--- a/src/ChangeLog
+++ b/src/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+2004-09-02  John W. Eaton  <jwe@octave.org>
+
+	* DLD-FUNCTIONS/quad.cc (Fquad): Pass "__quad_fcn_" instead of
+	"__quad_fcn__" to unique_symbol_name.
+
+	* ov-fcn-inline.cc (octave_fcn_inline): Pass "__inline_" instead
+	of "__inline__" to unique_symbol_name.
+
+	* variables.cc (unique_symbol_name): Make better random symbol name.
+
 2004-09-01  John W. Eaton  <jwe@octave.org>
 
 	* version.h (OCTAVE_VERSION): Now 2.1.58.

--- a/src/DLD-FUNCTIONS/quad.cc
+++ b/src/DLD-FUNCTIONS/quad.cc
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@
 	quad_fcn = args(0).function_value ();
       else
 	{
-	  fcn_name = unique_symbol_name ("__quad__fcn__");
+	  fcn_name = unique_symbol_name ("__quad_fcn_");
 	  std::string fname = "function y = ";
 	  fname.append (fcn_name);
 	  fname.append ("(x) y = ");

--- a/src/ov-fcn-inline.cc
+++ b/src/ov-fcn-inline.cc
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@
   : octave_fcn_handle (0, n), iftext (f), ifargs (a) 
 {
   // Find a function name that isn't already in the symbol table.
-  std::string fname = unique_symbol_name ("__inline__");
+  std::string fname = unique_symbol_name ("__inline_");
 
   // Form a string representing the function. 
 

--- a/src/variables.cc
+++ b/src/variables.cc
@@ -662,14 +662,28 @@
   return retval;
 }
 
+#define GET_IDX(LEN) \
+  static_cast<int> ((LEN-1) * static_cast<double> (rand ()) / RAND_MAX)
+
 std::string
 unique_symbol_name (const std::string& basename)
 {
-  // XXX FIXME XXX Can we be smarter than just adding characters?
-  std::string name = basename;
-  while (symbol_exist (name, "any"))
-    name.append ("X");
-  return name;
+  static const std::string alpha
+    = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ";
+
+  static size_t len = alpha.length ();
+
+  std::string nm = basename + alpha[GET_IDX (len)];
+
+  size_t pos = nm.length ();
+
+  if (nm.substr (0, 2) == "__")
+    nm.append ("__");
+
+  while (symbol_exist (nm, "any"))
+    nm.insert (pos++, 1, alpha[GET_IDX (len)]);
+
+  return nm;
 }
 
 DEFUN (exist, args, ,