diff --git a/src/PEAR.php b/src/PEAR.php
index 9914a7f..ba754e5 100644
--- a/src/PEAR.php
+++ b/src/PEAR.php
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ function __construct($error_class = null)
             $destructor = "_$classname";
             if (method_exists($this, $destructor)) {
                 global $_PEAR_destructor_object_list;
-                $_PEAR_destructor_object_list[] = &$this;
+                $_PEAR_destructor_object_list[] = $this;
                 if (!isset($GLOBALS['_PEAR_SHUTDOWN_REGISTERED'])) {
                     register_shutdown_function("_PEAR_call_destructors");
                     $GLOBALS['_PEAR_SHUTDOWN_REGISTERED'] = true;
@@ -450,7 +450,7 @@ function _checkDelExpect($error_code)
     }
 
     /**
-     * This method deletes all occurences of the specified element from
+     * This method deletes all occurrences of the specified element from
      * the expected error codes stack.
      *
      * @param  mixed $error_code error code that should be deleted
@@ -598,11 +598,11 @@ protected static function _raiseError($object,
     protected static function _throwError($object, $message = null, $code = null, $userinfo = null)
     {
         if ($object !== null) {
-            $a = &$object->raiseError($message, $code, null, null, $userinfo);
+            $a = $object->raiseError($message, $code, null, null, $userinfo);
             return $a;
         }
 
-        $a = &PEAR::raiseError($message, $code, null, null, $userinfo);
+        $a = PEAR::raiseError($message, $code, null, null, $userinfo);
         return $a;
     }
 
@@ -914,7 +914,8 @@ function __construct($message = 'unknown error', $code = null,
             } else {
                 $format = $options;
             }
-            die(sprintf($format, $msg));
+            printf($format, $msg);
+            exit($code);
         }
 
         if ($this->mode & PEAR_ERROR_CALLBACK && is_callable($this->callback)) {
diff --git a/src/System.php b/src/System.php
index a61df2d..89c53e3 100644
--- a/src/System.php
+++ b/src/System.php
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 $GLOBALS['_System_temp_files'] = array();
 
 /**
-* System offers cross plattform compatible system functions
+* System offers cross platform compatible system functions
 *
 * Static functions for different operations. Should work under
 * Unix and Windows. The names and usage has been taken from its respectively
@@ -547,7 +547,7 @@ public static function which($program, $fallback = false)
      * System::find("$dir -name *.php -name *.htm*");
      * System::find("$dir -maxdepth 1");
      *
-     * Params implmented:
+     * Params implemented:
      * $dir            -> Start the search at this directory
      * -type d         -> return only directories
      * -type f         -> return only files