diff --git a/link-parser/command-line.c b/link-parser/command-line.c
index bb9b76252..dfe332af4 100644
--- a/link-parser/command-line.c
+++ b/link-parser/command-line.c
@@ -122,15 +122,24 @@ Switch default_switches[] =
 	{NULL,         Cmd,  NULL,                                     NULL}
 };
 
-static void put_opts_in_local_vars(Command_Options *);
-
 /*
- * A way to record the options default values.
+ * Record the parse options default values.
+ *
+ * Set the string parse options to their static default value so they
+ * don't point to a static (test, debug) or dynamic (dialect) memory of
+ * the library (but anyway we need to do that for the test,debug and
+ * verbosity parse options because they might have been set by command
+ * line arguments just before this function is invoked.)
  */
 void save_default_opts(Command_Options *copts)
 {
 	put_opts_in_local_vars(copts);
 	saved_defaults = local;
+	// XXX Set defaults assuming stable library settings
+	saved_defaults.test = (char *)"";
+	saved_defaults.debug = (char *)"";
+	saved_defaults.dialect = (char *)"";
+	saved_defaults.verbosity = 1;
 }
 
 static void restore_default_local_vars(void)
@@ -138,8 +147,17 @@ static void restore_default_local_vars(void)
 	local = saved_defaults;
 }
 
+// Return the value of the static verbosity.
+// This avoids the need to define "verbosity" as extern, which may clash
+// with the library "verbosity", and make the parse options "verbosity"
+// available before the main loop in link-parser.c.
+int get_verbosity(void)
+{
+	return local.verbosity;
+}
+
 /**
- *  Gets rid of all the white space in the string s.
+ * Gets rid of all the white space in the string s.
  */
 static void clean_up_string(char * s)
 {
@@ -157,7 +175,7 @@ static void clean_up_string(char * s)
 		if (0 == w) break;
 		if (0 > (ssize_t)w)
 		{
-			prt_error("Unable to process UTF8 command input string.\n");
+			prt_error("Error: Unable to process UTF8 command input string.\n");
 			break;
 		}
 		len -= w;
@@ -194,7 +212,7 @@ static bool is_numerical_rhs(char *s)
 		if (0 == w) break;
 		if (0 > (ssize_t)w)
 		{
-			prt_error("Unable to process UTF8 command input string.\n");
+			prt_error("Error: Unable to process UTF8 command input string.\n");
 			break;
 		}
 		len -= w;
@@ -272,7 +290,6 @@ static const char *switch_value_string(const Switch *as)
 #define HELPFILE_LANG_TEMPLATE_SIZE (sizeof(HELPFILE_LANG_TEMPLATE)-1)
 #define HELPFILE_TEMPLATE_SIZE \
 	(sizeof(HELPFILE_BASE HELPFILE_EXT)+HELPFILE_LANG_TEMPLATE_SIZE)
-#define D_USER_FILES 4 /* Debug level for files, see error.h. */
 #define DEFAULT_HELP_LANG "en"
 
 static FILE *help_file;
@@ -411,7 +428,7 @@ static FILE *open_help_file(int verbosity)
 		help_file = linkgrammar_open_data_file(help_filename);
 	}
 
-	if ((NULL == help_file) && (verbosity > D_USER_FILES))
+	if ((NULL == help_file) && (verbosity == D_USER_FILES))
 	{
 		prt_error("Error: Cannot open help file '%s': %s\n",
 		          help_filename, strerror(errno));
@@ -514,7 +531,7 @@ static void display_help(const Switch *sp, Command_Options *copts)
 
 	if (feof(hf))
 	{
-		if (local.verbosity >= D_USER_FILES)
+		if (local.verbosity == D_USER_FILES)
 			prt_error("Error: Cannot find command \"%s\" in help file\n",
 			          sp->string);
 	}
@@ -772,9 +789,9 @@ static int handle_help_command(const Switch *as, char *line,
 			{
 				rc = -1;     /* Error indication. */
 				if (count > 1)
-					prt_error("Ambiguous command: \"%s\".  %s\n", s, helpmsg);
+					prt_error("Error: Ambiguous command: \"%s\".  %s\n", s, helpmsg);
 				else
-					prt_error("Undefined command: \"%s\".  %s\n", s, helpmsg);
+					prt_error("Error: Undefined command: \"%s\".  %s\n", s, helpmsg);
 			}
 		}
 	}
@@ -851,7 +868,7 @@ static int x_issue_special_command(char * line, Command_Options *copts, Dictiona
 
