (const gchar  *src_uri,
     {
       g_set_error (error, 0, 0,
                    _("Could not open '%s' for writing: %s"),
-                   src_uri, gnome_vfs_result_to_string (result));
+                   dest_uri, gnome_vfs_result_to_string (result));
       gnome_vfs_close (read_handle);
       return FALSE;
     }