diff --git a/scheme/ikarus.boot.4.prebuilt b/scheme/ikarus.boot.4.prebuilt
index c035dbb..b5f2fe8 100644
Binary files a/scheme/ikarus.boot.4.prebuilt and b/scheme/ikarus.boot.4.prebuilt differ
diff --git a/scheme/ikarus.boot.8.prebuilt b/scheme/ikarus.boot.8.prebuilt
index 53ee6bf..ca74071 100644
Binary files a/scheme/ikarus.boot.8.prebuilt and b/scheme/ikarus.boot.8.prebuilt differ
diff --git a/scheme/ikarus.command-line.ss b/scheme/ikarus.command-line.ss
index 4ffb631..7a64ad6 100644
--- a/scheme/ikarus.command-line.ss
+++ b/scheme/ikarus.command-line.ss
@@ -22,10 +22,16 @@
 
   (define (command-line) (command-line-arguments))
   (define command-line-arguments
-    (make-parameter ($arg-list)
+    (make-parameter 
+      (map (lambda (x) 
+             (cond
+               [(string? x)  x]
+               [(bytevector? x) (utf8->string x)]
+               [else (die 'command-line "invalid" x)]))
+           ($arg-list))
       (lambda (x)
         (if (and (list? x) (andmap string? x))
             x
             (die 'command-list 
-              "invalid command-line-arguments ~s\n" x))))))
+              "invalid command-line-arguments" x))))))
 
diff --git a/scheme/last-revision b/scheme/last-revision
index 6ad20cc..f137a56 100644
--- a/scheme/last-revision
+++ b/scheme/last-revision
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1581
+1582
diff --git a/scheme/makefile.ss b/scheme/makefile.ss
index ec8054a..40b4b8d 100755
--- a/scheme/makefile.ss
+++ b/scheme/makefile.ss
@@ -74,7 +74,6 @@
     "ikarus.numerics.ss"
     "ikarus.conditions.ss"
     "ikarus.guardians.ss"
-    "ikarus.command-line.ss"
     "ikarus.codecs.ss"
     "ikarus.bytevectors.ss"
     "ikarus.posix.ss"
@@ -104,6 +103,7 @@
     "ikarus.sort.ss"
     "ikarus.promises.ss"
     "ikarus.enumerations.ss"
+    "ikarus.command-line.ss"
     "ikarus.not-yet-implemented.ss"
     "ikarus.main.ss"
     ))
diff --git a/src/ikarus-main.c b/src/ikarus-main.c
index 5d207a3..3864f81 100644
--- a/src/ikarus-main.c
+++ b/src/ikarus-main.c
@@ -70,17 +70,12 @@ int ikarus_main(int argc, char** argv, char* boot_file){
     while(i > 0){
       char* s = argv[i];
       int n = strlen(s);
-      ikptr str = ik_unsafe_alloc(pcb, align(n*string_char_size+disp_string_data+1))
-                + string_tag;
-      ref(str, off_string_length) = fix(n);
-      {
-        int i;
-        for(i=0; i<n; i++){
-          string_set(str, i, integer_to_char(s[i]));
-        }
-      }
+      ikptr bv = ik_unsafe_alloc(pcb, align(disp_bytevector_data+n+1)) 
+                 + bytevector_tag;
+      ref(bv, off_bytevector_length) = fix(n);
+      memcpy((char*)(bv+off_bytevector_data), s, n+1);
       ikptr p = ik_unsafe_alloc(pcb, pair_size);
-      ref(p, disp_car) = str;
+      ref(p, disp_car) = bv;
       ref(p, disp_cdr) = arg_list;
       arg_list = p+pair_tag;
       i--;