diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 285df44..d6e5a42 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ and cffi_ (optional). API compatible with PyGObject_.
 
 **Requirements:**
 
-- CPython_ 2.7 or PyPy_ 1.9
+- CPython_ 2.7 or Python 3.3 or PyPy_ 1.9
 - libgirepository_ 1.0
 - cffi_ 0.6+ (optional)
 - cairocffi_ 0.4+ (optional, for cairo support)
diff --git a/benchmarks/__init__.py b/benchmarks/__init__.py
index 1614360..f9338c7 100644
--- a/benchmarks/__init__.py
+++ b/benchmarks/__init__.py
@@ -1,14 +1,19 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
-# Copyright 2012 Christoph Reiter
+# Copyright 2012-2014 Christoph Reiter
 #
 # This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 # modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
 # License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
 # version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
 
+import sys
 import time
 
 
+if sys.version_info[0] == 3:
+    xrange = range
+
+
 def run(load_gi, backend=None):
     if not load_gi:
         import pgi
diff --git a/pgi/codegen/cffi_backend.py b/pgi/codegen/cffi_backend.py
index 3b916de..e75bba4 100644
--- a/pgi/codegen/cffi_backend.py
+++ b/pgi/codegen/cffi_backend.py
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@
 # License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
 # version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
 
-import __builtin__
-
 from cffi import FFI
 
 from pgi.clib.gir import GIRepository, GITypeTag, GIInfoType
@@ -135,14 +133,15 @@ def get_reference(self, value):
     def free(self, name):
         raise NotImplementedError
 
-
-class BasicType(BaseType):
-
-    def pack_in(self, name):
-        return name
+    def __getattr__(self, attr):
+        if attr.endswith(("_py2", "_py3")):
+            raise AttributeError(attr)
+        if _compat.PY3:
+            return getattr(self, attr + "_py3")
+        return getattr(self, attr + "_py2")
 
 
-class Boolean(BasicType):
+class Boolean(BaseType):
     GI_TYPE_TAG = GITypeTag.BOOLEAN
 
     def check(self, name):
@@ -153,6 +152,9 @@ def check(self, name):
     def pack(self, name):
         return name
 
+    def pack_in(self, name):
+        return name
+
     def unpack(self, name):
         return self.parse("""
 $bool = $_.bool($value)
@@ -164,7 +166,7 @@ def new(self):
 """)["value"]
 
 
-class Int32(BasicType):
+class Int32(BaseType):
     GI_TYPE_TAG = GITypeTag.INT32
 
     def check(self, name):
@@ -185,6 +187,9 @@ def pack(self, valid):
 $c_value = $ffi.cast("gint32", $value)
 """, value=valid)["c_value"]
 
+    def pack_in(self, name):
+        return name
+
     def unpack(self, name):
         raise NotImplementedError
 
@@ -195,13 +200,34 @@ def new(self):
 """)["value"]
 
 
-class Utf8(BasicType):
+class Utf8(BaseType):
     GI_TYPE_TAG = GITypeTag.UTF8
 
-    def check(self, name):
+    def check_py3(self, name):
+        if self.may_be_null:
+            return self.parse("""
+if $value is not None:
+    if isinstance($value, $_.str):
+        $string = $value.encode("utf-8")
+    else:
+        $string = $value
+else:
+    $string = None
+""", value=name)["string"]
+
+        return self.parse("""
+if isinstance($value, $_.str):
+    $string = $value.encode("utf-8")
+elif not isinstance($value, $_.bytes):
+    raise TypeError
+else:
+    $string = $value
+""", value=name)["string"]
+
+    def check_py2(self, name):
         if self.may_be_null:
             return self.parse("""
-if $value is not $_.None:
+if $value is not $none:
     if isinstance($value, $_.unicode):
         $string = $value.encode("utf-8")
     elif not isinstance($value, $_.str):
@@ -209,8 +235,8 @@ def check(self, name):
     else:
         $string = $value
 else:
-    $string = $_.None
-""", value=name)["string"]
+    $string = $none
+""", value=name, none=None)["string"]
 
         return self.parse("""
 if $_.isinstance($value, $_.unicode):
@@ -221,7 +247,7 @@ def check(self, name):
     $string = $value
 """, value=name)["string"]
 
-    def pack(self, name):
+    def pack_py2(self, name):
         return self.parse("""
 if $value:
     $c_value = $value
@@ -229,6 +255,14 @@ def pack(self, name):
     $c_value = $ffi.cast("char*", 0)
 """, value=name)["c_value"]
 
+    def pack_py3(self, name):
+        return self.parse("""
+if $value is not None:
+    $c_value = $value
+else:
+    $c_value = $ffi.cast("char*", 0)
+""", value=name)["c_value"]
+
     def dup(self, name):
         raise NotImplementedError
 
@@ -252,7 +286,7 @@ def parse(self, code, **kwargs):
         kwargs["ffi"] = self._ffi
 
         assert "_" not in kwargs
-        kwargs["_"] = __builtin__
+        kwargs["_"] = _compat.builtins
 
         block, var = parse_with_objects(code, self.var, **kwargs)
         return block, var
diff --git a/pgi/codegen/ctypes_backend.py b/pgi/codegen/ctypes_backend.py
index 557cc1f..370af2d 100644
--- a/pgi/codegen/ctypes_backend.py
+++ b/pgi/codegen/ctypes_backend.py
@@ -699,14 +699,21 @@ def unpack(self, name):
         param_type = self.type.get_param_type(0)
         ctypes_type = typeinfo_to_ctypes(param_type)
 
