diff --git a/src/RCall.jl b/src/RCall.jl
index 8f7d3bf4..05e36b6a 100644
--- a/src/RCall.jl
+++ b/src/RCall.jl
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ export RObject,
    globalEnv,
    rcopy, rparse, rprint, reval, rcall, rlang,
    isNA, anyNA, isFactor, isOrdered,
-   @rimport, @rusing, @rput, @rget
+   @rimport, @rusing, @rput, @rget, @var_str
 
 
 if isfile(joinpath(dirname(@__FILE__),"..","deps","deps.jl"))
diff --git a/src/convert-base.jl b/src/convert-base.jl
index 71778a48..b852128d 100644
--- a/src/convert-base.jl
+++ b/src/convert-base.jl
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ rcopy{T<:AbstractString}(::Type{T},s::CharSxpPtr) = convert(T, bytestring(unsafe
 rcopy(::Type{Symbol},s::CharSxpPtr) = symbol(rcopy(AbstractString,s))
 
 
-@doc "Create a `StrSxp` from a `String`"->
+@doc "Create a `StrSxp` from an `AbstractString`"->
 sexp(::Type{StrSxp}, s::CharSxpPtr) =
     ccall((:Rf_ScalarString,libR),Ptr{StrSxp},(CharSxpPtr,),s)
 
diff --git a/src/convert-default.jl b/src/convert-default.jl
index c3bd4c0d..399f44fc 100644
--- a/src/convert-default.jl
+++ b/src/convert-default.jl
@@ -4,13 +4,13 @@
 `rcopy` copies the contents of an R object into a corresponding canonical Julia type.
 """ ->
 rcopy(s::SymSxpPtr) = rcopy(Symbol,s)
-rcopy(s::CharSxpPtr) = rcopy(String,s)
+rcopy(s::CharSxpPtr) = rcopy(AbstractString,s)
 
 function rcopy(s::StrSxpPtr)
     if anyNA(s)
         rcopy(DataArray,s)
     elseif length(s) == 1
-        rcopy(String,s)
+        rcopy(AbstractString,s)
     else
         rcopy(Array,s)
     end
diff --git a/src/functions.jl b/src/functions.jl
index 06782675..f244f251 100644
--- a/src/functions.jl
+++ b/src/functions.jl
@@ -28,3 +28,10 @@ rcall_p(f,args...;kwargs...) = reval_p(rlang_p(f,args...;kwargs...))
 if VERSION >= v"v0.4-"
     @compat Base.call{S<:Union{SymSxp,LangSxp,FunctionSxp}}(f::RObject{S},args...;kwargs...) = rcall(f,args...;kwargs...)
 end
+
+@doc """
+Returns a variable named "str". Useful for passing keyword arguments containing dots.
+"""->
+macro var_str(str)
+    esc(symbol(str))
+end
diff --git a/test/basic.jl b/test/basic.jl
index 1b2486f7..8b7d4eab 100644
--- a/test/basic.jl
+++ b/test/basic.jl
@@ -37,6 +37,10 @@ y = "foo"
 
 @test sprint(io -> rprint(io,RObject([1,2,3]))) == "[1] 1 2 3\n"
 
+@test_approx_eq rcopy(rcall(:besselI, 1.0, 2.0)) besseli(2.0,1.0)
+@test_approx_eq rcopy(rcall(:besselI, 1.0, 2.0, var"expon.scaled"=true)) besselix(2.0,1.0)
+
+
 # callbacks
 function testfn(x,y;a=3,b=4)
     [x;y;a;b]
diff --git a/test/conversion.jl b/test/conversion.jl
index c984e722..ed755fbe 100644
--- a/test/conversion.jl
+++ b/test/conversion.jl
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ r = RObject(false)
 @test rcopy(r) === false
 @test r[1] === convert(Cint,0)
 
-v = randbool(10)
+v = bitrand(10)
 r = RObject(v)
 @test isa(r,RObject{LglSxp})
 @test length(r) == length(v)
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index ab43dfb7..f2a03111 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 using Base.Test
 hd = homedir()
 pd = Pkg.dir()
+
 using RCall
+using Compat
+
 # https://github.com/JuliaStats/RCall.jl/issues/68
 @test hd == homedir() 
 @test pd == Pkg.dir()