diff --git a/db/repl.h b/db/repl.h
index 396faf44ce8b5..efd16cbe5b9ce 100644
--- a/db/repl.h
+++ b/db/repl.h
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ namespace mongo {
     class SyncException : public DBException {
     public:
         virtual const char* what() const throw() { return "sync exception"; }
-        virtual int getCode(){ return 10001; }
+        virtual int getCode() const { return 10001; }
     };
     
     /* A Source is a source from which we can pull (replicate) data.
diff --git a/util/assert_util.h b/util/assert_util.h
index d10c1dc8e6acd..02426cc886ad3 100644
--- a/util/assert_util.h
+++ b/util/assert_util.h
@@ -88,8 +88,8 @@ namespace mongo {
         virtual string toString() const {
             return what();
         }
-        virtual int getCode() = 0;
-        operator string() const { return toString(); }
+        virtual int getCode() const = 0;
+        operator string() const { stringstream ss; ss << getCode() << " " << what(); return ss.str(); }
     };
     
     class AssertionException : public DBException {
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ namespace mongo {
         virtual bool isUserAssertion() {
             return false;
         }
-        virtual int getCode(){ return code; }
+        virtual int getCode() const { return code; }
         virtual const char* what() const throw() { return msg.c_str(); }
 
         /* true if an interrupted exception - see KillCurrentOp */
diff --git a/util/message.h b/util/message.h
index 9c226cb5defb1..2aa742bcf8e0f 100644
--- a/util/message.h
+++ b/util/message.h
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ namespace mongo {
     class SocketException : public DBException {
     public:
         virtual const char* what() const throw() { return "socket exception"; }
-        virtual int getCode(){ return 9001; }
+        virtual int getCode() const { return 9001; }
     };
 
     MSGID nextMessageId();
diff --git a/util/optime.h b/util/optime.h
index 8b264340f8fb6..b913696ebc066 100644
--- a/util/optime.h
+++ b/util/optime.h
@@ -22,13 +22,13 @@
 namespace mongo {
     void exitCleanly( int code );
     
-    /* Operation sequence #.  A combination of current second plus an ordinal value.
-     */
     struct ClockSkewException : public DBException {
         virtual const char* what() const throw() { return "clock skew exception"; }
-        virtual int getCode(){ return 20001; }
+        virtual int getCode() const { return 20001; }
     };
-    
+
+    /* Operation sequence #.  A combination of current second plus an ordinal value.
+     */
 #pragma pack(4)
     class OpTime {
         unsigned i;