+        p = self.get_type(param_type)
+        item_in = self.var()
+        item_out = p.unpack(item_in)
+
         return self.parse("""
 $out = []
 $elm = $in_
 while $elm:
     $entry = $elm.contents
-    $out.append($ctypes_type($entry.data or 0).value)
+    $item_in = $ctypes_type($entry.data or 0).value
+    $item_unpack
+    $out.append($item_out)
     $elm = $entry.next
-""", in_=name, ctypes_type=ctypes_type)["out"]
+""", in_=name, ctypes_type=ctypes_type, item_in=item_in,
+item_out=item_out, item_unpack=p.block)["out"]
 
     def free(self, name):
         return self.parse("""
@@ -1227,24 +1234,41 @@ def unpack(self, name, length):
 
         # fixme: do unpack with param type
 
+        p = self.get_type(param_type)
+        item_in = self.var()
+        item_out = p.unpack(item_in)
+
         if self.type.array_length != -1:
             return self.parse("""
-$out = $array[:$length.value]
-""", array=data, length=length)["out"]
+$out = []
+for $item_in in $array[:$length.value]:
+    $unpack_item
+    $out.append($item_out)
+#$out = $array[:$length.value]
+""", array=data, length=length, unpack_item=p.block,
+item_in=item_in, item_out=item_out)["out"]
+
         elif self.type.array_fixed_size != -1:
             return self.parse("""
-$out = $array[:$length]
-""", array=data, length=self.type.array_fixed_size)["out"]
+$out = []
+for $item_in in $array[:$length]:
+    $unpack_item
+    $out.append($item_out)
+""", array=data, length=self.type.array_fixed_size, unpack_item=p.block,
+item_in=item_in, item_out=item_out)["out"]
         else:
             return self.parse("""
 $list = []
 $i = 0
 $current = $array and $array[$i]
 while $current:
-    $list.append($current)
+    $item_in = $current
+    $unpack_item
+    $list.append($item_out)
     $i += 1
     $current = $array[$i]
-""", array=data)["list"]
+""", array=data, unpack_item=p.block,
+item_in=item_in, item_out=item_out)["list"]
 
     def new(self, length_type):
         if self.type.array_length != -1:
diff --git a/pgi/enum.py b/pgi/enum.py
index 2d866e2..0be7794 100644
--- a/pgi/enum.py
+++ b/pgi/enum.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 # License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
 # version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
 
+import sys
 import ctypes
 
 from .clib.gobject import GEnumClassPtr, GFlagsClassPtr
@@ -47,6 +48,8 @@ def value_name(self):
     def __new__(cls, value):
         if not isinstance(value, integer_types):
             raise TypeError("int expected, got %r instead" % type(value))
+        if value > sys.maxsize:
+            raise OverflowError
         instance = EnumBase.__new__(cls, value)
         if value in cls._allowed:
             return instance
@@ -114,6 +117,8 @@ def first_value_name(self):
     def __new__(cls, value):
         if not isinstance(value, integer_types):
             raise TypeError("int expected, got %r instead" % type(value))
+        if value > sys.maxsize:
+            raise OverflowError
         return FlagsBase.__new__(cls, value)
 
     def __repr__(self):
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 2ba2a68..8ed040e 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -233,6 +233,8 @@ def run(self):
         'Operating System :: OS Independent',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 2',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 2.7',
+        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3',
+        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.3',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPython',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPy',
       ],
diff --git a/tests/tests_mixed/test_funcs.py b/tests/tests_mixed/test_funcs.py
index 75deada..34d12cc 100644
--- a/tests/tests_mixed/test_funcs.py
+++ b/tests/tests_mixed/test_funcs.py
@@ -32,6 +32,11 @@ def test_basic_argument(self):
         self.assertEqual(GLib.basename("/omg/foo/test"), "test")
         self.assertEqual(GLib.basename(u"/omg/foo/test"), "test")
 
+    def test_basic_utf8_arg(self):
+        b = Gtk.Button()
+        b.set_name("foobar")
+        self.assertEqual(b.get_name(), "foobar")
+
     def test_return_guint(self):
         self.assertTrue(isinstance(Gtk.get_binary_age(),
                         _compat.integer_types))
diff --git a/tests/tests_mixed/test_objects.py b/tests/tests_mixed/test_objects.py
index 99a305f..cb622b2 100644
--- a/tests/tests_mixed/test_objects.py
+++ b/tests/tests_mixed/test_objects.py
@@ -18,10 +18,6 @@
 except ImportError:
     Clutter = None
 else:
-    # FIXME: marshalling of string arrays is missing the decoding in PY3
-    # and the previous Gtk.init call changed sys.argv to bytes
-    if sys.version_info[0] == 3:
-        sys.argv = []
     status, argv = Clutter.init(sys.argv)
     if status == Clutter.InitError.SUCCESS:
         sys.argv = argv
diff --git a/tests/tests_pgi/test_pgi_codegen_backends.py b/tests/tests_pgi/test_pgi_codegen_backends.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d0ccab6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/tests_pgi/test_pgi_codegen_backends.py
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# Copyright 2014 Christoph Reiter
+#
+# This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+# modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+# License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+# version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+
+import unittest
+
+from pgi.codegen.cffi_backend import CFFIBackend
+from pgi.codegen.ctypes_backend import CTypesBackend
+
+
+class _TBackend(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    Backend = None
+
+    def test_misc(self):
+        backend = self.Backend()
+        lib = backend.get_library("GObject")
+        self.assertTrue(lib)
+
+
+class TBackendCFFI(_TBackend):
+    Backend = CFFIBackend
+
+
+class TBackendCTypes(_TBackend):
+    Backend = CTypesBackend