diff --git a/doc/path.htm b/doc/path.htm
index 0f16aa0..21d252e 100644
--- a/doc/path.htm
+++ b/doc/path.htm
@@ -147,7 +147,10 @@ boost/filesystem/path.hpp</a> <a name="synopsis">synopsis</a></h2>
   <p><b>Rationale:</b> The return type of several functions (<i>operator&lt;&lt;, 
   leaf, branch</i>) is <i>const path</i> instead of <i>path</i> to disallow 
   expressions like <i>(p1&lt;&lt;p2) = p3</i>.&nbsp; See Scott Myers, <i>Effective C++</i>, 
-  Item 21.</p>
+  Item 21. Likewise, <i>begin()</i> and <i>end()</i> return <i>const iterator</i> 
+  rather than <i>iterator</i>. This detects non-portable code such as <i>++pth.begin()</i>, 
+  which will not work if <i>iterator</i> is a non-class type. See <i>next()</i> 
+  and <i>prior()</i> in <a href="../../utility/utility.htm">boost/utility.hpp</a>.</p>
 <h2><a name="Member">Member</a> functions</h2>
 <p>For the sake of exposition, class <i>path</i> member functions are described 
 as if the class contains a private member <i>std::vector&lt;std::string&gt; m_name</i>. 
@@ -262,8 +265,8 @@ the returned string is always unambiguous.</p>
 <h3><a name="leaf">leaf</a></h3>
 <blockquote>
   <pre>const std::string leaf() const;</pre>
-<p><b>Returns:</b> <code>is_null() ? string() : m_name.back()</code></p>
-<p><b>Rationale: </b>Return type is <code>string</code> rather than <code>const 
+<p><b>Returns:</b> <code>is_null() ? std::string() : m_name.back()</code></p>
+<p><b>Rationale: </b>Return type is <code>const string</code> rather than <code>const 
 string &amp;</code> to give implementations freedom to avoid&nbsp; maintaining the 
 leaf as a separate <code>string</code> object.</p>
 </blockquote>
@@ -309,7 +312,7 @@ likely to change.</p>
 <hr>
 <p>© Copyright Beman Dawes, 2002</p>
 <p>Revised
-<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" S-Type="EDITED" S-Format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->01 August, 2002<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="34406" --></p>
+<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" S-Type="EDITED" S-Format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->02 August, 2002<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="34408" --></p>
 
 </body>
 
diff --git a/include/boost/filesystem/path.hpp b/include/boost/filesystem/path.hpp
index 35a88a9..38aac65 100644
--- a/include/boost/filesystem/path.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/filesystem/path.hpp
@@ -92,8 +92,8 @@ namespace boost
         std::ptrdiff_t 
         > iterator;
 
-      iterator begin() const;
-      iterator end() const
+      const iterator begin() const;
+      const iterator end() const
       {
         iterator itr;
         itr.base().path_ptr = this;
diff --git a/src/path_posix_windows.cpp b/src/path_posix_windows.cpp
index 0f29a58..0489430 100644
--- a/src/path_posix_windows.cpp
+++ b/src/path_posix_windows.cpp
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ namespace boost
       } // while more elements
     }
 
-    path::iterator path::begin() const
+    const path::iterator path::begin() const
     {
       iterator itr;
       itr.base().path_ptr = this;
diff --git a/test/path_test.cpp b/test/path_test.cpp
index dadbedc..43ab751 100644
--- a/test/path_test.cpp
+++ b/test/path_test.cpp
@@ -10,11 +10,14 @@
 
 #include <boost/filesystem/operations.hpp>
 #include <boost/filesystem/exception.hpp>
+#include <boost/utility.hpp>
 #include <iostream>
 #include <cassert>
 
 namespace fs = boost::filesystem;
 using boost::filesystem::path;
+using boost::next;
+using boost::prior;
 
