diff --git a/SPEX/Config/Tcov_Makefile.in b/SPEX/Config/Tcov_Makefile.in
index 6540c4255b..ec25302ed7 100644
--- a/SPEX/Config/Tcov_Makefile.in
+++ b/SPEX/Config/Tcov_Makefile.in
@@ -45,10 +45,13 @@ MPFR_PATH = @MPFR_PATH@
 
 ################################################################################
 
-# select the thread-safety mechanism to test: none, openmp, or pthreads.
+# select the thread-safety mechanism to test: none, openmp, etc
+# none:
 # THREADS =
+# opemp:
 # THREADS = -fopenmp
-  THREADS = -DSPEX_USE_PTHREADS -pthread
+# __thread keyword (gcc and many compilers):
+  THREADS = -DHAVE_KEYWORD__THREAD
 
 # Linux test coverage (gcc is required for test coverage)
 CC = gcc
@@ -245,17 +248,17 @@ vtests: vtests4llu vtests4chol
 
 # run test for SPEX_LU with valgrind
 vtests4llu: all
-	- $(V) ./spex_demo_lu_extended p 2 q 0 f ../ExampleMats/10teams_mat.txt ../ExampleMats/10teams_v.txt > lu1.out
-	- $(V) ./spex_demo_lu_extended p 3 q 1 o 1 f ../ExampleMats/10teams_mat.txt ../ExampleMats/10teams_v.txt > lu2.out
-	- $(V) ./spex_demo_lu_extended p 4 q 2 o 1 f ../ExampleMats/test_mat.txt ../ExampleMats/test_rhs.txt > lu3.out
-	- $(V) ./spex_demo_lu_extended p 5 f ../ExampleMats/10teams_mat.txt ../ExampleMats/10teams_v.txt > lu4.out
-	- $(V) ./tcov_for_lu > test_for_lu.out
-	- $(V) ./tcov_for_lu 0 1 1 > lu5.out
-
+	$(V) ./spex_demo_lu_extended q 1 f ../ExampleMats/10teams.mat.txt ../ExampleMats/10teams.rhs.txt > lu1.out
+	$(V) ./spex_demo_lu_extended q 2 o 1 f ../ExampleMats/10teams.mat.txt ../ExampleMats/10teams.rhs.txt > lu2.out
+	$(V) ./spex_demo_lu_extended q 3 o 1 f ../ExampleMats/test.mat.txt ../ExampleMats/test.rhs.txt > lu3.out
+	$(V) ./spex_demo_lu_extended f ../ExampleMats/10teams.mat.txt ../ExampleMats/10teams.rhs.txt > lu4.out
+	$(V) ./tcov_for_lu > test_for_lu.out
+	$(V) ./tcov_for_lu 0 1 1 > lu5.out
+	$(V) ./tcov_for_lu2 ../ExampleMats/Trefethen_500.mat.txt ../ExampleMats/Trefethen_500.rhs.txt > test_for_lu2.out
 
 # run test for SPEX_Cholesky with valgrind
 vtests4chol: all
-	- $(V) ./tcov_for_cholesky ../ExampleMats/872.mat.txt > test_for_cholesky.out
+	$(V) ./tcov_for_cholesky ../ExampleMats/mesh1e1.mat.txt ../ExampleMats/mesh1e1.rhs.txt > test_for_cholesky.out
 
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/SPEX/SPEX_Utilities/Source/SPEX_gmp.c b/SPEX/SPEX_Utilities/Source/SPEX_gmp.c
index 8a77133f7b..d9669cd77d 100644
--- a/SPEX/SPEX_Utilities/Source/SPEX_gmp.c
+++ b/SPEX/SPEX_Utilities/Source/SPEX_gmp.c
@@ -371,9 +371,6 @@ void *spex_gmp_allocate
 // spex_gmp_safe_free:  free a block of memory and remove it from the archive
 //------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-// FIXME: what is this doing?
-#define SPEX_MPFR_REAL_PTR(x) (&((x)->_mpfr_d[-1]))
-
 static inline void spex_gmp_safe_free (void *p)
 {
     if (spex_gmp != NULL)
@@ -405,7 +402,7 @@ static inline void spex_gmp_safe_free (void *p)
         }
         if (spex_gmp->mpfr_archive != NULL)
         {
-            if (p == SPEX_MPFR_REAL_PTR(spex_gmp->mpfr_archive))
+            if (p == SPEX_MPFR_MANT(spex_gmp->mpfr_archive))
             {
                 SPEX_MPFR_MANT(spex_gmp->mpfr_archive) = NULL ;
             }
diff --git a/SPEX/TODO.txt b/SPEX/TODO.txt
index 5dd17c49f3..6cf11e0fa3 100644
--- a/SPEX/TODO.txt
+++ b/SPEX/TODO.txt
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 
 Lorena: test python interface
 
-Tim: test MATLAB interface
-
 Tim: get 100% test coverage
 
 Chris: User Guide