diff --git a/Source/cmExtraSublimeTextGenerator.cxx b/Source/cmExtraSublimeTextGenerator.cxx
index 7fe47c3e4..5fff0fb27 100644
--- a/Source/cmExtraSublimeTextGenerator.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmExtraSublimeTextGenerator.cxx
@@ -399,7 +399,7 @@ cmExtraSublimeTextGenerator::ComputeFlagsForObject(cmSourceFile* source,
   lg->GetIncludeDirectories(includes, gtgt, language, config);
   std::string includeFlags =
     lg->GetIncludeFlags(includes, gtgt, language, true); // full include paths
-  lg->AppendFlags(flags, includeFlags.c_str());
+  lg->AppendFlags(flags, includeFlags);
   }
 
   // Append old-style preprocessor definition flags.
diff --git a/Source/cmLocalGenerator.cxx b/Source/cmLocalGenerator.cxx
index f375b5f3c..6b1672110 100644
--- a/Source/cmLocalGenerator.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmLocalGenerator.cxx
@@ -2200,7 +2200,7 @@ static void AddVisibilityCompileOption(std::string &flags, cmTarget* target,
     return;
     }
   std::string option = std::string(opt) + prop;
-  lg->AppendFlags(flags, option.c_str());
+  lg->AppendFlags(flags, option);
 }
 
 static void AddInlineVisibilityCompileOption(std::string &flags,
@@ -2384,11 +2384,10 @@ void cmLocalGenerator::AddConfigVariableFlags(std::string& flags,
 
 //----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 void cmLocalGenerator::AppendFlags(std::string& flags,
-                                                const char* newFlags)
+                                   const std::string& newFlags)
 {
-  if(newFlags && *newFlags)
+  if(!newFlags.empty())
     {
-    std::string newf = newFlags;
     if(flags.size())
       {
       flags += " ";
@@ -2397,11 +2396,21 @@ void cmLocalGenerator::AppendFlags(std::string& flags,
     }
 }
 
+//----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+void cmLocalGenerator::AppendFlags(std::string& flags,
+                                   const char* newFlags)
+{
+  if(newFlags && *newFlags)
+    {
+    this->AppendFlags(flags, std::string(newFlags));
+    }
+}
+
 //----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 void cmLocalGenerator::AppendFlagEscape(std::string& flags,
                                         const std::string& rawFlag)
 {
-  this->AppendFlags(flags, this->EscapeForShell(rawFlag).c_str());
+  this->AppendFlags(flags, this->EscapeForShell(rawFlag));
 }
 
 //----------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/Source/cmLocalGenerator.h b/Source/cmLocalGenerator.h
index cf754aad6..32da21b75 100644
--- a/Source/cmLocalGenerator.h
+++ b/Source/cmLocalGenerator.h
@@ -152,6 +152,7 @@ public:
   void AddCompilerRequirementFlag(std::string &flags, cmTarget* target,
                                   const std::string& lang);
   ///! Append flags to a string.
+  virtual void AppendFlags(std::string& flags, const std::string& newFlags);
   virtual void AppendFlags(std::string& flags, const char* newFlags);
   virtual void AppendFlagEscape(std::string& flags,
                                 const std::string& rawFlag);
diff --git a/Source/cmLocalUnixMakefileGenerator3.cxx b/Source/cmLocalUnixMakefileGenerator3.cxx
index 7ffe84d83..94e45e5b7 100644
--- a/Source/cmLocalUnixMakefileGenerator3.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmLocalUnixMakefileGenerator3.cxx
@@ -956,21 +956,28 @@ cmLocalUnixMakefileGenerator3
 
 //----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 void cmLocalUnixMakefileGenerator3::AppendFlags(std::string& flags,
-                                                const char* newFlags)
+                                                const std::string& newFlags)
 {
-  if(this->WatcomWMake && newFlags && *newFlags)
+  if(this->WatcomWMake && !newFlags.empty())
     {
     std::string newf = newFlags;
     if(newf.find("\\\"") != newf.npos)
       {
       cmSystemTools::ReplaceString(newf, "\\\"", "\"");
-      this->cmLocalGenerator::AppendFlags(flags, newf.c_str());
+      this->cmLocalGenerator::AppendFlags(flags, newf);
       return;
       }
     }
   this->cmLocalGenerator::AppendFlags(flags, newFlags);
 }
 
+//----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+void cmLocalUnixMakefileGenerator3::AppendFlags(std::string& flags,
+                                                const char* newFlags)
+{
+  this->cmLocalGenerator::AppendFlags(flags, newFlags);
+}
+
 //----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 void
 cmLocalUnixMakefileGenerator3
diff --git a/Source/cmLocalUnixMakefileGenerator3.h b/Source/cmLocalUnixMakefileGenerator3.h
index 99974eef7..4f2e4a035 100644
--- a/Source/cmLocalUnixMakefileGenerator3.h
+++ b/Source/cmLocalUnixMakefileGenerator3.h
@@ -168,6 +168,7 @@ public:
                                    const std::string& tgt);
 