 		if (count > 1)
 		{
-			prt_error("Ambiguous command \"%s\".  %s\n", s, helpmsg);
+			prt_error("Error: Ambiguous command \"%s\".  %s\n", s, helpmsg);
 			return -1;
 		}
 		if (count == 1)
@@ -862,7 +879,7 @@ static int x_issue_special_command(char * line, Command_Options *copts, Dictiona
 				size_t junk = strcspn(s, WHITESPACE);
 				if (junk != strlen(s))
 				{
-					prt_error("Junk after a boolean variable: \"%s\".  %s\n",
+					prt_error("Error: Junk after a boolean variable: \"%s\".  %s\n",
 					          &s[junk], helpmsg);
 					return -1;
 				}
@@ -999,7 +1016,7 @@ static int x_issue_special_command(char * line, Command_Options *copts, Dictiona
 	return -1;
 }
 
-static void put_opts_in_local_vars(Command_Options* copts)
+void put_opts_in_local_vars(Command_Options* copts)
 {
 	Parse_Options opts = copts->popts;
 	local.verbosity = parse_options_get_verbosity(opts);
diff --git a/link-parser/command-line.h b/link-parser/command-line.h
index 6badb0df8..f98076dde 100644
--- a/link-parser/command-line.h
+++ b/link-parser/command-line.h
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 
 #include <link-grammar/link-includes.h>
 
+#define D_USER_FILES 4 /* Debug level for files, see error.h. */
+
 #define COMMENT_CHAR '%'       /* input lines beginning with this are ignored */
 #define WHITESPACE " \t\v\r\n" /* ASCII-only is sufficient here */
 #define FIELD_WIDTH(str, width) (int)((width)+strlen(str)-utf8_strwidth(str))
@@ -61,6 +63,7 @@ typedef struct {
 } Command_Options;
 
 void put_local_vars_in_opts(Command_Options *);
+void put_opts_in_local_vars(Command_Options *);
 void setup_panic_parse_options(Command_Options *, int);
 
 typedef enum
diff --git a/link-parser/lg_readline.c b/link-parser/lg_readline.c
index bf715d1ee..4bcdf1c1b 100644
--- a/link-parser/lg_readline.c
+++ b/link-parser/lg_readline.c
@@ -83,10 +83,11 @@ void find_history_filepath(const char *dictname, const char *argv0,
 		prt_error("Warning: xdg_get_home(XDG_BD_STATE) failed; "
 		          "input history will not be supported.\n");
 		history_file = strdup("dev/null");
-		return;
 	}
 
 	history_file = hfile;
+	if (get_verbosity() == D_USER_FILES)
+		prt_error("Debug: Using history file \"%s\"\n", history_file);
 }
 
 /**
@@ -375,8 +376,9 @@ static unsigned char lg_complete(EditLine *el, int ch)
 		{
 			if (fchdir(cwdfd) < 0)
 			{
-				/* This shouldn't happen, unless maybe the directory to which
-				 * cwdfd reveres becomes unreadable after cwdfd is created. */
+				/* Unexpected error: may occur only if the directory
+				 * referenced by cwdfd becomes unreadable after cwdfd
+				 * has been established. */
 				printf("\nfchdir(): Cannot change directory back: %s\n",
 				       strerror(errno));
 			}
@@ -419,7 +421,7 @@ char *lg_readline(const char *mb_prompt)
 		wc_prompt = malloc (sz*sizeof(wchar_t));
 		mbstowcs(wc_prompt, mb_prompt, sz);
 
-		hist = history_winit();    /* Init built-in history */
+		hist = history_winit(); /* Init built-in history */
 		el = el_init("link-parser", stdin, stdout, stderr);
 		history_w(hist, &ev, H_SETSIZE, 100);
 		history_w(hist, &ev, H_SETUNIQUE, 1);
@@ -442,7 +444,7 @@ char *lg_readline(const char *mb_prompt)
 		el_source(el, NULL); /* Source the user's defaults file. */
 	}
 
