diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index 8b04c37..65936e2 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -30,12 +30,6 @@ task :build_src do
   sh "cargo build --release"
 end
 
-desc "Build Rust extension"
-task :test_build_src do
-  puts "Building extension..."
-  sh "cargo build"
-end
-
 desc "Clean up Rust build"
 task :clean_src do
   puts "Cleaning up build..."
@@ -68,7 +62,7 @@ task :cargo do
   sh "cargo test -- --nocapture"
 end
 
-Rake::TestTask.new(minitest: :test_build_src) do |t|
+Rake::TestTask.new(minitest: :build_lib) do |t|
   t.libs << "test"
   t.libs << "lib"
   t.test_files = FileList['test/**/*_test.rb']
diff --git a/lib/faster_path.rb b/lib/faster_path.rb
index bd50b05..2040faa 100644
--- a/lib/faster_path.rb
+++ b/lib/faster_path.rb
@@ -103,7 +103,6 @@ def to_a
     attach_function :dirname_for_chop, [ :string ], :string
     attach_function :has_trailing_separator, [ :string ], :bool
     attach_function :entries, [ :string ], FromRustArray.by_value
-    # attach_function :free_array, [ FromRustArray ], :void
   end
   private_constant :Rust
 end
diff --git a/lib/ffi/plus.rb b/lib/ffi/plus.rb
index 24d4a2f..c1eba12 100644
--- a/lib/ffi/plus.rb
+++ b/lib/ffi/plus.rb
@@ -2,13 +2,11 @@
 
 class FasterPath::Plus < FFI::AutoPointer
   def self.release(ptr)
-    !null? and Binding.free(ptr)
+    Binding.free(ptr)
   end
 
   def to_s
-    @str ||= begin
-      null? ? nil : read_string.force_encoding('UTF-8')
-    end
+    @str ||= read_string
   end
 
   module Binding