diff --git a/src/alu.c b/src/alu.c
index 332593d..e2f2cc6 100644
--- a/src/alu.c
+++ b/src/alu.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 // ACME - a crossassembler for producing 6502/65c02/65816/65ce02 code.
-// Copyright (C) 1998-2017 Marco Baye
+// Copyright (C) 1998-2019 Marco Baye
 // Have a look at "acme.c" for further info
 //
 // Arithmetic/logic unit
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 //		give a warning).
 // 31 May 2014	Added "0b" binary number prefix as alternative to "%".
 // 28 Apr 2015	Added symbol name output to "value not defined" error.
+//  1 Feb 2019	Prepared to make "honor leading zeroes" optionally later on.
 #include "alu.h"
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <math.h>	// only for fp support
@@ -25,6 +26,8 @@
 #include "symbol.h"
 #include "tree.h"
 
+#define honor_leading_zeroes	1	// FIXME - make a CLI argument for this
+
 
 // constants
 
@@ -421,13 +424,15 @@ static void parse_binary_value(void)	// Now GotByte = "%" or "b"
 		}
 	} while (go_on);
 	// set force bits
-	if (digits > 8) {
-		if (digits > 16) {
-			if (value < 65536)
-				flags |= MVALUE_FORCE24;
-		} else {
-			if (value < 256)
-				flags |= MVALUE_FORCE16;
+	if (honor_leading_zeroes) {
+		if (digits > 8) {
+			if (digits > 16) {
+				if (value < 65536)
+					flags |= MVALUE_FORCE24;
+			} else {
+				if (value < 256)
+					flags |= MVALUE_FORCE16;
+			}
 		}
 	}
 	PUSH_INTOPERAND(value, flags, 0);
@@ -465,13 +470,15 @@ static void parse_hexadecimal_value(void)	// Now GotByte = "$" or "x"
 		}
 	} while (go_on);
 	// set force bits
-	if (digits > 2) {
-		if (digits > 4) {
-			if (value < 65536)
-				flags |= MVALUE_FORCE24;
-		} else {
-			if (value < 256)
-				flags |= MVALUE_FORCE16;
+	if (honor_leading_zeroes) {
+		if (digits > 2) {
+			if (digits > 4) {
+				if (value < 65536)
+					flags |= MVALUE_FORCE24;
+			} else {
+				if (value < 256)
+					flags |= MVALUE_FORCE16;
+			}
 		}
 	}
 	PUSH_INTOPERAND(value, flags, 0);
@@ -558,13 +565,15 @@ static void parse_octal_value(void)	// Now GotByte = "&"
 		GetByte();
 	}
 	// set force bits
-	if (digits > 3) {
-		if (digits > 6) {
-			if (value < 65536)
-				flags |= MVALUE_FORCE24;
-		} else {
-			if (value < 256)
-				flags |= MVALUE_FORCE16;
+	if (honor_leading_zeroes) {
+		if (digits > 3) {
+			if (digits > 6) {
+				if (value < 65536)
+					flags |= MVALUE_FORCE24;
+			} else {
+				if (value < 256)
+					flags |= MVALUE_FORCE16;
+			}
 		}
 	}
 	PUSH_INTOPERAND(value, flags, 0);
diff --git a/src/flow.c b/src/flow.c
index 345c4c2..bcf8e4c 100644
--- a/src/flow.c
+++ b/src/flow.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 // ACME - a crossassembler for producing 6502/65c02/65816/65ce02 code.
-// Copyright (C) 1998-2017 Marco Baye
+// Copyright (C) 1998-2019 Marco Baye
 // Have a look at "acme.c" for further info
 //
 // Flow control stuff (loops, conditional assembly etc.)
@@ -224,6 +224,7 @@ void flow_parse_block_else_block(int parse_first)
 // parse a whole source code file
 void flow_parse_and_close_file(FILE *fd, const char *filename)
 {
+	//TODO - check for bogus/malformed BOM and ignore!
 	// be verbose
 	if (config.process_verbosity > 2)
 		printf("Parsing source file '%s'\n", filename);
diff --git a/src/version.h b/src/version.h
index 24eac16..182a92b 100644
--- a/src/version.h
+++ b/src/version.h
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 // ACME - a crossassembler for producing 6502/65c02/65816/65ce02 code.
-// Copyright (C) 1998-2017 Marco Baye
+// Copyright (C) 1998-2019 Marco Baye
 // Have a look at "acme.c" for further info
 //
 // version info
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@
 
 #define RELEASE		"0.96.4"	// update before release	FIXME
 #define CODENAME	"Fenchurch"	// update before release
-#define CHANGE_DATE	"22 Dec"	// update before release	FIXME
-#define CHANGE_YEAR	"2017"		// update before release
+#define CHANGE_DATE	"1 Feb "	// update before release	FIXME
+#define CHANGE_YEAR	"2019"		// update before release
 //#define HOME_PAGE	"http://home.pages.de/~mac_bacon/smorbrod/acme/"
 #define HOME_PAGE	"http://sourceforge.net/p/acme-crossass/"	// FIXME