   // append flags to a string
+  virtual void AppendFlags(std::string& flags, const std::string& newFlags);
   virtual void AppendFlags(std::string& flags, const char* newFlags);
 
   // append an echo command
diff --git a/Source/cmMakefileLibraryTargetGenerator.cxx b/Source/cmMakefileLibraryTargetGenerator.cxx
index 7ac025687..80473f613 100644
--- a/Source/cmMakefileLibraryTargetGenerator.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmMakefileLibraryTargetGenerator.cxx
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ void cmMakefileLibraryTargetGenerator::WriteLibraryRules
 
   // Create set of linking flags.
   std::string linkFlags;
-  this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(linkFlags, extraFlags.c_str());
+  this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(linkFlags, extraFlags);
 
   // Add OSX version flags, if any.
   if(this->Target->GetType() == cmTarget::SHARED_LIBRARY ||
@@ -810,6 +810,6 @@ cmMakefileLibraryTargetGenerator
     // Append the flag since a non-zero version is specified.
     cmOStringStream vflag;
     vflag << flag << major << "." << minor << "." << patch;
-    this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(flags, vflag.str().c_str());
+    this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(flags, vflag.str());
     }
 }
diff --git a/Source/cmMakefileTargetGenerator.cxx b/Source/cmMakefileTargetGenerator.cxx
index d4723adb3..73d24a929 100644
--- a/Source/cmMakefileTargetGenerator.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmMakefileTargetGenerator.cxx
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ std::string cmMakefileTargetGenerator::GetFlags(const std::string &l)
 
     // Add include directory flags.
     this->LocalGenerator->
-      AppendFlags(flags,this->GetFrameworkFlags(l).c_str());
+      AppendFlags(flags,this->GetFrameworkFlags(l));
 
     // Add target-specific flags.
     this->LocalGenerator->AddCompileOptions(flags, this->Target,
@@ -551,7 +551,7 @@ cmMakefileTargetGenerator
   std::string langFlags = "$(";
   langFlags += lang;
   langFlags += "_FLAGS)";
-  this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(flags, langFlags.c_str());
+  this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(flags, langFlags);
 
   std::string configUpper =
     cmSystemTools::UpperCase(this->LocalGenerator->ConfigurationName);
@@ -1968,11 +1968,11 @@ void cmMakefileTargetGenerator::AddIncludeFlags(std::string& flags,
     std::string arg = "@" +
       this->CreateResponseFile(name.c_str(), includeFlags,
                                this->FlagFileDepends[lang]);
-    this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(flags, arg.c_str());
+    this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(flags, arg);
     }
   else
     {
-    this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(flags, includeFlags.c_str());
+    this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(flags, includeFlags);
     }
 }
 
@@ -2044,7 +2044,7 @@ void cmMakefileTargetGenerator::AddFortranFlags(std::string& flags)
     modflag += this->Convert(mod_dir,
                              cmLocalGenerator::START_OUTPUT,
                              cmLocalGenerator::SHELL);
-    this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(flags, modflag.c_str());
+    this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(flags, modflag);
     }
 
   // If there is a separate module path flag then duplicate the
@@ -2066,7 +2066,7 @@ void cmMakefileTargetGenerator::AddFortranFlags(std::string& flags)
       flg += this->Convert(*idi,
                            cmLocalGenerator::NONE,
                            cmLocalGenerator::SHELL);
-      this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(flags, flg.c_str());
+      this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(flags, flg);
       }
     }
 }
@@ -2093,7 +2093,7 @@ void cmMakefileTargetGenerator::AddModuleDefinitionFlag(std::string& flags)
   // vs6's "cl -link" pass it to the linker.
   std::string flag = defFileFlag;
   flag += (this->LocalGenerator->ConvertToLinkReference(def));
-  this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(flags, flag.c_str());
+  this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(flags, flag);
 }
 
 //----------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/Source/cmNinjaTargetGenerator.cxx b/Source/cmNinjaTargetGenerator.cxx
index 358fb51a2..b95c4889d 100644
--- a/Source/cmNinjaTargetGenerator.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmNinjaTargetGenerator.cxx
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ cmNinjaTargetGenerator::ComputeFlagsForObject(cmSourceFile const* source,
     if(cmGlobalNinjaGenerator::IsMinGW())
       cmSystemTools::ReplaceString(includeFlags, "\\", "/");
 
-    this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(languageFlags, includeFlags.c_str());
+    this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(languageFlags, includeFlags);
 
     // Append old-style preprocessor definition flags.
     this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(languageFlags,
@@ -698,7 +698,7 @@ cmNinjaTargetGenerator
   std::string flag = defFileFlag;
   flag += (this->LocalGenerator->ConvertToLinkReference(
              this->ModuleDefinitionFile));
-  this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(flags, flag.c_str());
+  this->LocalGenerator->AppendFlags(flags, flag);
 }
 
 void