diff --git a/PlainFileStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/PlainFile.pm b/PlainFileStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/PlainFile.pm
index 5233dab841..812e285e74 100644
--- a/PlainFileStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/PlainFile.pm
+++ b/PlainFileStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/PlainFile.pm
@@ -81,29 +81,14 @@ BEGIN {
 
         # Interface to file operations.
 
-        *_decode = sub {
-            return $_[0] unless defined $_[0];
-            my $s = $_[0];
-            return Encode::decode( $Foswiki::cfg{Store}{Encoding} || 'utf-8',
-                $s, Encode::FB_HTMLCREF );
-        };
+        *_decode = \&Foswiki::Store::decode;
 
         # readdir returns bytes
         *_readdir = sub {
             map { _decode($_) } readdir( $_[0] );
         };
 
-        *_encode = sub {
-            return $_[0] unless utf8::is_utf8( $_[0] );
-            my $s = $_[0];
-            return Encode::encode(
-                $Foswiki::cfg{Store}{Encoding} || 'utf-8', $s,
-
-                # Throw an exception if the {Store}{Encoding}
-                # can't represent a unicode character
-                Encode::FB_CROAK
-            );
-        };
+        *_encode = \&Foswiki::Store::encode;
 
         # The remaining file level functions work on wide chars,
         # silently converting to utf-8. But we want to explicitly
@@ -365,7 +350,7 @@ sub testAttachment {
 sub openAttachment {
     my ( $this, $meta, $att, $mode, @opts ) = @_;
     ASSERT($att) if DEBUG;
-    return _openStream( $meta, $att, $mode, @opts );
+    return _openBinaryStream( $meta, $att, $mode, @opts );
 }
 
 # Implement Foswiki::Store
@@ -650,7 +635,7 @@ sub atomicLockInfo {
     my ( $this, $meta ) = @_;
     my $filename = _getData($meta) . '.lock';
     if ( _e $filename ) {
-        my $t = _readFile($filename);
+        my $t = _readTextFile($filename);
         return split( /\s+/, $t, 2 );
     }
     return ( undef, undef );
@@ -899,7 +884,7 @@ sub getLease {
     my $filename = _getData($meta) . '.lease';
     my $lease;
     if ( _e $filename ) {
-        my $t = _readFile($filename);
+        my $t = _readTextFile($filename);
         $lease = { split( /\r?\n/, $t ) };
     }
     return $lease;
@@ -1108,7 +1093,7 @@ DONE
     # No existing revs; create
     # If this is a topic, correct the TOPICINFO
     unless ($attachment) {
-        my $t = _readFile($latest);
+        my $t = _readTextFile($latest);
 
         $t =~ s/^%META:TOPICINFO\{(.*)\}%$//m;
         $t =
@@ -1158,7 +1143,7 @@ sub _latestIsNewer {
 sub _readMetaFile {
     my $mf = shift;
     return () unless _e $mf;
-    return split( "\n", _readFile($mf), 2 );
+    return split( "\n", _readTextFile($mf), 2 );
 }
 
 sub _writeMetaFile {
@@ -1170,7 +1155,7 @@ sub _writeMetaFile {
 sub _readChanges {
     my ( $file, $web ) = @_;
 
-    my $all_lines = Foswiki::Sandbox::untaintUnchecked( _readFile($file) );
+    my $all_lines = Foswiki::Sandbox::untaintUnchecked( _readTextFile($file) );
 
     # Look at the first line to deduce format
     if ( $all_lines =~ m/^\[/s ) {
@@ -1307,7 +1292,7 @@ sub eachChange {
 }
 
 # Read an entire (text) file
-sub _readFile {
+sub _readTextFile {
     my $name = shift;
 
     my $IN_FILE;
@@ -1331,7 +1316,7 @@ sub _readFile {
 }
 
 # Open a stream onto a (binary) file
-sub _openStream {
+sub _openBinaryStream {
     my ( $meta, $att, $mode, %opts ) = @_;
     my $stream;
 
@@ -1515,7 +1500,7 @@ sub _getRevision {
     if ( $nr && $version && $version <= $nr ) {
         my $fn = _historyDir( $meta, $attachment ) . "/$version";
         if ( _e $fn ) {
-            return ( _readFile($fn), $version == $nr );
+            return ( _readTextFile($fn), $version == $nr );
         }
     }
     my $latest = _latestFile( $meta, $attachment );
@@ -1523,7 +1508,7 @@ sub _getRevision {
     return ( undef, 0 ) unless _e $latest;
 
     # no version given, give latest (may not be checked in yet)
-    return ( _readFile($latest), 1 );
+    return ( _readTextFile($latest), 1 );
 }
 
 # Split a string on \n making sure we have all newlines. If the string
diff --git a/RCSStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/Rcs/Handler.pm b/RCSStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/Rcs/Handler.pm
index bc8f7e8efe..4340f77981 100644
--- a/RCSStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/Rcs/Handler.pm
+++ b/RCSStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/Rcs/Handler.pm
@@ -56,8 +56,8 @@ BEGIN {
         import locale();
     }
 
