diff --git a/src/linux/get_distro.cpp b/src/linux/get_distro.cpp
index 5932fd84eb8d2696a538ffda4be7d67e5860367d..17abdf3bf6de1f9a757037e30cc35875d26b70fe 100644
--- a/src/linux/get_distro.cpp
+++ b/src/linux/get_distro.cpp
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ std::string get_distro() {
             }
         }
 
-        throw "Release file empty or incomplete.";
+        throw std::string("Release file empty or incomplete.");
 
     // openSuSE
     } else if (open_file("/etc/os-release", release_file)) {
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ std::string get_distro() {
         if (name.length())
             return name;
 
-        throw "Release file empty or incomplete.";
+        throw std::string("Release file empty or incomplete.");
 
     } else if (open_file("/etc/novell-release", release_file)) {
 
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ std::string get_distro() {
         if (line.length())
             return line;
 
-        throw "Release file empty.";
+        throw std::string("Release file empty.");
 
     } else if (open_file("/etc/sles-release", release_file)) {
 
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ std::string get_distro() {
         if (line.length())
             return line;
 
-        throw "Release file empty.";
+        throw std::string("Release file empty.");
 
     // fedora
     } else if (open_file("/etc/redhat-release", release_file)) {
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ std::string get_distro() {
         if (line.length())
             return line;
 
-        throw "Release file empty.";
+        throw std::string("Release file empty.");
 
     // debian -- leave this at the end, otherwise debian-based distros
     //           will find the debian_version file instead of the actual
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ std::string get_distro() {
         if (line.length())
             return line;
 
-        throw "Release file empty.";
+        throw std::string("Release file empty.");
 
     } else if (open_file("/etc/debian-version", release_file)) {
 
@@ -151,9 +151,9 @@ std::string get_distro() {
         if (line.length())
             return line;
 
-        throw "Release file empty.";
+        throw std::string("Release file empty.");
 
     }
 
-    throw "No release file found.";
+    throw std::string("No release file found.");
 }
diff --git a/src/linux/get_macaddr.cpp b/src/linux/get_macaddr.cpp
index 86275647fddd4ab653445357899f0f159b2d288c..14a0f5fd771b1c624e0b7e2dfa550813cd05a1ca 100644
--- a/src/linux/get_macaddr.cpp
+++ b/src/linux/get_macaddr.cpp
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ std::string get_macaddr() {
     if (!file.is_open()) {
         file.open("/sys/class/net/eth1/address", std::ifstream::in);
         if (!file.is_open()) {
-            throw "No address file found.";
+            throw std::string("No address file found.");
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/linux/get_user_count.cpp b/src/linux/get_user_count.cpp
index 33af3ca09894abd277ab262db0ea0f254f08dfff..134a498128526b490b32092caab32e97be08c71d 100644
--- a/src/linux/get_user_count.cpp
+++ b/src/linux/get_user_count.cpp
@@ -432,7 +432,7 @@ static struct user_log * last_modified() {
 
                 p = (struct utmplist *)malloc(sizeof(struct utmplist));
                 if (p == NULL) {
-                    throw "ERROR: out of memory";
+                    throw std::string("ERROR: out of memory");
                 }
 
                 memcpy(&p->ut, &ut, sizeof(struct utmp));
@@ -550,7 +550,7 @@ static struct user_log * last_modified() {
                     break;
                 p = (struct utmplist *)malloc(sizeof(struct utmplist));
                 if (p == NULL) {
-                    throw "ERROR: out of memory";
+                    throw std::string("ERROR: out of memory");
                 }
                 memcpy(&p->ut, &ut, sizeof(struct utmp));
                 p->next  = utmplist;