diff --git a/ext/bdb.c b/ext/bdb.c
index 7ed27ea..07dbf32 100644
--- a/ext/bdb.c
+++ b/ext/bdb.c
@@ -616,20 +616,22 @@ VALUE db_get(VALUE obj, VALUE vtxn, VALUE vkey, VALUE vdata, VALUE vflags)
 
   StringValue(vkey);
 
-  key.data = RSTRING_PTR(vkey);
-  key.size = RSTRING_LEN(vkey);
-  key.flags = LMEMFLAG;
+  key.data  = RSTRING_PTR(vkey);
+  key.size  = RSTRING_LEN(vkey);
+  key.flags = LMEMFLAG;  
 
   if ( ! NIL_P(vdata) ) {
     StringValue(vdata);
     data.data = RSTRING_PTR(vdata);
     data.size = RSTRING_LEN(vdata);
-    data.flags = LMEMFLAG;
   }
+  data.flags = DB_DBT_MALLOC;
 
   rv = dbh->db->get(dbh->db,txn?txn->txn:NULL,&key,&data,flags);
   if ( rv == 0 ) {
-    return rb_str_new(data.data,data.size);
+    str = rb_str_new(data.data,data.size);
+    if (data.data) free(data.data);
+    return str;
   } else if (rv == DB_NOTFOUND) {
     return Qnil;
   } else {
diff --git a/lib/bdb/database.rb b/lib/bdb/database.rb
index 10434b5..16c5955 100644
--- a/lib/bdb/database.rb
+++ b/lib/bdb/database.rb
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ class Bdb::Database < Bdb::Base
     set   = Bdb::ResultSet.new(opts, &block)
     flags = opts[:modify] ? Bdb::DB_RMW : 0
     flags = 0 if environment.disable_transactions?
-    
+
     keys.each do |key|
       key = get_key(key, opts)
       if key == :all
diff --git a/lib/bdb/environment.rb b/lib/bdb/environment.rb
index 1a907eb..8999602 100644
--- a/lib/bdb/environment.rb
+++ b/lib/bdb/environment.rb
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 class Bdb::Environment
   @@env = {}
-  def self.new(path, database)
+  def self.new(path, database = nil)
+    path = File.expand_path(path)
     @@env[path] ||= super(path)
-    @@env[path].databases << database
+    @@env[path].databases << database if database
     @@env[path]
   end
 
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@ class Bdb::Environment
           env_flags = Bdb::DB_CREATE | Bdb::DB_INIT_MPOOL
         else
           env_flags = Bdb::DB_CREATE | Bdb::DB_INIT_TXN | Bdb::DB_INIT_LOCK |
-                      Bdb::DB_REGISTER | Bdb::DB_RECOVER | Bdb::DB_INIT_MPOOL
+                      Bdb::DB_REGISTER | Bdb::DB_RECOVER | Bdb::DB_INIT_MPOOL | Bdb::DB_THREAD
         end
 
         @env.cachesize = config[:cache_size] if config[:cache_size]