-	int numc = 1; /*  Uninitialized at libedit. */
+	int numc = 1; /* Uninitialized at libedit. */
 	const wchar_t *wc_line = el_wgets(el, &numc);
 
 	/* Received end-of-file */
@@ -467,7 +469,7 @@ char *lg_readline(const char *mb_prompt)
 	/* fwprintf(stderr, L"==> got %d %ls", numc, wc_line); */
 
 	size_t byte_len = wcstombs(NULL, wc_line, 0) + 4;
-	free(mb_line);  // free previous.
+	free(mb_line); // free previous.
 	if (byte_len == (size_t)-1)
 	{
 		prt_error("Error: Unable to process UTF8 in input string.\n");
diff --git a/link-parser/lg_xdg.c b/link-parser/lg_xdg.c
index 955efc48d..74aeb0586 100644
--- a/link-parser/lg_xdg.c
+++ b/link-parser/lg_xdg.c
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ typedef struct
 
 xdg_definition xdg_def[] =
 {
-	{ "/.local/state", "XDG_STATE_HOME"  },
+	{ "/.local/state", "XDG_STATE_HOME" },
 	// Add more definitions if needed.
 };
 
@@ -84,22 +84,23 @@ static bool is_sep(int c)
  */
 static bool make_dirpath(const char *path)
 {
-	char *dir = strdup(path);
 	struct stat sb;
 
 #if defined(_WIN32) || defined(__CYGWIN__)
 	// Skip Windows UNC path \\X
-	if (is_sep(dir[0]) && is_sep(dir[1]))
+	if (is_sep(path[0]) && is_sep(path[1]))
 	{
 		const char *p;
 
 		// Start from the root or network share
-		for (p = dir + 2; *p != '\0'; p++)
+		for (p = path + 2; *p != '\0'; p++)
 			if (is_sep(*p)) break;
 		if (*p == '\0') return true;  // No further subdirectories
 	}
 #endif
 
+	char *dir = strdup(path);
+
 	for (char *p = dir+1; '\0' != *p; p++)
 	{
 		char sep = *p;
@@ -107,7 +108,7 @@ static bool make_dirpath(const char *path)
 		{
 			if (is_sep(p[-1])) continue; // Ignore directory separator sequences
 			*p = '\0'; // Now dir is the path up to this point
-			//prt_error("DEBUG: mkdir: '%s'\n", dir);
+			//prt_error("Debug: mkdir: '%s'\n", dir);
 			if (mkdir(dir, S_IRWXU) == -1)
 			{
 				int save_errno = errno;
diff --git a/link-parser/link-parser.c b/link-parser/link-parser.c
index 335a2de7d..09837d7d2 100644
--- a/link-parser/link-parser.c
+++ b/link-parser/link-parser.c
@@ -69,6 +69,21 @@ static const char *use_prompt(int verbosity_level)
 	return (0 == verbosity_level)? "" : prompt;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Set link-parser's default parse options.
+ */
+static void set_default_parse_options(Parse_Options opts)
+{
+	parse_options_set_max_parse_time(opts, 30);
+	parse_options_set_linkage_limit(opts, 1000);
+	parse_options_set_min_null_count(opts, 0);
+	parse_options_set_max_null_count(opts, 0);
+	parse_options_set_short_length(opts, 16);
+	parse_options_set_islands_ok(opts, false);
+	parse_options_set_display_morphology(opts, false);
+	parse_options_set_spell_guess(opts, 7);
+}
+
 typedef enum
 {
 	UNGRAMMATICAL = '*',
@@ -482,6 +497,43 @@ static const char *fbasename(const char *fpath)
 	return progf + 1;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Return a dictionary handle for \p languege. Return NULL on failure.
+ * silence library verbose output if needed.
+ */
+static Dictionary dictionary_setup(const char *language, bool quiet,
+                                   Parse_Options opts)
+{
+	Dictionary dict;
+	int save_verbosity = parse_options_get_verbosity(opts);
+
+	if (quiet && (save_verbosity == 1))
+		parse_options_set_verbosity(opts, 0);
+
+	if (language && *language)
+	{
+		dict = dictionary_create_lang(language);
+		if (dict == NULL)
+		{
+			prt_error("Fatal error: Unable to open dictionary.\n");
+			return NULL;
+		}
+	}
+	else
+	{
+		dict = dictionary_create_default_lang();
+		if (dict == NULL)
+		{
+			prt_error("Fatal error: Unable to open default dictionary.\n");
+			return NULL;
+		}
+	}
+
+	parse_options_set_verbosity(opts, save_verbosity);
+
+	return dict;
+}
+
 static void print_usage(FILE *out, char *argv0, Command_Options *copts, int exit_value)
 {
 