-    *_decode = \&Foswiki::Store::Rcs::Store::_decode;
-    *_encode = \&Foswiki::Store::Rcs::Store::_encode;
+    *_decode = \&Foswiki::Store::decode;
+    *_encode = \&Foswiki::Store::encode;
     *_stat   = \&Foswiki::Store::Rcs::Store::_stat;
     *_unlink = \&Foswiki::Store::Rcs::Store::_unlink;
     *_e      = sub { -e _encode( $_[0] ) };
diff --git a/RCSStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/Rcs/RcsLiteHandler.pm b/RCSStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/Rcs/RcsLiteHandler.pm
index c4f78d8e65..23fef1dcb5 100644
--- a/RCSStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/Rcs/RcsLiteHandler.pm
+++ b/RCSStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/Rcs/RcsLiteHandler.pm
@@ -129,8 +129,8 @@ BEGIN {
         import locale();
     }
 
-    *_decode = \&Foswiki::Store::Rcs::Store::_decode;
-    *_encode = \&Foswiki::Store::Rcs::Store::_encode;
+    *_decode = \&Foswiki::Store::decode;
+    *_encode = \&Foswiki::Store::encode;
 }
 
 # implements Rcs::Handler
diff --git a/RCSStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/Rcs/RcsWrapHandler.pm b/RCSStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/Rcs/RcsWrapHandler.pm
index 2b5c984568..19897bc034 100644
--- a/RCSStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/Rcs/RcsWrapHandler.pm
+++ b/RCSStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/Rcs/RcsWrapHandler.pm
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ BEGIN {
         import locale();
     }
 
-    *_decode = \&Foswiki::Store::Rcs::Store::_decode;
-    *_encode = \&Foswiki::Store::Rcs::Store::_encode;
+    *_decode = \&Foswiki::Store::decode;
+    *_encode = \&Foswiki::Store::encode;
 }
 
 sub new {
diff --git a/RCSStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/Rcs/Store.pm b/RCSStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/Rcs/Store.pm
index c4cf25fdea..22580990ae 100644
--- a/RCSStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/Rcs/Store.pm
+++ b/RCSStoreContrib/lib/Foswiki/Store/Rcs/Store.pm
@@ -56,24 +56,8 @@ BEGIN {
     if ($Foswiki::UNICODE) {
         require Encode;
 
-        *_decode = sub {
-            return $_[0] unless defined $_[0];
-            my $s = $_[0];
-            return Encode::decode( $Foswiki::cfg{Store}{Encoding} || 'utf-8',
-                $s, Encode::FB_CROAK );
-        };
-
-        *_encode = sub {
-            return $_[0] unless defined $_[0];
-            my $s = $_[0];
-            return Encode::encode(
-                $Foswiki::cfg{Store}{Encoding} || 'utf-8', $s,
-
-                # Throw an exception if the {Store}{Encoding}
-                # can't represent a unicode character
-                Encode::FB_CROAK
-            );
-        };
+        *_decode = \&Foswiki::Store::decode;
+        *_encode = \&Foswiki::Store::encode;
         *_stat   = sub { stat( _encode( $_[0] ) ); };
         *_unlink = sub { unlink( _encode( $_[0] ) ); };
     }
diff --git a/UnitTestContrib/test/unit/FoswikiStoreTestCase.pm b/UnitTestContrib/test/unit/FoswikiStoreTestCase.pm
index 28d0123078..451b4d85f5 100644
--- a/UnitTestContrib/test/unit/FoswikiStoreTestCase.pm
+++ b/UnitTestContrib/test/unit/FoswikiStoreTestCase.pm
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ sub fixture_groups {
     }
 }
 
-sub _mkFiles {
+sub _make_data {
     my $this = shift;
     my $FILE;
     my $enc = $Foswiki::cfg{Store}{Encoding} || 'utf-8';
@@ -121,6 +121,14 @@ sub _mkFiles {
     close($FILE);
 }
 
+sub open_data {
+    my ( $this, $k ) = @_;
+
+    my $fh;
+    open( $fh, '<', $this->{$k} );
+    return $fh;
+}
+
 sub utf8 {
     my $this = shift;
     $Foswiki::cfg{Site}{Locale} = 'en_US.utf-8';
@@ -133,7 +141,7 @@ sub utf8 {
     $this->{t_datapath}  = "$Foswiki::cfg{TempfileDir}/$this->{t_datafile}";
     $this->{t_datafile2} = "پښتانهټبرونه.gif";
     $this->{t_datapath2} = "$Foswiki::cfg{TempfileDir}/$this->{t_datafile2}";
-    $this->_mkFiles();
+    $this->_make_data();
 }
 
 sub iso8859 {
@@ -152,15 +160,7 @@ sub iso8859 {
     $this->{t_topic}     = "Test${n}Topic";
     $this->{t_datafile}  = "${n}1.gif";
     $this->{t_datafile2} = "${n}2.gif";
-    $this->_mkFiles();
-}
-
-sub open_data {
-    my ( $this, $k ) = @_;
-
-    my $fh;
-    open( $fh, '<', $this->{$k} );
-    return $fh;
+    $this->_make_data();
 }
 
 1;
diff --git a/core/data/TestCases/TestCaseUtf8Errors.txt b/core/data/TestCases/TestCaseUtf8Errors.txt
index c5e3fa5440..863678a7f3 100644
--- a/core/data/TestCases/TestCaseUtf8Errors.txt
+++ b/core/data/TestCases/TestCaseUtf8Errors.txt
@@ -6,11 +6,11 @@
 
 -->
 
----++ Demo of *some* UTF8 errors
+---++ Demo of some UTF8 challenges
 
-View the topic with System.EditRowPlugin disabled, and the utf8 text is rendered
-correctly.   [[%TOPIC%?debugenableplugins=JQueryPlugin][Click here to reload this topic with only the JQueryPlugin enabled]].
+*Note* this page uses Javascript to perform some check. The source is included inline below.
 
