diff --git a/src/SHA.jl b/src/SHA.jl
index 8aaae10b37760..fc2e32ecba56e 100644
--- a/src/SHA.jl
+++ b/src/SHA.jl
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#isdefined(Base, :__precompile__) && __precompile__()
+isdefined(Base, :__precompile__) && __precompile__()
 
 module SHA
 
@@ -40,12 +40,12 @@ for (f, ctx) in [(:sha1, :SHA1_CTX),
         # Our basic function is to process arrays of bytes
         function $f(data::Array{UInt8,1})
             ctx = $ctx()
-            update!(ctx, data);
+            update!(ctx, data)
             return digest!(ctx)
         end
 
-        # ByteStrings are a pretty handy thing to be able to crunch through
-        $f(str::ByteString) = $f(str.data)
+        # AbstractStrings are a pretty handy thing to be able to crunch through
+        $f(str::AbstractString) = $f(convert(Array{UInt8,1}, str))
 
         # Convenience function for IO devices, allows for things like:
         # open("test.txt") do f
diff --git a/src/sha1.jl b/src/sha1.jl
index 6094f5563efc9..f38d1267893b0 100644
--- a/src/sha1.jl
+++ b/src/sha1.jl
@@ -90,4 +90,4 @@ function transform!(context::SHA1_CTX)
     context.state[3] += c
     context.state[4] += d
     context.state[5] += e
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end