diff --git a/386/include/u.h b/386/include/u.h
index e324c8ad3..ebccf02e8 100644
--- a/386/include/u.h
+++ b/386/include/u.h
@@ -3,12 +3,12 @@ typedef	unsigned short	ushort;
 typedef	unsigned char	uchar;
 typedef unsigned long	ulong;
 typedef unsigned int	uint;
-typedef   signed char	schar;
+typedef signed char	schar;
 typedef	long long	vlong;
 typedef	unsigned long long uvlong;
 typedef unsigned long	uintptr;
 typedef unsigned long	usize;
-typedef	ushort		Rune;
+typedef	uint		Rune;
 typedef union FPdbleword FPdbleword;
 typedef long		jmp_buf[2];
 #define	JMPBUFSP	0
diff --git a/68000/include/u.h b/68000/include/u.h
index 50b91a02c..445edbfb4 100644
--- a/68000/include/u.h
+++ b/68000/include/u.h
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ typedef	long long	vlong;
 typedef	unsigned long long uvlong;
 typedef unsigned long	uintptr;
 typedef unsigned long	usize;
-typedef	ushort		Rune;
+typedef	uint		Rune;
 typedef 	union FPdbleword FPdbleword;
 typedef long	jmp_buf[2];
 #define	JMPBUFSP	0
diff --git a/68020/include/u.h b/68020/include/u.h
index 7ff92a408..d4942b8fb 100644
--- a/68020/include/u.h
+++ b/68020/include/u.h
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ typedef	long long	vlong;
 typedef	unsigned long long uvlong;
 typedef unsigned long	uintptr;
 typedef unsigned long	usize;
-typedef	ushort		Rune;
+typedef	uint		Rune;
 typedef 	union FPdbleword FPdbleword;
 typedef long	jmp_buf[2];
 #define	JMPBUFSP	0
diff --git a/alpha/include/u.h b/alpha/include/u.h
index f6614449e..92fea5c7c 100644
--- a/alpha/include/u.h
+++ b/alpha/include/u.h
@@ -3,12 +3,12 @@ typedef	unsigned short	ushort;
 typedef	unsigned char	uchar;
 typedef unsigned long	ulong;
 typedef unsigned int	uint;
-typedef   signed char	schar;
+typedef signed char	schar;
 typedef	long long	vlong;
 typedef	unsigned long long uvlong;
 typedef unsigned long	uintptr;
 typedef unsigned long	usize;
-typedef	ushort		Rune;
+typedef	uint		Rune;
 typedef 	union FPdbleword FPdbleword;
 typedef long	jmp_buf[2];
 #define	JMPBUFSP	0
diff --git a/amd64/include/u.h b/amd64/include/u.h
index 8dce5066f..742de1035 100644
--- a/amd64/include/u.h
+++ b/amd64/include/u.h
@@ -3,12 +3,12 @@ typedef	unsigned short	ushort;
 typedef	unsigned char	uchar;
 typedef unsigned long	ulong;
 typedef unsigned int	uint;
-typedef   signed char	schar;
+typedef signed char	schar;
 typedef	long long	vlong;
 typedef	unsigned long long uvlong;
 typedef unsigned long long uintptr;
 typedef unsigned long	usize;
-typedef	ushort		Rune;
+typedef	uint		Rune;
 typedef union FPdbleword FPdbleword;
 typedef uintptr		jmp_buf[2];
 #define	JMPBUFSP	0
diff --git a/arm/include/u.h b/arm/include/u.h
index db55db33d..916b8cc6f 100644
--- a/arm/include/u.h
+++ b/arm/include/u.h
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ typedef	long long	vlong;
 typedef	unsigned long long uvlong;
 typedef unsigned long	uintptr;
 typedef unsigned long	usize;
-typedef	ushort		Rune;
+typedef	uint		Rune;
 typedef 	union FPdbleword FPdbleword;
 typedef long	jmp_buf[2];
 #define	JMPBUFSP	0
diff --git a/mips/include/u.h b/mips/include/u.h
index 08f7832b7..c30ebd882 100644
--- a/mips/include/u.h
+++ b/mips/include/u.h
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ typedef	long long	vlong;
 typedef	unsigned long long uvlong;
 typedef unsigned long	uintptr;
 typedef unsigned long	usize;
-typedef	ushort		Rune;
+typedef	uint		Rune;
 typedef 	union FPdbleword FPdbleword;
 typedef long	jmp_buf[2];
 #define	JMPBUFSP	0
diff --git a/power/include/u.h b/power/include/u.h
index f84422ccf..27a88d274 100644
--- a/power/include/u.h
+++ b/power/include/u.h
@@ -3,12 +3,12 @@ typedef	unsigned short	ushort;
 typedef	unsigned char	uchar;
 typedef	unsigned long	ulong;
 typedef	unsigned int	uint;
-typedef	  signed char	schar;
+typedef	signed char	schar;
 typedef	long long	vlong;
 typedef	unsigned long long uvlong;
 typedef unsigned long	uintptr;
 typedef unsigned long	usize;
-typedef	ushort		Rune;
+typedef	uint		Rune;
 typedef union FPdbleword FPdbleword;
 typedef long		jmp_buf[2];
 #define	JMPBUFSP	0
diff --git a/power64/include/u.h b/power64/include/u.h
index d9dbf50be..7f4c22c96 100644
--- a/power64/include/u.h
+++ b/power64/include/u.h
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ typedef	long long	vlong;
 typedef	unsigned long long uvlong;
 typedef unsigned long long uintptr;
 typedef unsigned long	usize;
-typedef	ushort		Rune;
+typedef	uint		Rune;
 typedef 	union FPdbleword FPdbleword;
 typedef uintptr	jmp_buf[2];
 #define	JMPBUFSP	0
diff --git a/sparc/include/u.h b/sparc/include/u.h
index cc2cb1f97..fe9fbff2d 100644
--- a/sparc/include/u.h
+++ b/sparc/include/u.h
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ typedef	long long	vlong;
 typedef	unsigned long long uvlong;
 typedef unsigned long	uintptr;
 typedef unsigned long	usize;
-typedef	ushort		Rune;
+typedef	uint		Rune;
 typedef 	union FPdbleword FPdbleword;
 typedef long	jmp_buf[2];
 #define	JMPBUFSP	0
diff --git a/sparc64/include/u.h b/sparc64/include/u.h
index cc2cb1f97..fe9fbff2d 100644
--- a/sparc64/include/u.h
+++ b/sparc64/include/u.h
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ typedef	long long	vlong;
 typedef	unsigned long long uvlong;
 typedef unsigned long	uintptr;
 typedef unsigned long	usize;
-typedef	ushort		Rune;
+typedef	uint		Rune;
 typedef 	union FPdbleword FPdbleword;
 typedef long	jmp_buf[2];
 #define	JMPBUFSP	0
diff --git a/sys/include/ape/limits.h b/sys/include/ape/limits.h
index 0837bbe1d..8986b7bf4 100644
--- a/sys/include/ape/limits.h
+++ b/sys/include/ape/limits.h
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 /* 8 bit chars (signed), 16 bit shorts, 32 bit ints/longs */
 
