diff -urwNpx '*.o' src-orig/lapi.c src/lapi.c
--- src-orig/lapi.c	2007-02-12 20:58:39.000000000 -0500
+++ src/lapi.c	2007-02-12 21:05:09.000000000 -0500
@@ -447,6 +447,16 @@ LUA_API void lua_pushlstring (lua_State 
 }
 
 
+LUA_API void lua_pushhstring (lua_State *L,
+                              lua_Hash h, const char *s, size_t len) {
+  lua_lock(L);
+  luaC_checkGC(L);
+  setsvalue2s(L, L->top, luaS_newhstr(L, h, s, len));
+  api_incr_top(L);
+  lua_unlock(L);
+}
+
+
 LUA_API void lua_pushstring (lua_State *L, const char *s) {
   if (s == NULL)
     lua_pushnil(L);
Binary files src-orig/liblua.a and src/liblua.a differ
diff -urwNpx '*.o' src-orig/lobject.h src/lobject.h
--- src-orig/lobject.h	2007-02-12 20:58:39.000000000 -0500
+++ src/lobject.h	2007-02-12 21:10:30.000000000 -0500
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ typedef union TString {
   struct {
     CommonHeader;
     lu_byte reserved;
-    unsigned int hash;
+    lua_Hash hash;
     size_t len;
   } tsv;
 } TString;
diff -urwNpx '*.o' src-orig/lstring.c src/lstring.c
--- src-orig/lstring.c	2007-02-12 20:58:39.000000000 -0500
+++ src/lstring.c	2007-02-12 22:26:46.000000000 -0500
@@ -72,13 +72,41 @@ static TString *newlstr (lua_State *L, c
 }
 
 
-TString *luaS_newlstr (lua_State *L, const char *str, size_t l) {
-  GCObject *o;
-  unsigned int h = cast(unsigned int, l);  /* seed */
+static inline lua_Hash calchash(const char *str, size_t l) {
+  lua_Hash h = cast(unsigned int, l);  /* seed */
   size_t step = (l>>5)+1;  /* if string is too long, don't hash all its chars */
   size_t l1;
-  for (l1=l; l1>=step; l1-=step)  /* compute hash */
+  for (l1=l; l1>=step; l1-=step) {  /* compute hash */
     h = h ^ ((h<<5)+(h>>2)+cast(unsigned char, str[l1-1]));
+  }
+  return h;
+}
+
+
+LUA_API lua_Hash lua_calchash(const char *str, size_t l) {
+  return calchash(str, l);
+}
+
+
+TString *luaS_newhstr (lua_State *L, lua_Hash h, const char *str, size_t l) {
+  GCObject *o;
+  for (o = G(L)->strt.hash[lmod(h, G(L)->strt.size)];
+       o != NULL;
+       o = o->gch.next) {
+    TString *ts = rawgco2ts(o);
+    if (ts->tsv.len == l && (memcmp(str, getstr(ts), l) == 0)) {
+      /* string may be dead */
+      if (isdead(G(L), o)) changewhite(o);
+      return ts;
+    }
+  }
+  return newlstr(L, str, l, h);  /* not found */
+}
+
+
+TString *luaS_newlstr (lua_State *L, const char *str, size_t l) {
+  GCObject *o;
+  const lua_Hash h = calchash(str, l);
   for (o = G(L)->strt.hash[lmod(h, G(L)->strt.size)];
        o != NULL;
        o = o->gch.next) {
diff -urwNpx '*.o' src-orig/lstring.h src/lstring.h
--- src-orig/lstring.h	2007-02-12 20:58:39.000000000 -0500
+++ src/lstring.h	2007-02-12 21:06:14.000000000 -0500
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@
 LUAI_FUNC void luaS_resize (lua_State *L, int newsize);
 LUAI_FUNC Udata *luaS_newudata (lua_State *L, size_t s, Table *e);
 LUAI_FUNC TString *luaS_newlstr (lua_State *L, const char *str, size_t l);
+LUAI_FUNC TString *luaS_newhstr (lua_State *L,
+                                 lua_Hash h, const char *str, size_t l);
 
 
 #endif
Binary files src-orig/lua and src/lua differ
Binary files src-orig/luac and src/luac differ
diff -urwNpx '*.o' src-orig/lua.h src/lua.h
--- src-orig/lua.h	2007-02-12 20:58:39.000000000 -0500
+++ src/lua.h	2007-02-12 21:15:36.000000000 -0500
@@ -103,6 +103,10 @@ typedef LUA_NUMBER lua_Number;
 typedef LUA_INTEGER lua_Integer;
 
 
+/* type for string hashes */
+typedef unsigned int lua_Hash;
+
+
 
 /*
 ** state manipulation
@@ -165,6 +169,8 @@ LUA_API void  (lua_pushstring) (lua_Stat
 LUA_API const char *(lua_pushvfstring) (lua_State *L, const char *fmt,
                                                       va_list argp);
 LUA_API const char *(lua_pushfstring) (lua_State *L, const char *fmt, ...);
+LUA_API void  (lua_pushhstring) (lua_State *L,
+                                 lua_Hash h, const char *s, size_t l);
 LUA_API void  (lua_pushcclosure) (lua_State *L, lua_CFunction fn, int n);
 LUA_API void  (lua_pushboolean) (lua_State *L, int b);
 LUA_API void  (lua_pushlightuserdata) (lua_State *L, void *p);
@@ -243,6 +249,8 @@ LUA_API void  (lua_concat) (lua_State *L
 LUA_API lua_Alloc (lua_getallocf) (lua_State *L, void **ud);
 LUA_API void lua_setallocf (lua_State *L, lua_Alloc f, void *ud);
 
+/* for lua_pushhstring() */
+LUA_API lua_Hash (lua_calchash) (const char *s, size_t l);
 
 
 /*