diff --git a/base/c.jl b/base/c.jl
index b9dd62f8a4d6c..3d7eab2954469 100644
--- a/base/c.jl
+++ b/base/c.jl
@@ -73,10 +73,6 @@ pointer(p::Cwstring) = convert(Ptr{Cwchar_t}, p)
 ==(x::Union{Cstring,Cwstring}, y::Ptr) = pointer(x) == y
 ==(x::Ptr, y::Union{Cstring,Cwstring}) = x == pointer(y)
 
-# here, not in pointer.jl, to avoid bootstrapping problems in coreimg.jl
-unsafe_wrap(::Type{String}, p::Cstring, own::Bool=false) = unsafe_wrap(String, convert(Ptr{UInt8}, p), own)
-unsafe_wrap(::Type{String}, p::Cstring, len::Integer, own::Bool=false) =
-    unsafe_wrap(String, convert(Ptr{UInt8}, p), len, own)
 unsafe_string(s::Cstring) = unsafe_string(convert(Ptr{UInt8}, s))
 
 # convert strings to String etc. to pass as pointers
diff --git a/base/deprecated.jl b/base/deprecated.jl
index 9ae6fc3d8101a..43cb2db3745e2 100644
--- a/base/deprecated.jl
+++ b/base/deprecated.jl
@@ -1483,4 +1483,17 @@ end
 # Calling promote_op is likely a bad idea, so deprecate its convenience wrapper promote_eltype_op
 @deprecate promote_eltype_op(op, As...) promote_op(op, map(eltype, As)...)
 
+function unsafe_wrap(::Type{String}, p::Union{Ptr{UInt8},Ptr{Int8}}, len::Integer, own::Bool=false)
+    Base.depwarn("unsafe_wrap(String, ...) is deprecated; use `unsafe_string` instead.", :unsafe_wrap)
+    #ccall(:jl_array_to_string, Ref{String}, (Any,),
+    #      ccall(:jl_ptr_to_array_1d, Vector{UInt8}, (Any, Ptr{UInt8}, Csize_t, Cint),
+    #            Vector{UInt8}, p, len, own))
+    unsafe_string(p, len)
+end
+unsafe_wrap(::Type{String}, p::Union{Ptr{UInt8},Ptr{Int8}}, own::Bool=false) =
+    unsafe_wrap(String, p, ccall(:strlen, Csize_t, (Ptr{UInt8},), p), own)
+unsafe_wrap(::Type{String}, p::Cstring, own::Bool=false) = unsafe_wrap(String, convert(Ptr{UInt8}, p), own)
+unsafe_wrap(::Type{String}, p::Cstring, len::Integer, own::Bool=false) =
+    unsafe_wrap(String, convert(Ptr{UInt8}, p), len, own)
+
 # End deprecations scheduled for 0.6
diff --git a/base/fft/FFTW.jl b/base/fft/FFTW.jl
index ea885ce670c2e..465646773d7af 100644
--- a/base/fft/FFTW.jl
+++ b/base/fft/FFTW.jl
@@ -282,7 +282,10 @@ sprint_plan_{T<:fftwDouble}(plan::FFTWPlan{T}) =
 sprint_plan_{T<:fftwSingle}(plan::FFTWPlan{T}) =
     ccall((:fftwf_sprint_plan,libfftwf), Ptr{UInt8}, (PlanPtr,), plan)
 function sprint_plan(plan::FFTWPlan)
-    unsafe_wrap(String, sprint_plan_(plan), true)
+    p = sprint_plan_(plan)
+    str = unsafe_string(p)
+    Libc.free(p)
+    return str
 end
 
 function show{T,K,inplace}(io::IO, p::cFFTWPlan{T,K,inplace})
diff --git a/base/gmp.jl b/base/gmp.jl
index 4ecb28c87eb88..f9e0e48d3b8da 100644
--- a/base/gmp.jl
+++ b/base/gmp.jl
@@ -532,8 +532,10 @@ hex(n::BigInt, pad::Int) = base(16, n, pad)
 
 function base(b::Integer, n::BigInt)
     2 <= b <= 62 || throw(ArgumentError("base must be 2 ≤ base ≤ 62, got $b"))
-    p = ccall((:__gmpz_get_str,:libgmp), Ptr{UInt8}, (Ptr{UInt8}, Cint, Ptr{BigInt}), C_NULL, b, &n)
-    unsafe_wrap(String, p, true)
+    nd = ndigits(n, b)
+    str = Base._string_n(n < 0 ? nd+1 : nd)
+    ccall((:__gmpz_get_str,:libgmp), Ptr{UInt8}, (Ptr{UInt8}, Cint, Ptr{BigInt}), str, b, &n)
+    return str
 end
 
 function base(b::Integer, n::BigInt, pad::Integer)
diff --git a/base/path.jl b/base/path.jl
index 1f4e6eb8b547b..8a8d1f1e0616f 100644
--- a/base/path.jl
+++ b/base/path.jl
@@ -288,7 +288,9 @@ else # !windows
 function realpath(path::AbstractString)
     p = ccall(:realpath, Ptr{UInt8}, (Cstring, Ptr{UInt8}), path, C_NULL)
     systemerror(:realpath, p == C_NULL)
-    return unsafe_wrap(String, p, true)
+    str = unsafe_string(p)
+    Libc.free(p)
+    return str
 end
 end # os-test
 
diff --git a/base/pointer.jl b/base/pointer.jl
index 8dcbed8a03c46..688e69ebe8ba5 100644
--- a/base/pointer.jl
+++ b/base/pointer.jl
@@ -93,32 +93,6 @@ program, in the same manner as C.
 unsafe_store!(p::Ptr{Any}, x::ANY, i::Integer=1) = pointerset(p, x, Int(i), 1)
 unsafe_store!{T}(p::Ptr{T}, x, i::Integer=1) = pointerset(p, convert(T,x), Int(i), 1)
 