 #define BOOST_INCLUDE_MAIN
 #include <boost/test/test_tools.hpp>
@@ -197,74 +200,74 @@ int test_main( int, char*[] )
 
   itr_ck = path( "/", fs::system_specific );
   BOOST_TEST( *itr_ck.begin() == std::string( "/" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( ++itr_ck.begin() == itr_ck.end() );
-  BOOST_TEST( *--itr_ck.end() == std::string( "/" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( --itr_ck.end() == itr_ck.begin() );
+  BOOST_TEST( next(itr_ck.begin()) == itr_ck.end() );
+  BOOST_TEST( *next(itr_ck.end()) == std::string( "/" ) );
+  BOOST_TEST( next(itr_ck.end()) == itr_ck.begin() );
 
   itr_ck = path( "/foo", fs::system_specific );
   BOOST_TEST( *itr_ck.begin() == std::string( "/" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( *++itr_ck.begin() == std::string( "foo" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( ++++itr_ck.begin() == itr_ck.end() );
-  BOOST_TEST( ++itr_ck.begin() == --itr_ck.end() );
-  BOOST_TEST( *--itr_ck.end() == std::string( "foo" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( *----itr_ck.end() == std::string( "/" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( ----itr_ck.end() == itr_ck.begin() );
+  BOOST_TEST( *next( itr_ck.begin() ) == std::string( "foo" ) );
+  BOOST_TEST( next(next( itr_ck.begin() )) == itr_ck.end() );
+  BOOST_TEST( next( itr_ck.begin() ) == prior( itr_ck.end() ) );
+  BOOST_TEST( *prior( itr_ck.end() ) == std::string( "foo" ) );
+  BOOST_TEST( *prior(prior( itr_ck.end() )) == std::string( "/" ) );
+  BOOST_TEST( prior(prior( itr_ck.end() )) == itr_ck.begin() );
 
   itr_ck = "foo";
   BOOST_TEST( *itr_ck.begin() == std::string( "foo" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( ++itr_ck.begin() == itr_ck.end() );
-  BOOST_TEST( *--itr_ck.end() == std::string( "foo" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( --itr_ck.end() == itr_ck.begin() );
+  BOOST_TEST( next( itr_ck.begin() ) == itr_ck.end() );
+  BOOST_TEST( *prior( itr_ck.end() ) == std::string( "foo" ) );
+  BOOST_TEST( prior( itr_ck.end() ) == itr_ck.begin() );
 
 # ifdef BOOST_WINDOWS
 
   itr_ck = path( "c:", fs::system_specific );
   BOOST_TEST( *itr_ck.begin() == std::string( "c:" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( ++itr_ck.begin() == itr_ck.end() );
-  BOOST_TEST( --itr_ck.end() == itr_ck.begin() );
-  BOOST_TEST( *--itr_ck.end() == std::string( "c:" ) );
+  BOOST_TEST( next( itr_ck.begin() ) == itr_ck.end() );
+  BOOST_TEST( prior( itr_ck.end() ) == itr_ck.begin() );
+  BOOST_TEST( *prior( itr_ck.end() ) == std::string( "c:" ) );
 
   itr_ck = path( "c:/", fs::system_specific );
   BOOST_TEST( *itr_ck.begin() == std::string( "c:/" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( ++itr_ck.begin() == itr_ck.end() );
-  BOOST_TEST( --itr_ck.end() == itr_ck.begin() );
-  BOOST_TEST( *--itr_ck.end() == std::string( "c:/" ) );
+  BOOST_TEST( next( itr_ck.begin() ) == itr_ck.end() );
+  BOOST_TEST( prior( itr_ck.end() ) == itr_ck.begin() );
+  BOOST_TEST( *prior( itr_ck.end() ) == std::string( "c:/" ) );
 
   itr_ck = path( "c:foo", fs::system_specific );
   BOOST_TEST( *itr_ck.begin() == std::string( "c:" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( *++itr_ck.begin() == std::string( "foo" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( ++++itr_ck.begin() == itr_ck.end() );
-  BOOST_TEST( ----itr_ck.end() == itr_ck.begin() );
-  BOOST_TEST( *--itr_ck.end() == std::string( "foo" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( *----itr_ck.end() == std::string( "c:" ) );
+  BOOST_TEST( *next( itr_ck.begin() ) == std::string( "foo" ) );
+  BOOST_TEST( next(next( itr_ck.begin() )) == itr_ck.end() );
+  BOOST_TEST( prior(prior( itr_ck.end() )) == itr_ck.begin() );
+  BOOST_TEST( *prior( itr_ck.end() ) == std::string( "foo" ) );
+  BOOST_TEST( *prior(prior( itr_ck.end() )) == std::string( "c:" ) );
 
