Below is the class which caused the initial problem (since fixed).  I suppose we could use CELL[INTEGER] instead of INTEGER_REF.

I'm not sure that this is extremely important.  I merely brought it up because it seems like a wart on the language.

   Randy

class
	ELOG_THREAD_SAFE_AUTO_INCREMENTER

feature -- Basic operations

	next_integer: INTEGER
			--|
		do
			auto_incrementer_mutex.lock
			Result := next_int
			next_int.set_item (next_int.item + 1)
--	next_int.set_item (next_int + 1)     -- Old code.
			auto_incrementer_mutex.unlock
		end

feature {NONE} -- Implementation

	auto_incrementer_mutex: ELOG_MUTEX
			-- Protects next_int
		indexing
			once_status: global
		once
			create Result.make
		end

	next_int: INTEGER_REF
			--|
		indexing
			once_status: global
		once
			create Result
		end

end