+[[%TOPIC%?debugenableplugins=JQueryPlugin][Click here to reload this topic with only the JQueryPlugin enabled]].
 
 %TOC%
 
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ correctly.   [[%TOPIC%?debugenableplugins=JQueryPlugin][Click here to reload thi
 | Q-plain | %PLTWL1%,%PUTWL1%,%PWTWL1%,%PTTWL1% | %QUERY{"preferences[name =~ 'TWL1'].value"}% | :FWTEST: |
 | Q-json | ["%PLTWL1%","%PUTWL1%","%PWTWL1%","%PTTWL1%"] | %QUERY{"preferences[name =~ 'TWL1'].value" style="json"}% | :FWTEST: |
 
----++ Regex QUERY - fails for character classes and case comparisons too...
+---++ Regex QUERY
 | *Testname* | *Wanted* | *Actual* | *Result* |
 | asc-re2: /AbCdefgh/ =~ /\wCde\w/ | 1 | %QUERY{"preferences[name='PWTWA1'].value =~ '\wCde\w'"}% | :FWTEST: |
 | asc-re3: /AbCdefgh/ =~ /(?i)cDE/ | 1 | %QUERY{"preferences[name='PWTWA1'].value =~ '(?i)cDE'"}% | :FWTEST: |
@@ -29,19 +29,19 @@ correctly.   [[%TOPIC%?debugenableplugins=JQueryPlugin][Click here to reload thi
 | utf-re3: /ÌæĈąṁēńã/ =~ /(?i)ĉĄṀ/ | 1 | %QUERY{"preferences[name='PWTWL1'].value =~ '(?i)ĉĄṀ'"}% | :FWTEST: |
 | utf-re4: /ÌæĈąṁēńã/ =~ /[<nop>[:upper:]]/ | 1 | %QUERY{"preferences[name='PWTWL1'].value =~ '[[:upper:]]'"}% | :FWTEST: |
 
----++ QUERY lc/uc - fails
+---++ QUERY lc/uc
 | *Testname* | *Wanted* | *Actual* | *Result* |
 | WTWA1: lc(%PWTWA1%) | %PLTWA1% | %QUERY{"lc(preferences[name='PWTWA1'].value)"}% | :FWTEST: |
 | WTWA1: uc(%PWTWA1%) | %PUTWA1% | %QUERY{"uc(preferences[name='PWTWA1'].value)"}% | :FWTEST: |
 | WTWL1: lc(%PWTWL1%) | %PLTWL1% | %QUERY{"lc(preferences[name='PWTWL1'].value)"}% | :FWTEST: |
 | WTWL1: uc(%PWTWL1%) | %PUTWL1% | %QUERY{"uc(preferences[name='PWTWL1'].value)"}% | :FWTEST: |
 
----++ SEARCH with regex containing character classes such \w
+---++ SEARCH
+With regex containing character classes such \w
 | *Testname* | *Wanted* | *Actual* | *Result* |
-| search for =\dxx= <br> _$pattern_ regex charclass<br> =\w*xx\w*= | abc1xxdef,áčž2xxøđß,ábc3xxdeš,qwe4xxuio | %SEARCH{ "\dxx" type="regex" nonoise="on" topic="%TOPIC%" multiple="on" separator="," format="$pattern(.*?(\w*xx\w*).*)" }% | :FWTEST: |
-| Besides the =\w= regex error, I actually don't understand why found the string =<nop>d<nop>x<nop>x<nop>= too. The regex contais the =\d= as a character class. ||||
+| search for =\dxx= <br> _$pattern_ regex charclass<br> =\w*xx\w*= | abc1xxdef,abc1xxdef,áčž2xxøđß,ábc3xxdeš,qwe4xxuio | %SEARCH{ "\dxx" type="regex" nonoise="on" topic="%TOPIC%" multiple="on" separator="," format="$pattern(.*?(\w*\dxx\w*).*)" }% | :FWTEST: |
 
----++ Calc ERRORS (many string operation - examples (here are more))
+---++ CALC
 | *Test* | *Wanted* | *Actual* | *Result* |
 | %<nop>CALC{"$FIND(e, abcdefgh, 2)"}% | 5 | %CALC{"$FIND(e, abcdefgh, 2)"}% | :FWTEST: |
 | %<nop>CALC{"$FIND(ó, śõñļóțķụ, 2)"}% | 5 | %CALC{"$FIND(ó, śõñļóțķụ, 2)"}% | :FWTEST: |
@@ -59,12 +59,11 @@ correctly.   [[%TOPIC%?debugenableplugins=JQueryPlugin][Click here to reload thi
 | %<nop>CALC{"$TRANSLATE(cumi,ci,čí)"}% | čumí | %CALC{"$TRANSLATE(cumi,ci,čí)"}% | :FWTEST: |
 | %<nop>CALC{"$TRANSLATE(čumí,čí,ci)"}% | cumi | %CALC{"$TRANSLATE(čumí,čí,ci)"}% | :FWTEST: |
 
-------
----++ Non critical (but annoying) errors
-The table sorting doesn't sorts by the accented characters. For
-this will be need to use *utf8 + locale* based sorting, what is
-correctly available only from perl v5.20 (using an special pragma
-usable from v.5.16).
+---++ SPACEOUT
+=%<nop>SPACEOUT{"UśđáṁAŝșūṁėṉďáCøṅŝêĉṫēťúŕDøḻóř" separator=", "}%=
+%SPACEOUT{"UśđáṁAŝșūṁėṉďáCøṅŝêĉṫēťúŕDøḻóř" separator=", "}%
+
+---++ TABLE and EDITTABLE
 
 Try: sort by the *Dolořęṁ* column.
 