   itr_ck = path( "c:/foo", fs::system_specific );
   BOOST_TEST( *itr_ck.begin() == std::string( "c:/" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( *++itr_ck.begin() == std::string( "foo" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( ++++itr_ck.begin() == itr_ck.end() );
-  BOOST_TEST( ----itr_ck.end() == itr_ck.begin() );
-  BOOST_TEST( *--itr_ck.end() == std::string( "foo" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( *----itr_ck.end() == std::string( "c:/" ) );
+  BOOST_TEST( *next( itr_ck.begin() ) == std::string( "foo" ) );
+  BOOST_TEST( next(next( itr_ck.begin() )) == itr_ck.end() );
+  BOOST_TEST( prior(prior( itr_ck.end() )) == itr_ck.begin() );
+  BOOST_TEST( *prior( itr_ck.end() ) == std::string( "foo" ) );
+  BOOST_TEST( *prior(prior( itr_ck.end() )) == std::string( "c:/" ) );
 
   itr_ck = path( "//share", fs::system_specific );
   BOOST_TEST( *itr_ck.begin() == std::string( "//share" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( ++itr_ck.begin() == itr_ck.end() );
-  BOOST_TEST( --itr_ck.end() == itr_ck.begin() );
-  BOOST_TEST( *--itr_ck.end() == std::string( "//share" ) );
+  BOOST_TEST( next( itr_ck.begin() ) == itr_ck.end() );
+  BOOST_TEST( prior( itr_ck.end() ) == itr_ck.begin() );
+  BOOST_TEST( *prior( itr_ck.end() ) == std::string( "//share" ) );
 
   itr_ck = path( "//share/foo", fs::system_specific );
   BOOST_TEST( *itr_ck.begin() == std::string( "//share" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( *++itr_ck.begin() == std::string( "foo" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( ++++itr_ck.begin() == itr_ck.end() );
-  BOOST_TEST( ----itr_ck.end() == itr_ck.begin() );
-  BOOST_TEST( *--itr_ck.end() == std::string( "foo" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( *----itr_ck.end() == std::string( "//share" ) );
+  BOOST_TEST( *next( itr_ck.begin() ) == std::string( "foo" ) );
+  BOOST_TEST( next(next( itr_ck.begin() )) == itr_ck.end() );
+  BOOST_TEST( prior(prior( itr_ck.end() )) == itr_ck.begin() );
+  BOOST_TEST( *prior( itr_ck.end() ) == std::string( "foo" ) );
+  BOOST_TEST( *prior(prior( itr_ck.end() )) == std::string( "//share" ) );
 
   itr_ck = path( "prn:", fs::system_specific );
   BOOST_TEST( *itr_ck.begin() == std::string( "prn:" ) );
-  BOOST_TEST( ++itr_ck.begin() == itr_ck.end() );
-  BOOST_TEST( --itr_ck.end() == itr_ck.begin() );
-  BOOST_TEST( *--itr_ck.end() == std::string( "prn:" ) );
+  BOOST_TEST( next( itr_ck.begin() ) == itr_ck.end() );
+  BOOST_TEST( prior( itr_ck.end() ) == itr_ck.begin() );
+  BOOST_TEST( *prior( itr_ck.end() ) == std::string( "prn:" ) );
 
   check( path( "/", fs::system_specific ), "/" );
   check( path( "/f", fs::system_specific ), "/f" );
@@ -304,6 +307,6 @@ int test_main( int, char*[] )
 # endif  // BOOST_WINDOWS
 
 //  std::cout << errors << " errors detected\n";
-
+  
   return errors;
 }