diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 82451814d..e1b6bf8d9 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ GTK_DOC_CHECK([1.15],[--flavour no-tmpl])
 
 # Functions and headers
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(mprotect sysconf getpagesize mmap)
-AC_CHECK_HEADERS(unistd.h sys/mman.h)
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS(unistd.h sys/mman.h io.h)
 
 # Compiler flags
 AC_CANONICAL_HOST
diff --git a/util/common.hh b/util/common.hh
index 015dbf4f1..1ce61af56 100644
--- a/util/common.hh
+++ b/util/common.hh
@@ -40,6 +40,11 @@
 #include <math.h>
 #include <locale.h>
 #include <errno.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#if HAVE_IO_H
+#include <io.h> /* for _setmode() under Windows */
+#endif
+
 
 #include <hb.h>
 #include <glib.h>
diff --git a/util/options.cc b/util/options.cc
index 561b6aa7e..b1fb4ce2f 100644
--- a/util/options.cc
+++ b/util/options.cc
@@ -424,23 +424,66 @@ font_options_t::get_font (void) const
 
   /* Create the blob */
   {
-    const char *font_data;
-    unsigned int len;
+    char *font_data;
+    unsigned int len = 0;
     hb_destroy_func_t destroy;
     void *user_data;
     hb_memory_mode_t mm;
 
+    /* This is a hell of a lot of code for just reading a file! */
     if (!font_file)
       fail (TRUE, "No font file set");
 
-    GMappedFile *mf = g_mapped_file_new (font_file, FALSE, NULL);
-    if (!mf)
-      fail (FALSE, "Failed opening font file `%s'", g_filename_display_name (font_file));
-    font_data = g_mapped_file_get_contents (mf);
-    len = g_mapped_file_get_length (mf);
-    destroy = (hb_destroy_func_t) g_mapped_file_unref;
-    user_data = (void *) mf;
-    mm = HB_MEMORY_MODE_READONLY_MAY_MAKE_WRITABLE;
+    if (0 == strcmp (font_file, "-")) {
+      /* read it */
+      GString *gs = g_string_new (NULL);
+      char buf[BUFSIZ];
+#if HAVE_IO_H
+      _setmode (fileno (stdin), O_BINARY);
+#endif
+      while (!feof (stdin)) {
+	size_t ret = fread (buf, 1, sizeof (buf), stdin);
+	if (ferror (stdin))
+	  fail (FALSE, "Failed reading font from standard input: %s",
+		strerror (errno));
+	g_string_append_len (gs, buf, ret);
+      }
+      len = gs->len;
+      font_data = g_string_free (gs, FALSE);
+      user_data = font_data;
+      destroy = (hb_destroy_func_t) g_free;
+      mm = HB_MEMORY_MODE_WRITABLE;
+    } else {
+      GMappedFile *mf = g_mapped_file_new (font_file, FALSE, NULL);
+      if (mf) {
+	font_data = g_mapped_file_get_contents (mf);
+	len = g_mapped_file_get_length (mf);
+	if (len) {
+	  destroy = (hb_destroy_func_t) g_mapped_file_unref;
+	  user_data = (void *) mf;
+	  mm = HB_MEMORY_MODE_READONLY_MAY_MAKE_WRITABLE;
+	} else
+	  g_mapped_file_unref (mf);
+      }
+      if (!len) {
+	/* GMappedFile is buggy, it doesn't fail if file isn't regular.
+	 * Try reading.
+	 * https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=659212 */
+        GError *error = NULL;
+	gsize l;
+	if (g_file_get_contents (font_file, &font_data, &l, &error)) {
+	  len = l;
+	  destroy = (hb_destroy_func_t) g_free;
+	  user_data = (void *) font_data;
+	  mm = HB_MEMORY_MODE_WRITABLE;
+	} else {
+	  fail (FALSE, "Failed reading font file `%s': %s",
+		g_filename_display_name (font_file),
+		error->message);
+	  //g_error_free (error);
+	}
+      }
+    }
 
     blob = hb_blob_create (font_data, len, mm, user_data, destroy);
   }
@@ -476,7 +519,6 @@ text_options_t::get_line (unsigned int *len)
       fail (FALSE, "Failed opening text file `%s'", g_filename_display_name (text_file));
     text = g_mapped_file_get_contents (mf);
     text_len = g_mapped_file_get_length (mf);
-    printf ("%d\n", text_len);
   }
 
   if (text_len == (unsigned int) -1)
diff --git a/util/options.hh b/util/options.hh
index b21387206..623e25a9d 100644
--- a/util/options.hh
+++ b/util/options.hh
@@ -208,7 +208,6 @@ struct text_options_t : option_group_t
   mutable unsigned int text_len;
 };
 
-
 struct output_options_t : option_group_t
 {
   output_options_t (option_parser_t *parser) {
@@ -243,7 +242,14 @@ struct output_options_t : option_group_t
     if (fp)
       return fp;
 
-    fp = output_file ? fopen (output_file, "wb") : stdout;
+    if (output_file)
+      fp = fopen (output_file, "wb");
+    else {
+#if HAVE_IO_H
+      _setmode (fileno (stdout), O_BINARY);
+#endif
+      fp = stdout;
+    }
     if (!fp)
       fail (FALSE, "Cannot open output file `%s': %s",
 	    g_filename_display_name (output_file), strerror (errno));