@@ -78,16 +77,6 @@ Try: sort by the *Dolořęṁ* column.
 | 5 |   | Ábc | John | | |
 | *Nìsi* | *Aḻíqúid* | *Dolořęṁ* | *Fáčërę* | *Omņįs* | *Iṗsuṁ* |
 
-The =%<nop>SPACEOUT{"SomeUtfText"}%= won't add spaces even if the Uppercases are ASCII.
-=%<nop>SPACEOUT{"UśđáṁAŝșūṁėṉďáCøṅŝêĉṫēťúŕDøḻóř" separator=", "}%=
-%SPACEOUT{"UśđáṁAŝșūṁėṉďáCøṅŝêĉṫēťúŕDøḻóř" separator=", "}%
-
----+ Strange Errors
----++ EDITTABLE
-The following *NOT utf8* table using the %<nop>EDITTABLE% (copy
-from the System.EditRowPlugin), screws the normal Utf8 topic text.
-(also somewhat changes the width of the previous table).
-
 %EDITTABLE{ format="| row, -1 | text, 20, init | select, 1, not started, starting, ongoing, completed | radio, 3,:-),:-I,:-( | date, 20 |" changerows="on" quietsave="on"}%
 | *Nr* | *Project* | *State* | *Progress* | *Timestamp* |
 | 1 | Sliced yoghourt | completed | :-) | 26 Jun 2002 |
diff --git a/core/lib/Foswiki.pm b/core/lib/Foswiki.pm
index 2a02c5856c..a99a647995 100644
--- a/core/lib/Foswiki.pm
+++ b/core/lib/Foswiki.pm
@@ -147,6 +147,32 @@ sub _getLibDir {
     return $foswikiLibDir;
 }
 
+# Character encoding/decoding stubs. Done so we can ovveride
+# if necessary (e.g. on OSX we may want to monkey-patch in a
+# NFC/NFD module)
+
+=begin TML
+
+---++ StaticMethod decode_utf8($octets) -> $unicode
+
+Decode a binary string of octets known to be encoded using UTF-8 into
+perl characters (unicode).
+
+=cut
+
+*decode_utf8 = \&Encode::decode_utf8;
+
+=begin TML
+
+---++ StaticMethod encode_utf8($unicode) -> $octets
+
+Encode a perl character string into a binary string of octets
+encoded using UTF-8.
+
+=cut
+
+*encode_utf8 = \&Encode::encode_utf8;
+
 BEGIN {
 
     # First thing we do; make sure we print unicode errors
@@ -793,7 +819,7 @@ BOGUS
             else {
                 # Not available from the cache, or it has dirty areas
                 require Compress::Zlib;
-                $text = Compress::Zlib::memGzip( Encode::encode_utf8($text) );
+                $text = Compress::Zlib::memGzip( encode_utf8($text) );
             }
             $binary_body = 1;
         }
@@ -867,7 +893,7 @@ sub satisfiedByCache {
         $cache->renderDirtyAreas( \$text );
 
         # dirty pages are cached in unicode
-        $text = Encode::encode_utf8($text);
+        $text = encode_utf8($text);
     }
     elsif ( $Foswiki::cfg{HttpCompress} ) {
 
@@ -2151,7 +2177,7 @@ sub new {
     # bin/script?topic=WebPreferences;defaultweb=Sandbox
     my $defaultweb = $query->param('defaultweb') || $Foswiki::cfg{UsersWebName};
 
-    my $webtopic      = Encode::decode_utf8( $query->path_info() || '' );
+    my $webtopic      = decode_utf8( $query->path_info() || '' );
     my $topicOverride = '';
     my $topic         = $query->param('topic');
     if ( defined $topic ) {
@@ -2928,7 +2954,7 @@ sub urlEncode {
     my $text = shift;
 
     # URLs work quite happily with %-encoded utf-8 characters
-    $text = Encode::encode_utf8($text);
+    $text = encode_utf8($text);
     $text =~ s{([^0-9a-zA-Z-_.:~!*#/])}{sprintf('%%%02x',ord($1))}ge;
 
     return $text;
@@ -2949,7 +2975,7 @@ sub urlDecode {
     my $text = shift;
 