 #define CHAR_BIT	8
-#define MB_LEN_MAX	3
+#define MB_LEN_MAX	4
 
 #define UCHAR_MAX	0xff
 #define USHRT_MAX	0xffff
diff --git a/sys/include/ape/u.h b/sys/include/ape/u.h
index 87af9d1cd..4ce766194 100644
--- a/sys/include/ape/u.h
+++ b/sys/include/ape/u.h
@@ -9,10 +9,10 @@ typedef	unsigned short	ushort;
 typedef	unsigned char	uchar;
 typedef unsigned long	ulong;
 typedef unsigned int	uint;
-typedef   signed char	schar;
+typedef signed char	schar;
 typedef	long long	vlong;
 typedef	unsigned long long uvlong;
-typedef	ushort		Rune;
+typedef	uint		Rune;
 typedef 	union FPdbleword FPdbleword;
 typedef	char*	p9va_list;
 
diff --git a/sys/include/ape/utf.h b/sys/include/ape/utf.h
index bba977100..c78b94fee 100644
--- a/sys/include/ape/utf.h
+++ b/sys/include/ape/utf.h
@@ -7,15 +7,15 @@
 extern "C" { 
 #endif
 
-typedef unsigned short Rune;	/* 16 bits */
+typedef unsigned int Rune;	/* 32 bits */
 
 enum
 {
-	UTFmax		= 3,		/* maximum bytes per rune */
+	UTFmax		= 4,		/* maximum bytes per rune */
 	Runesync	= 0x80,		/* cannot represent part of a UTF sequence (<) */
 	Runeself	= 0x80,		/* rune and UTF sequences are the same (<) */
 	Runeerror	= 0xFFFD,	/* decoding error in UTF */
-	Runemax		= 0xFFFF,	/* 16 bit rune */
+	Runemax		= 0x10FFFF,	/* 21 bit rune */
 };
 
 /*
diff --git a/sys/include/libc.h b/sys/include/libc.h
index a92e5680d..1300d46d5 100644
--- a/sys/include/libc.h
+++ b/sys/include/libc.h
@@ -41,12 +41,12 @@ extern	int	tokenize(char*, char**, int);
 
 enum
 {
-	UTFmax		= 3,		/* maximum bytes per rune */
+	UTFmax		= 4,		/* maximum bytes per rune */
 	Runesync	= 0x80,		/* cannot represent part of a UTF sequence (<) */
 	Runeself	= 0x80,		/* rune and UTF sequences are the same (<) */
 	Runeerror	= 0xFFFD,	/* decoding error in UTF */
-	Runemax		= 0xFFFF,	/* 16 bit rune */
-	Runemask	= 0xFFFF,	/* bits used by runes (see grep) */
+	Runemax		= 0x10FFFF,	/* 21 bit rune */
+	Runemask	= 0x1FFFFF,	/* bits used by runes (see grep) */
 };
 
 /*