diff --git a/sol/compatibility/compat-5.3.c b/sol/compatibility/compat-5.3.c
index a3cdcc49..6623a56b 100644
--- a/sol/compatibility/compat-5.3.c
+++ b/sol/compatibility/compat-5.3.c
@@ -15,6 +15,25 @@
 /* definitions for Lua 5.1 only */
 #if defined(LUA_VERSION_NUM) && LUA_VERSION_NUM == 501
 
+#if defined(__GLIBC__) || defined(_POSIX_VERSION) || defined(__APPLE__) || (!defined (__MINGW32__) && defined(__GNUC__) && (__GNUC__ < 6))
+#ifndef COMPAT53_HAVE_STRERROR_R
+#define COMPAT53_HAVE_STRERROR_R
+#endif // have strerror_r
+#if ((defined(_POSIX_C_SOURCE) && _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L) || (defined(_XOPEN_SOURCE) || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 600)) && (!defined(_GNU_SOURCE) || !_GNU_SOURCE)
+#ifndef COMPAT53_HAVE_STRERROR_R_XSI
+#define COMPAT53_HAVE_STRERROR_R_XSI
+#endif // XSI-Compliant strerror_r
+#else
+#ifndef COMPAT53_HAVE_STRERROR_R_GNU
+#define COMPAT53_HAVE_STRERROR_R_GNU
+#endif // GNU variant strerror_r
+#endif // XSI/Posix vs. GNU strerror_r
+#elif defined(_MSC_VER) || (defined(__STDC_VERSION__) && __STDC_VERSION__ >= 201112L) || defined(__STDC_LIB_EXT1__)
+#ifndef COMPAT53_HAVE_STRERROR_S
+#define COMPAT53_HAVE_STRERROR_S
+#endif // GNU variant strerror_r
+#endif // strerror_r vs. strerror_s vs. strerror usage
+
 #ifndef COMPAT53_LUA_FILE_BUFFER_SIZE
 #define COMPAT53_LUA_FILE_BUFFER_SIZE 4096
 #endif // Lua File Buffer Size
@@ -350,36 +369,37 @@ COMPAT53_API void luaL_traceback (lua_State *L, lua_State *L1,
 COMPAT53_API int luaL_fileresult (lua_State *L, int stat, const char *fname) {
   const char* s = NULL;
   int en = errno;  /* calls to Lua API may change this value */
+#if defined(COMPAT53_HAVE_STRERROR_R) || defined(COMPAT53_HAVE_STRERROR_S)
+  char buf[512] = { 0 };
+#endif // buffer for threadsafe variants of strerror if possible
   if (stat) {
     lua_pushboolean(L, 1);
     return 1;
   }
   else {
     lua_pushnil(L);
-#if defined(__GLIBC__) || defined(_POSIX_VERSION) || defined(__APPLE__) || (!defined (__MINGW32__) && defined(__GNUC__) && (__GNUC__ < 6))
+#if defined(COMPAT53_HAVE_STRERROR_R)
     /* use strerror_r here, because it's available on these specific platforms */
-    char buf[512] = {0};
-#if ((defined(_POSIX_C_SOURCE) && _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L) || (defined(_XOPEN_SOURCE) || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 600)) && (!defined(_GNU_SOURCE) || !_GNU_SOURCE)
+#if defined(COMPAT53_HAVE_STRERROR_R_XSI)
     /* XSI Compliant */
     strerror_r(en, buf, 512);
     s = buf;
 #else
-	/* GNU-specific which returns const char* */
+    /* GNU-specific which returns const char* */
     s = strerror_r(en, buf, 512);
 #endif
-#elif defined(_MSC_VER) || (defined(__STDC_VERSION__) && __STDC_VERSION__ >= 201112L)
+#elif defined(COMPAT53_HAVE_STRERROR_S)
     /* for MSVC and other C11 implementations, use strerror_s 
      * since it's provided by default by the libraries 
-	*/
-    char buf[512] = {0};
+     */
     strerror_s(buf, 512, en);
     s = buf;
 #else
     /* fallback, but
      * strerror is not guaranteed to be threadsafe due to modifying
      * errno itself and some impls not locking a static buffer for it
-     * ... but it works in 99% of cases, so I don't need the reason to stop
-     * the train now
+     * ... but most known systems have threadsafe errno: this might only change
+     * if the locale is changed out from under someone while this function is being called
      */ 
     s = strerror(en);
 #endif
@@ -393,7 +413,7 @@ COMPAT53_API int luaL_fileresult (lua_State *L, int stat, const char *fname) {
 }
 
 
-static const char* compat53_f_parser_handler (lua_State *L, void *data, size_t *size) {
+static const char* compat53_f_parser_handler (lua_State *, void *data, size_t *size) {
   struct compat53_f_parser_buffer *p = (struct compat53_f_parser_buffer*)data;
   size_t readcount = fread(p->buffer + p->start, sizeof(*p->buffer), sizeof(p->buffer), p->file);
   if (ferror(p->file) != 0 || feof(p->file) != 0) {
@@ -417,10 +437,10 @@ static int checkmode (lua_State *L, const char *mode, const char *modename, int
 
 COMPAT53_API int luaL_loadfilex (lua_State *L, const char *filename, const char *mode) {
   FILE* fp;
-  int err;
   int c;
   int status = LUA_OK;
 #if defined(_MSC_VER)
+  int err = 0;
   err = fopen_s(&fp, filename, "rb");
   if (err != 0) {
     fclose(fp);
diff --git a/sol/protected_function.hpp b/sol/protected_function.hpp
index bf24b88d..e49ea5aa 100644
--- a/sol/protected_function.hpp
+++ b/sol/protected_function.hpp
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ namespace sol {
 	private:
 		template <bool b>
 		call_status luacall(std::ptrdiff_t argcount, std::ptrdiff_t resultcount, detail::protected_handler<b, handler_t>& h) const {
-			return static_cast<call_status>(lua_pcallk(lua_state(), static_cast<int>(argcount), static_cast<int>(resultcount), h.stackindex, 0, nullptr));
+			return static_cast<call_status>(lua_pcall(lua_state(), static_cast<int>(argcount), static_cast<int>(resultcount), h.stackindex));
 		}
 
 		template<std::size_t... I, bool b, typename... Ret>
diff --git a/sol/unsafe_function.hpp b/sol/unsafe_function.hpp
index c29480f0..087c78e3 100644
--- a/sol/unsafe_function.hpp
+++ b/sol/unsafe_function.hpp
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ namespace sol {
 	class basic_function : public base_t {
 	private:
 		void luacall(std::ptrdiff_t argcount, std::ptrdiff_t resultcount) const {
-			lua_callk(lua_state(), static_cast<int>(argcount), static_cast<int>(resultcount), 0, nullptr);
+			lua_call(lua_state(), static_cast<int>(argcount), static_cast<int>(resultcount));
 		}
 
 		template<std::size_t... I, typename... Ret>