     $text =~ s/%([\da-f]{2})/chr(hex($1))/gei;
-    $text = Encode::decode_utf8($text);
+    $text = decode_utf8($text);
 
     return $text;
 }
diff --git a/core/lib/Foswiki.spec b/core/lib/Foswiki.spec
index 0994b30807..b8d6f5873e 100644
--- a/core/lib/Foswiki.spec
+++ b/core/lib/Foswiki.spec
@@ -1369,21 +1369,17 @@ $Foswiki::cfg{Store}{RememberChangesFor} = 2678400;
 # **SELECTCLASS Foswiki::Store::SearchAlgorithms::* LABEL="Search Algorithm" **
 # This is the algorithm used to perform plain text (not query) searches.
 # Foswiki has two built-in search algorithms, both of which are designed to
-# work with the default flat-file database.
+# work with the default flat-file databases (RcsWrap, RcsLite, and PlainFile).
 #    * The default 'Forking' algorithm, which forks a subprocess that
 #      runs a 'grep' command, is recommended for Linux/Unix.
 #      Forking may also work OK on Windows if you keep the directory path
 #      to Foswiki very short.
 #    * The 'PurePerl' algorithm, which is written in Perl and
-#      usually only used for native Windows installations where forking
+#      usually used on native Windows installations where forking
 #      is not stable, due to limitations in the length of command lines.
 # On Linux/Unix you will be just fine with the 'Forking' implementation.
 # However if you find searches run very slowly, you may want to try a
 # different algorithm, which may work better on your configuration.
-# For example, there is an alternative algorithm available from
-# [[http://foswiki.org/Extensions/NativeSearchContrib][NativeSearchContrib]],
-# that usually gives better performance with mod_perl and Speedy CGI, but
-# requires root access to install.
 #
 # Other store implementations and indexing search engines (for example,
 # [[http://foswiki.org/Extensions/KinoSearchContrib][KinoSearchContrib]])
diff --git a/core/lib/Foswiki/Engine.pm b/core/lib/Foswiki/Engine.pm
index bbca732b70..c2c478c9cc 100644
--- a/core/lib/Foswiki/Engine.pm
+++ b/core/lib/Foswiki/Engine.pm
@@ -192,12 +192,12 @@ sub prepareQueryParameters {
         if ( defined $value ) {
             $value =~ tr/+/ /;
             $value =~ s/%([0-9A-F]{2})/chr(hex($1))/gei;
-            $value = Encode::decode_utf8($value);
+            $value = Foswiki::decode_utf8($value);
         }
         if ( defined $param ) {
             $param =~ tr/+/ /;
             $param =~ s/%([0-9A-F]{2})/chr(hex($1))/gei;
-            $param = Encode::decode_utf8($param);
+            $param = Foswiki::decode_utf8($param);
             push( @{ $params{$param} }, $value );
             push( @plist,               $param );
         }
diff --git a/core/lib/Foswiki/Engine/CGI.pm b/core/lib/Foswiki/Engine/CGI.pm
index caa06fe051..aebbfa5560 100644
--- a/core/lib/Foswiki/Engine/CGI.pm
+++ b/core/lib/Foswiki/Engine/CGI.pm
@@ -232,11 +232,12 @@ sub prepareBodyParameters {
     return unless $ENV{CONTENT_LENGTH};
     my @plist = $this->{cgi}->multi_param();
     foreach my $pname (@plist) {
-        my $upname = Encode::decode_utf8($pname);
+        my $upname = Foswiki::decode_utf8($pname);
         my @values;
         if ($Foswiki::UNICODE) {
             @values =
-              map { Encode::decode_utf8($_) } $this->{cgi}->multi_param($pname);
+              map { Foswiki::decode_utf8($_) }
+              $this->{cgi}->multi_param($pname);
         }
         else {
             @values = $this->{cgi}->multi_param($pname);
@@ -256,7 +257,7 @@ sub prepareUploads {
     my %uploads;
     foreach my $key ( keys %{ $this->{uploads} } ) {
         my $fname  = $this->{cgi}->param($key);
-        my $ufname = Encode::decode_utf8($fname);
+        my $ufname = Foswiki::decode_utf8($fname);
         $uploads{$ufname} = new Foswiki::Request::Upload(
             headers => $this->{cgi}->uploadInfo($fname),
             tmpname => $this->{cgi}->tmpFileName($fname),
diff --git a/core/lib/Foswiki/I18N.pm b/core/lib/Foswiki/I18N.pm
index d1a32059a6..ff3daa641e 100644
--- a/core/lib/Foswiki/I18N.pm
+++ b/core/lib/Foswiki/I18N.pm
@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ sub _discover_languages {
     #use the cache, if available
     if ( open LANGUAGE, '<', "$Foswiki::cfg{WorkingDir}/languages.cache" ) {
         $cache_open = 1;
-        foreach my $line ( map { Encode::decode( 'utf-8', $_ ) } <LANGUAGE> ) {
+        foreach my $line ( map { Foswiki::decode_utf8($_) } <LANGUAGE> ) {
             my ( $key, $name ) = split( '=', $line );
 
             # Filter on enabled languages
@@ -351,7 +351,7 @@ sub _discover_languages {
         foreach my $tag ( available_languages() ) {
             my $h = Foswiki::I18N->get_handle($tag);
             my $name = eval { $h->maketext("_language_name") } or next;
-            print LANGUAGE Encode::encode_utf8("$tag=$name\n") if $cache_open;
+            print LANGUAGE Foswiki::encode_utf8("$tag=$name\n") if $cache_open;
 
             # Filter on enabled languages
             next
diff --git a/core/lib/Foswiki/LoginManager.pm b/core/lib/Foswiki/LoginManager.pm
index 3d7038f00d..cd27766c6c 100644
--- a/core/lib/Foswiki/LoginManager.pm
+++ b/core/lib/Foswiki/LoginManager.pm
@@ -632,7 +632,7 @@ sub redirectToLoggedOutUrl {
     );
 