-# unsafe pointer to string conversions (don't make a copy, unlike unsafe_string)
-# (Cstring versions are in c.jl)
-"""
-    unsafe_wrap(String, p::Ptr{UInt8}, [length,] own=false)
-
-Wrap a pointer `p` to an array of bytes in a `String` object,
-interpreting the bytes as UTF-8 encoded characters *without making a
-copy*. The optional `length` argument indicates the length in bytes of
-the pointer's data; if it is omitted, the data is assumed to be
-NUL-terminated.  The `own` argument optionally specifies whether Julia
-should take ownership of the memory, calling `free` on the pointer
-when the array is no longer referenced.
-
-This function is labelled "unsafe" because it will crash if `p` is not
-a valid memory address to data of the requested length.
-
-See also [`unsafe_string`](@ref), which takes a pointer
-and makes a copy of the data.
-"""
-unsafe_wrap(::Type{String}, p::Union{Ptr{UInt8},Ptr{Int8}}, len::Integer, own::Bool=false) =
-    ccall(:jl_array_to_string, Ref{String}, (Any,),
-          ccall(:jl_ptr_to_array_1d, Vector{UInt8}, (Any, Ptr{UInt8}, Csize_t, Cint),
-                Vector{UInt8}, p, len, own))
-unsafe_wrap(::Type{String}, p::Union{Ptr{UInt8},Ptr{Int8}}, own::Bool=false) =
-    unsafe_wrap(String, p, ccall(:strlen, Csize_t, (Ptr{UInt8},), p), own)
-
 # convert a raw Ptr to an object reference, and vice-versa
 """
     unsafe_pointer_to_objref(p::Ptr)
diff --git a/base/strings/string.jl b/base/strings/string.jl
index 73e758eed59e7..1cc67be1c2d6b 100644
--- a/base/strings/string.jl
+++ b/base/strings/string.jl
@@ -30,9 +30,6 @@ Copy a string from the address of a C-style (NUL-terminated) string encoded as U
 
 This function is labelled "unsafe" because it will crash if `p` is not
 a valid memory address to data of the requested length.
-
-See also [`unsafe_wrap(String, p, [length])`](@ref), which takes a pointer
-and wraps a string object around it without making a copy.
 """
 function unsafe_string(p::Union{Ptr{UInt8},Ptr{Int8}}, len::Integer)
     p == C_NULL && throw(ArgumentError("cannot convert NULL to string"))
diff --git a/base/strings/utf8proc.jl b/base/strings/utf8proc.jl
index d83095b508abb..32850fdd9418a 100644
--- a/base/strings/utf8proc.jl
+++ b/base/strings/utf8proc.jl
@@ -68,14 +68,19 @@ const UTF8PROC_STRIPMARK = (1<<13)
 
 ############################################################################
 
-function utf8proc_map(s::String, flags::Integer)
-    p = Ref{Ptr{UInt8}}()
-    result = ccall(:utf8proc_map, Cssize_t,
-                   (Ptr{UInt8}, Cssize_t, Ref{Ptr{UInt8}}, Cint),
-                   s, sizeof(s), p, flags)
-    result < 0 && error(unsafe_string(ccall(:utf8proc_errmsg, Cstring,
-                                         (Cssize_t,), result)))
-    unsafe_wrap(String, p[], result, true)::String
+utf8proc_error(result) = error(unsafe_string(ccall(:utf8proc_errmsg, Cstring, (Cssize_t,), result)))
+
+function utf8proc_map(str::String, options::Integer)
+    nwords = ccall(:utf8proc_decompose, Int, (Ptr{UInt8}, Int, Ptr{UInt8}, Int, Cint),
+                   str, sizeof(str), C_NULL, 0, options)
+    nwords < 0 && utf8proc_error(nwords)
+    buffer = Base.StringVector(nwords*4)
+    nwords = ccall(:utf8proc_decompose, Int, (Ptr{UInt8}, Int, Ptr{UInt8}, Int, Cint),
+                   str, sizeof(str), buffer, nwords, options)
+    nwords < 0 && utf8proc_error(nwords)
+    nbytes = ccall(:utf8proc_reencode, Int, (Ptr{UInt8}, Int, Cint), buffer, nwords, options)
+    nbytes < 0 && utf8proc_error(nbytes)
+    return String(resize!(buffer, nbytes))
 end
 
 utf8proc_map(s::AbstractString, flags::Integer) = utf8proc_map(String(s), flags)
diff --git a/doc/src/stdlib/strings.md b/doc/src/stdlib/strings.md
index a9895595484c7..be655da87e526 100644
--- a/doc/src/stdlib/strings.md
+++ b/doc/src/stdlib/strings.md
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ Base.repr
 Core.String(::AbstractString)
 Base.transcode
 Base.unsafe_string
-Base.unsafe_wrap(::Type{String}, ::Union{Ptr{Int8}, Ptr{UInt8}}, ::Integer, ::Bool)
 Base.codeunit(::AbstractString, ::Integer)
 Base.ascii
 Base.@r_str
diff --git a/test/strings/basic.jl b/test/strings/basic.jl
index 41ac521e4fe89..9048ba7e2036a 100644
--- a/test/strings/basic.jl
+++ b/test/strings/basic.jl
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ end
 
 cstrdup(s) = @static is_windows() ? ccall(:_strdup, Cstring, (Cstring,), s) : ccall(:strdup, Cstring, (Cstring,), s)
 let p = cstrdup("hello")
-    @test unsafe_string(p) == "hello" == unsafe_wrap(String, cstrdup(p), true)
+    @test unsafe_string(p) == "hello"
     Libc.free(p)
 end