diff --git a/HTMLparser.c b/HTMLparser.c
index 31457a66..737676e9 100644
--- a/HTMLparser.c
+++ b/HTMLparser.c
@@ -289,9 +289,9 @@ htmlNodeInfoPop(htmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt)
 
 #define CUR_CHAR(l) htmlCurrentChar(ctxt, &l)
 
-#define COPY_BUF(l,b,i,v)						\
-    if (l == 1) b[i++] = v;						\
-    else i += xmlCopyChar(l,&b[i],v)
+#define COPY_BUF(b, i, v)						\
+    if (v < 0x80) b[i++] = v;						\
+    else i += xmlCopyCharMultiByte(&b[i],v)
 
 /**
  * htmlFindEncoding:
@@ -3034,7 +3034,7 @@ htmlParseScript(htmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt) {
             }
 	}
         if (IS_CHAR(cur)) {
-	    COPY_BUF(l,buf,nbchar,cur);
+	    COPY_BUF(buf,nbchar,cur);
         } else {
             htmlParseErrInt(ctxt, XML_ERR_INVALID_CHAR,
                             "Invalid char in CDATA 0x%X\n", cur);
@@ -3099,7 +3099,7 @@ htmlParseCharDataInternal(htmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt, int readahead) {
 	    htmlParseErrInt(ctxt, XML_ERR_INVALID_CHAR,
 	                "Invalid char in CDATA 0x%X\n", cur);
 	} else {
-	    COPY_BUF(l,buf,nbchar,cur);
+	    COPY_BUF(buf,nbchar,cur);
 	}
 	NEXTL(l);
 	if (nbchar >= HTML_PARSER_BIG_BUFFER_SIZE) {
@@ -3298,7 +3298,7 @@ htmlParsePI(htmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt) {
 		    buf = tmp;
 		}
                 if (IS_CHAR(cur)) {
-		    COPY_BUF(l,buf,len,cur);
+		    COPY_BUF(buf,len,cur);
                 } else {
                     htmlParseErrInt(ctxt, XML_ERR_INVALID_CHAR,
                                     "Invalid char in processing instruction "
@@ -3420,7 +3420,7 @@ htmlParseComment(htmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt) {
 	    buf = tmp;
 	}
         if (IS_CHAR(q)) {
-	    COPY_BUF(ql,buf,len,q);
+	    COPY_BUF(buf,len,q);
         } else {
             htmlParseErrInt(ctxt, XML_ERR_INVALID_CHAR,
                             "Invalid char in comment 0x%X\n", q);
diff --git a/include/libxml/parserInternals.h b/include/libxml/parserInternals.h
index 6cac89a0..e540747f 100644
--- a/include/libxml/parserInternals.h
+++ b/include/libxml/parserInternals.h
@@ -620,6 +620,7 @@ XMLPUBFUN int			xmlCurrentChar		(xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt,
 						 int *len);
 XMLPUBFUN int		xmlCopyCharMultiByte	(xmlChar *out,
 						 int val);
+XML_DEPRECATED
 XMLPUBFUN int			xmlCopyChar		(int len,
 						 xmlChar *out,
 						 int val);
diff --git a/parserInternals.c b/parserInternals.c
index 8495ad0f..12f405e6 100644
--- a/parserInternals.c
+++ b/parserInternals.c
@@ -1056,6 +1056,8 @@ xmlCopyCharMultiByte(xmlChar *out, int val) {
  * @out:  pointer to an array of xmlChar
  * @val:  the char value
  *
+ * DEPRECATED: Don't use.
+ *
  * append the char value in the array
  *
  * Returns the number of xmlChar written
diff --git a/python/generator.py b/python/generator.py
index 02052402..0daa345f 100755
--- a/python/generator.py
+++ b/python/generator.py
@@ -303,6 +303,7 @@ deprecated_funcs = {
     'xmlCheckLanguageID': True,
     'xmlCleanupCharEncodingHandlers': True,
     'xmlCleanupGlobals': True,
+    'xmlCopyChar': True,
     'xmlDefaultSAXHandlerInit': True,
     'xmlDictCleanup': True,
     'xmlFileMatch': True,
diff --git a/xpath.c b/xpath.c
index 119d6a02..79a4121c 100644
--- a/xpath.c
+++ b/xpath.c
@@ -2198,9 +2198,9 @@ xmlXPathPopExternal (xmlXPathParserContextPtr ctxt) {
 #define CUR_PTR ctxt->cur
 #define CUR_CHAR(l) xmlXPathCurrentChar(ctxt, &l)
 
-#define COPY_BUF(l,b,i,v)                                              \
-    if (l == 1) b[i++] = v;                                            \
-    else i += xmlCopyChar(l,&b[i],v)
+#define COPY_BUF(b, i, v)						\
+    if (v < 0x80) b[i++] = v;						\
+    else i += xmlCopyCharMultiByte(&b[i],v)
 
 #define NEXTL(l)  ctxt->cur += l
 
@@ -8772,7 +8772,7 @@ xmlXPathParseNameComplex(xmlXPathParserContextPtr ctxt, int qualified) {
 	    (c == '_') || ((qualified) && (c == ':')) ||
 	    (IS_COMBINING(c)) ||
 	    (IS_EXTENDER(c)))) {
-	COPY_BUF(l,buf,len,c);
+	COPY_BUF(buf,len,c);
 	NEXTL(l);
 	c = CUR_CHAR(l);
 	if (len >= XML_MAX_NAMELEN) {
@@ -8812,7 +8812,7 @@ xmlXPathParseNameComplex(xmlXPathParserContextPtr ctxt, int qualified) {
 		    }
                     buffer = tmp;
 		}
-		COPY_BUF(l,buffer,len,c);
+		COPY_BUF(buffer,len,c);
 		NEXTL(l);
 		c = CUR_CHAR(l);
 	    }