     #TODO: consider if we should risk passing on the urlparams on logout
-    my $path_info = Encode::decode_utf8( $session->{request}->path_info() );
+    my $path_info = Foswiki::decode_utf8( $session->{request}->path_info() );
     if ( my $topic = $session->{request}->param('topic') )
     {    #we should at least respect the ?topic= request
         my $topicRequest = Foswiki::Sandbox::untaintUnchecked($topic);
diff --git a/core/lib/Foswiki/Net.pm b/core/lib/Foswiki/Net.pm
index ffe07f4b86..691867b0e7 100644
--- a/core/lib/Foswiki/Net.pm
+++ b/core/lib/Foswiki/Net.pm
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@ sub getExternalResource {
         if ( defined $options{content} ) {
 
             # Force body encoding to octets
-            $options{content} = Encode::encode_utf8( $options{content} );
+            $options{content} = Foswiki::encode_utf8( $options{content} );
             $req .= 'Content-length: ' . length( $options{content} ) . "\r\n";
         }
 
diff --git a/core/lib/Foswiki/PageCache.pm b/core/lib/Foswiki/PageCache.pm
index 6a303c7ac0..d0e8f48bb1 100644
--- a/core/lib/Foswiki/PageCache.pm
+++ b/core/lib/Foswiki/PageCache.pm
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ sub cachePage {
         $data =~ s/([\t ]?)[ \t]*<\/?(nop|noautolink)\/?>/$1/gis;
 
         # clean pages are stored utf8-encoded, whether plaintext or zip
-        $data = Encode::encode_utf8($data);
+        $data = Foswiki::encode_utf8($data);
         if ( $Foswiki::cfg{HttpCompress} ) {
 
             # Cache compressed page
diff --git a/core/lib/Foswiki/PageCache/DBI.pm b/core/lib/Foswiki/PageCache/DBI.pm
index 82658f1c76..487cd000ad 100644
--- a/core/lib/Foswiki/PageCache/DBI.pm
+++ b/core/lib/Foswiki/PageCache/DBI.pm
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ sub setPageVariation {
 
     $variation->{md5} =
       Digest::MD5::md5_hex(
-        Encode::encode_utf8( $web . $topic . $variationKey ) )
+        Foswiki::encode_utf8( $web . $topic . $variationKey ) )
       unless defined $variation->{md5};
 
     #writeDebug("INSERT topic $webTopic, variation=$variationKey");
@@ -288,7 +288,7 @@ sub deletePage {
             #writeDebug( "DELETE page $webTopic variation=" . $variationKey );
             my $md5 =
               Digest::MD5::md5_hex(
-                Encode::encode_utf8( $web . $topic . $variationKey ) );
+                Foswiki::encode_utf8( $web . $topic . $variationKey ) );
             my $fileName =
               Foswiki::Sandbox::normalizeFileName(
                 $this->{cacheDir} . '/' . $md5 );
diff --git a/core/lib/Foswiki/Request.pm b/core/lib/Foswiki/Request.pm
index 56abbe448b..4d780ce066 100644
--- a/core/lib/Foswiki/Request.pm
+++ b/core/lib/Foswiki/Request.pm
@@ -487,7 +487,7 @@ name $name from utf8 to unicode.
 
 sub unicode_param {
     my ( $this, $key ) = @_;
-    return Encode::decode_utf8( $this->param($key) );
+    return Foswiki::decode_utf8( $this->param($key) );
 }
 
 =begin TML
diff --git a/core/lib/Foswiki/Response.pm b/core/lib/Foswiki/Response.pm
index 5511edd185..2bcbbc06fb 100644
--- a/core/lib/Foswiki/Response.pm
+++ b/core/lib/Foswiki/Response.pm
@@ -426,7 +426,7 @@ Add text content to the end of the body. Content may be unicode.
 sub print {
     my $this = shift;
     $this->{body} = '' unless defined $this->{body};
-    $this->body( $this->{body} . Encode::encode_utf8( join( '', @_ ) ) );
+    $this->body( $this->{body} . Foswiki::encode_utf8( join( '', @_ ) ) );
 }
 
 =begin TML
diff --git a/core/lib/Foswiki/Search.pm b/core/lib/Foswiki/Search.pm
index fb7fdea46c..7b2361e0b9 100644
--- a/core/lib/Foswiki/Search.pm
+++ b/core/lib/Foswiki/Search.pm
@@ -341,7 +341,7 @@ sub searchWeb {
     # need to tell the Meta::query pager settings so it can optimise
     require Digest::MD5;
     my $string_id = $params{_RAW} || 'we had better not go there';
-    $string_id = Encode::encode_utf8($string_id);
+    $string_id = Foswiki::encode_utf8($string_id);
     my $paging_ID = 'SEARCH' . Digest::MD5::md5_hex($string_id);
     $params{pager_urlparam_id} = $paging_ID;
 
diff --git a/core/lib/Foswiki/Store.pm b/core/lib/Foswiki/Store.pm
index 8921ee61a4..434fd7564d 100644
--- a/core/lib/Foswiki/Store.pm
+++ b/core/lib/Foswiki/Store.pm
@@ -235,6 +235,43 @@ sub getAttachmentURL {
     return $url;
 }
 
