diff -ru fontconfig-2.1/src/fccache.c fontconfig-2.1-opt/src/fccache.c
--- fontconfig-2.1/src/fccache.c	2002-09-25 19:16:23.000000000 -0500
+++ fontconfig-2.1-opt/src/fccache.c	2003-01-09 03:02:10.000000000 -0600
@@ -44,37 +44,19 @@
 static FcChar8 *
 FcCacheReadString (FILE *f, FcChar8 *dest, int len)
 {
+    enum {seeking, reading, quoted} state = seeking;
     int		c;
     FcBool	escape;
     FcChar8	*d;
     int		size;
     int		i;
 
-    while ((c = GETC (f)) != EOF)
-	if (c == '"')
-	    break;
-    if (c == EOF)
-	return FcFalse;
-    if (len == 0)
-	return FcFalse;
-    
     size = len;
     i = 0;
     d = dest;
-    escape = FcFalse;
+
     while ((c = GETC (f)) != EOF)
     {
-	if (!escape)
-	{
-	    switch (c) {
-	    case '"':
-		c = '\0';
-		break;
-	    case '\\':
-		escape = FcTrue;
-		continue;
-	    }
-	}
 	if (i == size)
 	{
 	    FcChar8 *new = malloc (size * 2);	/* freed in caller */
@@ -86,11 +68,36 @@
 		free (d);
 	    d = new;
 	}
-	d[i++] = c;
-	if (c == '\0')
-	    return d;
-	escape = FcFalse;
+	if(state == reading)
+	{
+	    if(c == '\\')
+		state = quoted;
+	    else if(c == '"')
+	    {
+		d[i++] = '\0';
+		return d;
+	    }
+	    else
+		d[i++] = c;
+	}
+	else if(state == seeking)
+	{
+	    if (c == '"')
+	    {
+		state=reading;
+		if (len == 0) //between seeking and reading
+		    return FcFalse;
+	    }
+	    if (c == EOF)
+		return FcFalse;
+	}
+	else //if(state == quoted)
+	{
+	    d[i++] = c;
+	    state = reading;
+	}
     }
+    
     if (d != dest)
 	free (d);
     return 0;
diff -ru fontconfig-2.1/src/fclang.c fontconfig-2.1-opt/src/fclang.c
--- fontconfig-2.1/src/fclang.c	2002-08-26 18:34:31.000000000 -0500
+++ fontconfig-2.1-opt/src/fclang.c	2003-01-09 13:00:41.000000000 -0600
@@ -234,16 +234,29 @@
     while (low <= high)
     {
 	mid = (high + low) >> 1;
-	cmp = FcStrCmpIgnoreCase (fcLangCharSets[mid].lang, lang);
-	if (cmp == 0) 
-	    return mid;
-	if (cmp < 0)
+	if(fcLangCharSets[mid].lang[0] > lang[0]) // check first chars
+	    high = mid - 1;
+	else if(fcLangCharSets[mid].lang[0] < lang[0])
 	    low = mid + 1;
-	else
+	else if( fcLangCharSets[mid].lang[1] == '\0' && lang[1] == '\0')
+	    return mid; // we're done
+	else if(fcLangCharSets[mid].lang[1] > lang[1]) // check second chars
 	    high = mid - 1;
+	else if(fcLangCharSets[mid].lang[1] < lang[1])
+	    low = mid + 1;
+	else if( fcLangCharSets[mid].lang[2] == '\0' && lang[2] == '\0')
+	    return mid; // all done
+	else // too far for the fastpath, let strcmp take the rest
+	{
+	    cmp = strcmp (fcLangCharSets[mid].lang+2, lang+2); /* they are equal at least to the second char */
+	    if (cmp == 0) 
+		return mid;
+	    if (cmp < 0)
+		low = mid + 1;
+	    else
+		high = mid - 1;
+	}
     }
-    if (cmp < 0)
-	mid++;
     return -(mid + 1);
 }
 
diff -ru fontconfig-2.1/src/fcname.c fontconfig-2.1-opt/src/fcname.c
--- fontconfig-2.1/src/fcname.c	2002-10-02 02:11:30.000000000 -0500
+++ fontconfig-2.1-opt/src/fcname.c	2003-01-09 11:59:07.000000000 -0600
@@ -246,9 +253,7 @@
 {
     char    c0, c1;
 
-    c0 = *v;
-    if (isupper (c0))
-	c0 = tolower (c0);
+    c0 = tolower (v[0]);
     if (c0 == 't' || c0 == 'y' || c0 == '1')
     {
 	*result = FcTrue;
@@ -261,9 +266,7 @@
     }
     if (c0 == 'o')
     {
-	c1 = v[1];
-	if (isupper (c1))
-	    c1 = tolower (c1);
+	c1 = tolower (v[1]);
 	if (c1 == 'n')
 	{
 	    *result = FcTrue;
@@ -282,6 +285,7 @@
 FcNameConvert (FcType type, FcChar8 *string, FcMatrix *m)
 {
     FcValue	v;
+    FcChar8 *s = string;
 
     v.type = type;
     switch (v.type) {
@@ -307,6 +311,11 @@
 	v.u.c = FcNameParseCharSet (string);
 	break;
     case FcTypeLangSet:
+	while(*s)
+	{
+	    *s = tolower(*s);
+	    s++;
+	}
 	v.u.l = FcNameParseLangSet (string);
 	break;
     default:
@@ -320,16 +329,33 @@
 {
     FcChar8    c;
     
+    /* build a bitfield for quick identification of all the given delimiters */
+    unsigned long specialTest[8] = {0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0};
+    const unsigned char *d = delim;
+
+    specialTest['\\' / 32] |= 1 << ('\\' % 32); // this char is magic for other reasons
+    for(d=delim;*d;d++)
+	specialTest[*d / 32] |= 1 << (*d % 32);
+
     while ((c = *cur))
     {
+	/*
 	if (c == '\\')
 	{
 	    ++cur;
 	    if (!(c = *cur))
 		break;
+	} 
+	else */ if (specialTest[c / 32] & 1 << (c % 32))
+	{
+	    if (c == '\\') // check this only on the slowpath of having found a 'magic char'
+	    {
+		++cur;
+		if (!(c = *cur))
+		    break;
+	    } else 
+		break; // if the special char isn't one we know, it's a delimiter
 	}
-	else if (strchr (delim, c))
-	    break;
 	++cur;
 	*save++ = c;
     }