diff --git a/src/mlpack/bindings/R/mlpack/configure b/src/mlpack/bindings/R/mlpack/configure
index a571fb1119..fe98704ab8 100755
--- a/src/mlpack/bindings/R/mlpack/configure
+++ b/src/mlpack/bindings/R/mlpack/configure
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-if [ $(uname) = "SunOS" ]
+if test `uname` = "SunOS" ;
 then
-sed -i '1 s/$/ -ftrack-macro-expansion=0/' ./src/Makevars
+sed '1 s/$/ -ftrack-macro-expansion=0/' ./src/Makevars > ./src/Makevars.tmp && cat ./src/Makevars.tmp > ./src/Makevars && rm ./src/Makevars.tmp
 fi
 
 exit 0
diff --git a/src/mlpack/bindings/R/mlpack/src/rcpp_mlpack.h b/src/mlpack/bindings/R/mlpack/src/rcpp_mlpack.h
index 8c285e2193..a66e7ed637 100644
--- a/src/mlpack/bindings/R/mlpack/src/rcpp_mlpack.h
+++ b/src/mlpack/bindings/R/mlpack/src/rcpp_mlpack.h
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 
 #include <Rcpp.h>
 
-// To suppress Found ‘__assert_fail’, possibly from ‘assert’ (C).
+// To suppress Found '__assert_fail', possibly from 'assert' (C).
 #define BOOST_DISABLE_ASSERTS
 
 // Rcpp has its own stream object which cooperates more nicely with R's i/o
diff --git a/src/mlpack/core.hpp b/src/mlpack/core.hpp
index b4645d2b09..e53eae7e45 100644
--- a/src/mlpack/core.hpp
+++ b/src/mlpack/core.hpp
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/**
+/**
  * @file core.hpp
  *
  * Include all of the base components required to write mlpack methods, and the
diff --git a/src/mlpack/core/math/random.hpp b/src/mlpack/core/math/random.hpp
index 738702f4b0..5091a08ff3 100644
--- a/src/mlpack/core/math/random.hpp
+++ b/src/mlpack/core/math/random.hpp
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ inline void RandomSeed(const size_t seed)
   #if (!defined(BINDING_TYPE) || BINDING_TYPE != BINDING_TYPE_TEST)
     randGen.seed((uint32_t) seed);
     #if (BINDING_TYPE == BINDING_TYPE_R)
-      // To suppress Found ‘srand’, possibly from ‘srand’ (C).
+      // To suppress Found 'srand', possibly from 'srand' (C).
       (void) seed;
     #else
       srand((unsigned int) seed);
diff --git a/src/mlpack/core/util/timers.hpp b/src/mlpack/core/util/timers.hpp
index fc83b4984a..8316695377 100644
--- a/src/mlpack/core/util/timers.hpp
+++ b/src/mlpack/core/util/timers.hpp
@@ -129,23 +129,23 @@ class Timers
   void PrintTimer(const std::string& timerName);
 
   /**
-   * Initializes a timer, available like a normal value specified on
-   * the command line.  Timers are of type timeval.  If a timer is started, then
+   * Initializes a timer, available like a normal value specified on
+   * the command line.  Timers are of type timeval.  If a timer is started, then
    * stopped, then re-started, then stopped, the final timer value will be the
    * length of both runs of the timer.
-   *
-   * @param timerName The name of the timer in question.
+   *
+   * @param timerName The name of the timer in question.
    * @param threadId Id of the thread accessing the timer.
-   */
+   */
   void StartTimer(const std::string& timerName,
                   const std::thread::id& threadId = std::thread::id());
 
   /**
-   * Halts the timer, and replaces its value with the delta time from its start.
-   *
-   * @param timerName The name of the timer in question.
+   * Halts the timer, and replaces its value with the delta time from its start.
+   *
+   * @param timerName The name of the timer in question.
    * @param threadId Id of the thread accessing the timer.
-   */
+   */
   void StopTimer(const std::string& timerName,
                  const std::thread::id& threadId = std::thread::id());
 
diff --git a/src/mlpack/core/util/to_lower.hpp b/src/mlpack/core/util/to_lower.hpp
index 866b160ffd..6107911e0e 100644
--- a/src/mlpack/core/util/to_lower.hpp
+++ b/src/mlpack/core/util/to_lower.hpp
@@ -16,11 +16,11 @@ namespace mlpack {
 namespace util {
 
 /**
- * Convert a string to lowercase letters.
- *
- * @param input The string to convert.
+ * Convert a string to lowercase letters.
+ *
+ * @param input The string to convert.
  * @param output The string to be converted.
- */
+ */
 inline void ToLower(const std::string& input, std::string& output)
 {
   std::transform(input.begin(), input.end(), output.begin(),
diff --git a/src/mlpack/methods/amf/update_rules/nmf_mult_div.hpp b/src/mlpack/methods/amf/update_rules/nmf_mult_div.hpp
index f744dd0b38..8a318a2ad1 100644
--- a/src/mlpack/methods/amf/update_rules/nmf_mult_div.hpp
+++ b/src/mlpack/methods/amf/update_rules/nmf_mult_div.hpp
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ namespace amf {
  * }
  * @endcode
  *
- * This is a multiplicative rule that ensures that the Kullback–Leibler
+ * This is a multiplicative rule that ensures that the Kullback-Leibler
  * divergence
  *
  * \f[
diff --git a/src/mlpack/methods/block_krylov_svd/randomized_block_krylov_svd.cpp b/src/mlpack/methods/block_krylov_svd/randomized_block_krylov_svd.cpp
index ff2377f312..101d7cd477 100644
--- a/src/mlpack/methods/block_krylov_svd/randomized_block_krylov_svd.cpp
+++ b/src/mlpack/methods/block_krylov_svd/randomized_block_krylov_svd.cpp
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ void RandomizedBlockKrylovSVD::Apply(const arma::mat& data,
 
   arma::qr_econ(Q, R, K);
 
-  // Approximate eigenvalues and eigenvectors using Rayleigh–Ritz method.
+  // Approximate eigenvalues and eigenvectors using Rayleigh-Ritz method.
   arma::svd_econ(u, s, v, Q.t() * data);
 
   // Do economical singular value decomposition and compute only the