+=begin TML
+
+---++ StaticMethod decode($octets) -> $unicode
+
+Utility function to decode a binary string of octets read from
+the store and known known to be encoded using the
+currently selected {Store}{Encoding} (or UTF-8 if none is set)
+into perl characters (unicode). May die if $octets contains
+an invalid byte sequence for the encoding.
+
+=cut
+
+sub decode {
+    return $_[0] unless defined $_[0];
+    my $s = $_[0];
+    return Encode::decode( $Foswiki::cfg{Store}{Encoding} || 'utf-8',
+        $s, Encode::FB_CROAK );
+}
+
+=begin TML
+
+---++ StaticMethod encode($unicode) -> $octets
+
+Utility function to encode a perl character string into
+a string of octets encoded using the currently selected
+{Store}{Encoding} (or UTF-8 if none is set). May die if
+=$unicode= cannot be represented in the {Store}{Encoding}.
+
+=cut
+
+sub encode {
+    return $_[0] unless defined $_[0];
+    my $s = $_[0];
+    return Encode::encode( $Foswiki::cfg{Store}{Encoding} || 'utf-8',
+        $s, Encode::FB_CROAK );
+}
+
 1;
 __END__
 # Comment out the above two lines (1; __END__) during development of a
@@ -928,7 +965,7 @@ sub removeSpuriousLeases {
 __END__
 Foswiki - The Free and Open Source Wiki, http://foswiki.org/
 
-Copyright (C) 2008-2010 Foswiki Contributors. Foswiki Contributors
+Copyright (C) 2008-2015 Foswiki Contributors. Foswiki Contributors
 are listed in the AUTHORS file in the root of this distribution.
 NOTE: Please extend that file, not this notice.
 
diff --git a/core/lib/Foswiki/Store/SearchAlgorithms/Forking.pm b/core/lib/Foswiki/Store/SearchAlgorithms/Forking.pm
index e287dc3bb4..c664646667 100644
--- a/core/lib/Foswiki/Store/SearchAlgorithms/Forking.pm
+++ b/core/lib/Foswiki/Store/SearchAlgorithms/Forking.pm
@@ -165,8 +165,7 @@ sub _search {
                 # throw Error::Simple(
                 #      "$program Grep for '$searchString' returned error")
             }
-            $matches .=
-              Encode::decode( $Foswiki::cfg{Store}{Encoding} || 'utf-8', $m );
+            $matches .= Foswiki::Store::decode($m);
         }
     }
     my %seen;
diff --git a/core/lib/Foswiki/Store/SearchAlgorithms/PurePerl.pm b/core/lib/Foswiki/Store/SearchAlgorithms/PurePerl.pm
index bb739e626f..7b35711aad 100644
--- a/core/lib/Foswiki/Store/SearchAlgorithms/PurePerl.pm
+++ b/core/lib/Foswiki/Store/SearchAlgorithms/PurePerl.pm
@@ -95,12 +95,17 @@ sub _search {
 
 #TODO: need to BM if this is faster than doing it via an object in the MetaCache.
         my $file;
-        if ( open( $file, '<', "$sDir/$topic.txt" ) ) {
+        my $enc = $Foswiki::cfg{Store}{Encoding} || 'utf-8';
+        if (
+            open(
+                $file, "<:encoding($enc)",
+                Foswiki::Store::encode("$sDir/$topic.txt")
+            )
+          )
+        {
             while ( my $line = <$file> ) {
                 if ( &$doMatch($line) ) {
                     chomp($line);
-                    Encode::decode( $Foswiki::cfg{Store}{Encoding} || 'utf-8',
-                        $line, Encode::FB_PERLQQ );
                     push( @{ $seen{$webtopic} }, $line );
                     if ( $options->{files_without_match} ) {
                         close($file);
diff --git a/core/lib/Foswiki/UI.pm b/core/lib/Foswiki/UI.pm
index 1552e58c4c..92004fcb29 100644
--- a/core/lib/Foswiki/UI.pm
+++ b/core/lib/Foswiki/UI.pm
@@ -449,7 +449,7 @@ sub _execute {
             $html .= CGI::h1( {}, 'Bad Request' );
             $html .= CGI::p( {}, $e->{reason} );
             $html .= CGI::end_html();
-            $res->print( Encode::encode_utf8($html) );
+            $res->print( Foswiki::encode_utf8($html) );
         }
         $Foswiki::engine->finalizeError( $res, $session->{request} );
     }
@@ -467,7 +467,7 @@ sub _execute {
         if (DEBUG) {
 
             # output the full message and stacktrace to the browser
-            $res->print( Encode::encode_utf8( $e->stringify() ) );
+            $res->print( Foswiki::encode_utf8( $e->stringify() ) );
         }
         else {
             my $mess = $e->stringify();
@@ -483,7 +483,7 @@ sub _execute {
             # cut out pathnames from public announcement
             $mess =~ s#/[\w./]+#path#g unless DEBUG;
             $text .= $mess;
-            $res->print( Encode::encode_utf8($text) );
+            $res->print( Foswiki::encode_utf8($text) );
         }
     }
     otherwise {
@@ -495,7 +495,7 @@ sub _execute {
         $res->print("Unspecified internal error\n\n");
         if (DEBUG) {
             eval "require Data::Dumper";
-            $res->print( Encode::encode_utf8( Data::Dumper::Dumper( \$e ) ) );
+            $res->print( Data::Dumper::Dumper( \$e ) );
         }
     };
     $session->finish() if $session;
diff --git a/core/lib/Foswiki/UI/Viewfile.pm b/core/lib/Foswiki/UI/Viewfile.pm
index 393e280a18..098736b596 100644
--- a/core/lib/Foswiki/UI/Viewfile.pm
+++ b/core/lib/Foswiki/UI/Viewfile.pm
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ sub viewfile {
 
