diff --git a/src/h5core/h5u_model.c b/src/h5core/h5u_model.c
index e4e0453647346a6b42c16bfa5e5dcc70a12774db..ab9c4a8893df2c329eefd37dba5545f751523374 100644
--- a/src/h5core/h5u_model.c
+++ b/src/h5core/h5u_model.c
@@ -130,13 +130,7 @@ h5u_set_num_points (
 	hsize_t start;
 	hsize_t dmax = H5S_UNLIMITED;
 
-	if (nparticles < 0)
-		H5_RETURN_ERROR (
-			H5_ERR_INVAL,
-			"Invalid number of particles: %lld!\n",
-			(long long)nparticles);
-
-#ifndef H5_HAVE_PARALLEL
+ #ifndef H5_HAVE_PARALLEL
 	/*
 	   if we are not using parallel-IO, there is enough information
 	   to know that we can short circuit this routine.  However,
@@ -231,7 +225,7 @@ h5u_set_num_points (
 
 h5_err_t
 h5u_has_view (
-	const const h5_file_t fh
+	const h5_file_t fh
 	) {
         h5_file_p f = (h5_file_p)fh;
 	H5_CORE_API_ENTER (h5_ssize_t, "f=%p", f);
diff --git a/src/h5core/private/h5_hdf5.c b/src/h5core/private/h5_hdf5.c
index 942cd7f275ffea5dafc3c28cfd8f14b8c48815e7..59b766dce25ee32efaba328fff9621ce8fc5d0dc 100644
--- a/src/h5core/private/h5_hdf5.c
+++ b/src/h5core/private/h5_hdf5.c
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 h5_err_t
 h5priv_link_exists_ (
         const hid_t loc_id,
-        const char const* path[],
+        const char *const path[],
         size_t size
         ) {
 	H5_PRIV_FUNC_ENTER (h5_err_t,
diff --git a/src/h5core/private/h5_hdf5.h b/src/h5core/private/h5_hdf5.h
index bef501e2bbd71153f522a30ebfada07e2a10e547..2e2d6c34c08ca648b6bc7347e61fddbc34bb3497 100644
--- a/src/h5core/private/h5_hdf5.h
+++ b/src/h5core/private/h5_hdf5.h
@@ -163,12 +163,12 @@ hdf5_create_group (
 h5_err_t
 h5priv_link_exists_ (
         const hid_t loc_id,
-        const char const* path[],
+        const char *const path[],
         size_t size
         );
 #define h5priv_link_exists(loc_id, ...)					\
         (h5priv_link_exists_ (loc_id,					\
-			      (const char const*[]){__VA_ARGS__},	\
+			      (const char *const[]){__VA_ARGS__},	\
 			      PP_NARG(__VA_ARGS__)))
 
 
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ hdf5_close_group (
 static inline hid_t
 h5priv_create_group (
         const hid_t loc_id,
-        const char const* group_name
+        const char *const group_name
         ) {
 	H5_PRIV_FUNC_ENTER (hid_t,
 	                    "loc_id=%lld, (%s), group_name=%s",
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ h5priv_create_group (
 static inline hid_t
 h5priv_open_group (
         const hid_t loc_id,
-        const char const* group_name
+        const char *const group_name
         ) {
 	H5_PRIV_FUNC_ENTER (hid_t,
 	                    "loc_id=%lld, (%s), group_name=%s",
@@ -809,17 +809,17 @@ get_class_type_name (
         const hid_t class_id
         ) {
 	const char* const map[] = {
-		[H5T_INTEGER]   "H5T_INTEGER",
-		[H5T_FLOAT]     "H5T_FLOAT",
-		[H5T_TIME]      "H5T_TIME",
-		[H5T_STRING]    "H5T_STRING",
-		[H5T_BITFIELD]  "H5T_BITFIELD",
-		[H5T_OPAQUE]    "H5T_OPAQUE",
-		[H5T_COMPOUND]  "H5T_COMPOUND",
-		[H5T_REFERENCE] "H5T_REFERENCE",
-		[H5T_ENUM]      "H5T_ENUM",
-		[H5T_VLEN]      "H5T_VLEN",
-		[H5T_ARRAY]     "H5T_ARRAY"
+		[H5T_INTEGER]   = "H5T_INTEGER",
+		[H5T_FLOAT]     = "H5T_FLOAT",
+		[H5T_TIME]      = "H5T_TIME",
+		[H5T_STRING]    = "H5T_STRING",
+		[H5T_BITFIELD]  = "H5T_BITFIELD",
+		[H5T_OPAQUE]    = "H5T_OPAQUE",
+		[H5T_COMPOUND]  = "H5T_COMPOUND",
+		[H5T_REFERENCE] = "H5T_REFERENCE",
+		[H5T_ENUM]      = "H5T_ENUM",
+		[H5T_VLEN]      = "H5T_VLEN",
+		[H5T_ARRAY]     = "H5T_ARRAY"
 	};
 	if (class_id < 0 || class_id >= H5T_NCLASSES) {
 		return ("[unknown]");
diff --git a/src/h5core/private/h5_maps.c b/src/h5core/private/h5_maps.c
index 2702a97cd6deea01b714593ae9e79ddc85777d22..be97ba058acc4cb303e40da1028d8bd3a4869ed5 100644
--- a/src/h5core/private/h5_maps.c
+++ b/src/h5core/private/h5_maps.c
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ grow_strlist (
 ssize_t
 h5priv_insert_strlist (
         h5_strlist_t** list,
-        const char const* item,
+        const char *const item,
         size_t idx
         ) {
 	H5_PRIV_API_ENTER (ssize_t,
diff --git a/src/h5core/private/h5_maps.h b/src/h5core/private/h5_maps.h
index 3523f9a0fd1a95ab75402cbbc189e4f92065b082..40331976b0d13f9c569a3080adf5c26b7111afb9 100644
--- a/src/h5core/private/h5_maps.h
+++ b/src/h5core/private/h5_maps.h
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ h5_err_t
 h5priv_free_strlist (h5_strlist_t**);
 
 ssize_t
-h5priv_insert_strlist (h5_strlist_t**, const char const*, size_t);
+h5priv_insert_strlist (h5_strlist_t**, const char *const, size_t);
 
 ssize_t
 h5priv_find_strlist (h5_strlist_t*, const char* const item);
diff --git a/src/h5core/private/h5t_core.h b/src/h5core/private/h5t_core.h
index 5252f39665f1fe99403dcb6f9993fee61fdc82b0..6251625a44131bb11d6b76acb636b437662b1fdf 100644
--- a/src/h5core/private/h5t_core.h
+++ b/src/h5core/private/h5t_core.h
@@ -136,7 +136,6 @@ h5tpriv_traverse_tv (
         unsigned int* i
         ) {
 	assert (i != NULL);
-	if (*i < 0) i = 0;
 	if (*i >= m->num_loc_vertices[m->num_loaded_levels-1]) {
 		return NULL;
 	}
@@ -166,7 +165,6 @@ h5tpriv_traverse_td (
         unsigned int* i
         ) {
 	assert (i != NULL);
-	if (*i < 0) i = 0;
 	h5t_td_entry_t* entry = h5priv_htraverse (&m->adjacencies.td_hash, i);
 	h5_loc_idlist_t* result = NULL;
 	if (entry) {