diff --git a/libs/pbd/pbd/xml++.h b/libs/pbd/pbd/xml++.h
index 1aae15bbc3..c3fb513dfe 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/pbd/xml++.h
+++ b/libs/pbd/pbd/xml++.h
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 
 #include <libxml/parser.h>
 #include <libxml/tree.h>
+#include <boost/shared_ptr.hpp>
 
 #ifndef __XML_H
 #define __XML_H
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@ class XMLNode;
 class XMLProperty;
 
 typedef list<XMLNode *> XMLNodeList;
+typedef list<boost::shared_ptr<XMLNode> > XMLSharedNodeList;
 typedef XMLNodeList::iterator XMLNodeIterator;
 typedef XMLNodeList::const_iterator XMLNodeConstIterator;
 typedef list<XMLProperty*> XMLPropertyList;
@@ -93,7 +95,7 @@ public:
   XMLNode *child (const char*) const;
   void add_child_nocopy (XMLNode&);
   
-  XMLNodeList *find(const std::string xpath) const;
+  boost::shared_ptr<XMLSharedNodeList> find(const std::string xpath) const;
 
   const XMLPropertyList & properties() const { return _proplist; };
   XMLProperty *property(const char * );
diff --git a/libs/pbd/tests/xpath.cc b/libs/pbd/tests/xpath.cc
index 7d7c1a39b4..968bbd9b5f 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/tests/xpath.cc
+++ b/libs/pbd/tests/xpath.cc
@@ -10,12 +10,12 @@ int main()
 	cout << "Test 1: Find all banks in the file" << endl;
 	XMLTree  doc("./rosegardenpatchfile.xml");
 	// "//bank" gives as last element an empty element libxml bug????
-	XMLNodeList* result = doc.root()->find("//bank[@name]");
+	boost::shared_ptr<XMLSharedNodeList> result = doc.root()->find("//bank[@name]");
 	
 	cout << "Found " << result->size() << " banks" << endl;
 	assert(result->size() == 8);
 	int counter = 1;
-	for(XMLNodeList::const_iterator i = result->begin(); i != result->end(); ++i) {
+	for(XMLSharedNodeList::const_iterator i = result->begin(); i != result->end(); ++i) {
 		assert((*i)->name() == "bank");
 		assert((*i)->property("name"));
 		cout << "Found bank number " << counter++ << " with name: " << (*i)->property("name")->value() << endl;
@@ -23,25 +23,17 @@ int main()
 			cout << "\t found program " << (*j)->property("id")->value() << 
 			        " with name: " << (*j)->property("name")->value() << endl;
 		}
-		
-		delete *i;
 	}
 	
-	delete result;
-	
 	cout << endl << endl << "Test 2: Find all programs whose program name contains 'Latin'" << endl;
 	
 	result = doc.root()->find("/rosegarden-data/studio/device/bank/program[contains(@name, 'Latin')]");
 	assert(result->size() == 5);
 	
-	for(XMLNodeList::const_iterator i = result->begin(); i != result->end(); ++i) {
+	for(XMLSharedNodeList::const_iterator i = result->begin(); i != result->end(); ++i) {
 		cout << "\t found program " << (*i)->property("id")->value() << 
 		        " with name: " << (*i)->property("name")->value() << endl;
-		
-		delete *i;
 	}
-	
-	delete result;
 
 	cout << endl << endl << "Test 3: find all Sources where captured-for contains the string 'Guitar'" << endl;
 	
@@ -49,28 +41,20 @@ int main()
 	result = doc2.root()->find("/Session/Sources/Source[contains(@captured-for, 'Guitar')]");
 	assert(result->size() == 16);
 	
-	for(XMLNodeList::const_iterator i = result->begin(); i != result->end(); ++i) {
+	for(XMLSharedNodeList::const_iterator i = result->begin(); i != result->end(); ++i) {
 		cout << "\t found source '" << (*i)->property("name")->value() << 
 		        "' with id: " << (*i)->property("id")->value() << endl;
-		
-		delete *i;
 	}
 	
-	delete result;
-	
 	cout << endl << endl << "Test 4: Find all elements with an 'id' and 'name' attribute" << endl;
 	
 	result = doc2.root()->find("//*[@id and @name]");
 	
-	for(XMLNodeList::const_iterator i = result->begin(); i != result->end(); ++i) {
+	for(XMLSharedNodeList::const_iterator i = result->begin(); i != result->end(); ++i) {
 		assert((*i)->property("id"));
 		assert((*i)->property("name"));
 		cout << "\t found element '" << (*i)->name() << 
 		        "' with id: "  << (*i)->property("id")->value() << 
         		"' and name: " << (*i)->property("name")->value() << endl;
-		
-		delete *i;
 	}
-	
-	delete result;
 }
diff --git a/libs/pbd/xml++.cc b/libs/pbd/xml++.cc
index 9881dc5bee..8dff34c678 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/xml++.cc
+++ b/libs/pbd/xml++.cc
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 
 static XMLNode *readnode(xmlNodePtr);
 static void writenode(xmlDocPtr, XMLNode *, xmlNodePtr, int);
-static XMLNodeList *find_impl(xmlXPathContext* ctxt, const string xpath);
+static XMLSharedNodeList* find_impl(xmlXPathContext* ctxt, const string xpath);
 
 XMLTree::XMLTree() 
 	: _filename(), 
@@ -285,14 +285,15 @@ XMLNode::add_child_copy(const XMLNode& n)
 	return copy;
 }
 
-XMLNodeList* 
+boost::shared_ptr<XMLSharedNodeList> 
 XMLNode::find(const string xpath) const
 {
 	xmlDocPtr doc = xmlNewDoc((xmlChar *) XML_VERSION);
 	writenode(doc, (XMLNode *) this, doc->children, 1);
 	xmlXPathContext* ctxt = xmlXPathNewContext(doc);
 	
-	XMLNodeList* result = find_impl(ctxt, xpath);
+	boost::shared_ptr<XMLSharedNodeList> result = 
+		boost::shared_ptr<XMLSharedNodeList>(find_impl(ctxt, xpath));
 	
 	xmlXPathFreeContext(ctxt);
 	xmlFreeDoc(doc);
@@ -497,7 +498,7 @@ writenode(xmlDocPtr doc, XMLNode * n, xmlNodePtr p, int root = 0)
 	}
 }
 
-static XMLNodeList* find_impl(xmlXPathContext* ctxt, const string xpath)
+static XMLSharedNodeList* find_impl(xmlXPathContext* ctxt, const string xpath)
 {
 	xmlXPathObject* result = xmlXPathEval((const xmlChar*)xpath.c_str(), ctxt);
 
@@ -519,12 +520,12 @@ static XMLNodeList* find_impl(xmlXPathContext* ctxt, const string xpath)
 	}
 
 	xmlNodeSet* nodeset = result->nodesetval;
-	XMLNodeList* nodes = new XMLNodeList();
+	XMLSharedNodeList* nodes = new XMLSharedNodeList();
 	if( nodeset )
 	{
 		for (int i = 0; i < nodeset->nodeNr; ++i) {
 			XMLNode* node = readnode(nodeset->nodeTab[i]);
-			nodes->push_back(node);
+			nodes->push_back(boost::shared_ptr<XMLNode>(node));
 		}
 	}
 	else