         # This is a standard path extended by the attachment name e.g.
         # /Web/Topic/Attachment.gif
-        $pathInfo = Encode::decode_utf8( $query->path_info() );
+        $pathInfo = Foswiki::decode_utf8( $query->path_info() );
     }
 
     # If we have path_info but no ?filename=
diff --git a/core/lib/Foswiki/Users/HtPasswdUser.pm b/core/lib/Foswiki/Users/HtPasswdUser.pm
index 59014eb7d0..9b54521f3c 100644
--- a/core/lib/Foswiki/Users/HtPasswdUser.pm
+++ b/core/lib/Foswiki/Users/HtPasswdUser.pm
@@ -534,7 +534,7 @@ sub encrypt {
         }
 
         my $encodedPassword = '{SHA}'
-          . Digest::SHA::sha1_base64( Encode::encode_utf8($passwd) ) . '=';
+          . Digest::SHA::sha1_base64( Foswiki::encode_utf8($passwd) ) . '=';
 
         # don't use chomp, it relies on $/
         $encodedPassword =~ s/\s+$//;
@@ -554,8 +554,8 @@ sub encrypt {
                 $saltchars[ int( rand( $#saltchars + 1 ) ) ]
               . $saltchars[ int( rand( $#saltchars + 1 ) ) ];
         }
-        return crypt( Encode::encode_utf8($passwd),
-            Encode::encode_utf8( substr( $salt, 0, 2 ) ) );
+        return crypt( Foswiki::encode_utf8($passwd),
+            Foswiki::encode_utf8( substr( $salt, 0, 2 ) ) );
 
     }
     elsif ( $enc eq 'md5' || $enc eq 'htdigest-md5' ) {
@@ -563,7 +563,7 @@ sub encrypt {
         # SMELL: what does this do if we are using a htpasswd file?
         my $realm = $entry->{realm} || $Foswiki::cfg{AuthRealm};
         my $toEncode = "$login:$realm:$passwd";
-        return Digest::MD5::md5_hex( Encode::encode_utf8($toEncode) );
+        return Digest::MD5::md5_hex( Foswiki::encode_utf8($toEncode) );
 
     }
     elsif ( $enc eq 'apache-md5' ) {
@@ -591,8 +591,9 @@ sub encrypt {
                 ];
             }
         }
-        return Crypt::PasswdMD5::apache_md5_crypt( Encode::encode_utf8($passwd),
-            Encode::encode_utf8( substr( $salt, 0, 14 ) ) );
+        return Crypt::PasswdMD5::apache_md5_crypt(
+            Foswiki::encode_utf8($passwd),
+            Foswiki::encode_utf8( substr( $salt, 0, 14 ) ) );
     }
     elsif ( $enc eq 'crypt-md5' ) {
         my $salt;
@@ -617,12 +618,12 @@ sub encrypt {
         # crypt is not cross-plaform, so use Crypt::PasswdMD5 if it's available
         if ( $this->{APR} ) {
             return Crypt::PasswdMD5::unix_md5_crypt(
-                Encode::encode_utf8($passwd),
-                Encode::encode_utf8( substr( $salt, 0, 11 ) ) );
+                Foswiki::encode_utf8($passwd),
+                Foswiki::encode_utf8( substr( $salt, 0, 11 ) ) );
         }
         else {
-            return crypt( Encode::encode_utf8($passwd),
-                Encode::encode_utf8( substr( $salt, 0, 11 ) ) );
+            return crypt( Foswiki::encode_utf8($passwd),
+                Foswiki::encode_utf8( substr( $salt, 0, 11 ) ) );
         }
 
     }
@@ -654,12 +655,13 @@ sub encrypt {
             }
             $salt =
               Crypt::Eksblowfish::Bcrypt::en_base64(
-                Encode::encode_utf8($salt) );
+                Foswiki::encode_utf8($salt) );
             $salt = '$2a$08$' . $salt;
         }
         $salt = substr( $salt, 0, 29 );
-        return Crypt::Eksblowfish::Bcrypt::bcrypt( Encode::encode_utf8($passwd),
-            Encode::encode_utf8($salt) );
+        return Crypt::Eksblowfish::Bcrypt::bcrypt(
+            Foswiki::encode_utf8($passwd),
+            Foswiki::encode_utf8($salt) );
     }
     die 'Unsupported password encoding ' . $enc;
 }
diff --git a/core/lib/Foswiki/Validation.pm b/core/lib/Foswiki/Validation.pm
index 12cd3d4b38..5441c3278d 100644
--- a/core/lib/Foswiki/Validation.pm
+++ b/core/lib/Foswiki/Validation.pm
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ sub generateValidationKey {
     # Use scalar keys %$actions to ensure we generate a unique token
     # for each form on a page.
     my $nonce = Digest::MD5::md5_hex(
-        Encode::encode_utf8(
+        Foswiki::encode_utf8(
             $context . $cgis->id() . scalar( keys %$actions )
         )
     );