@@ -517,6 +569,12 @@ int main(int argc, char * argv[])
 	}
 
 	copts = command_options_create();
+	if (copts == NULL || copts->popts == NULL)
+	{
+		prt_error("Fatal error: unable to create parse options\n");
+		exit(-1);
+	}
+	opts = copts->popts;
 
 	/* First set the debug options, to allow dictionary-related debug. */
 	const char * const debug_vars[] = { "verbosity", "debug", "test" };
@@ -578,40 +636,10 @@ int main(int argc, char * argv[])
 	}
 	/* End of debug options setup. */
 
-	if (language && *language)
-	{
-		dict = dictionary_create_lang(language);
-		if (dict == NULL)
-		{
-			prt_error("Fatal error: Unable to open dictionary.\n");
-			exit(-1);
-		}
-	}
-	else
-	{
-		dict = dictionary_create_default_lang();
-		if (dict == NULL)
-		{
-			prt_error("Fatal error: Unable to open default dictionary.\n");
-			exit(-1);
-		}
-	}
-
-	if (copts == NULL || copts->popts == NULL)
-	{
-		prt_error("Fatal error: unable to create parse options\n");
-		exit(-1);
-	}
-	opts = copts->popts;
+	dict = dictionary_setup(language, quiet_start > 0, opts);
+	if (dict == NULL) exit(-1);
 
-	parse_options_set_max_parse_time(opts, 30);
-	parse_options_set_linkage_limit(opts, 1000);
-	parse_options_set_min_null_count(opts, 0);
-	parse_options_set_max_null_count(opts, 0);
-	parse_options_set_short_length(opts, 16);
-	parse_options_set_islands_ok(opts, false);
-	parse_options_set_display_morphology(opts, false);
-	parse_options_set_spell_guess(opts, 7);
+	set_default_parse_options(opts);
 
 	/* Get the panic disjunct cost from the dictionary. */
 	const char *panic_max_cost_str =
@@ -641,22 +669,10 @@ int main(int argc, char * argv[])
 	parse_options_set_disjunct_cost(opts,
 	   linkgrammar_get_dict_max_disjunct_cost(dict));
 
-	/* Remember the debug setting, because we temporary neglect it below. */
-	int verbosity_tmp = parse_options_get_verbosity(opts);
-	char *debug_tmp = strdup(parse_options_get_debug(opts));
-	char *test_tmp = strdup(parse_options_get_test(opts));
-
-	parse_options_set_verbosity(opts, 1); /* XXX assuming 1 is the default */
-	parse_options_set_debug(opts, "");
-	parse_options_set_test(opts, "");
-	save_default_opts(copts); /* Options so far are the defaults */
-
-	/* Restore the debug setting. */
-	parse_options_set_verbosity(opts, verbosity_tmp);
-	parse_options_set_debug(opts, debug_tmp);
-	parse_options_set_test(opts, test_tmp);
-	free(debug_tmp);
-	free(test_tmp);
+	/* Options so far are the defaults (save_default_opts() ensures
+	 * saving the defaults for debug, test, and verbosity, which may have
+	 * already been set by the program's arguments at this point.) */
+	save_default_opts(copts);
 
 	/* Process non-debug command line variable-setting commands (only). */
 	for (int i = 1; i < argc; i++)
@@ -688,8 +704,6 @@ int main(int argc, char * argv[])
 		}
 	}
 
-	initialize_screen_width(copts);
-
 	if ((parse_options_get_verbosity(opts)) > 0 && (quiet_start == 0))
 	{
 		prt_error("Info: Dictionary version %s, locale %s\n",
@@ -699,6 +713,8 @@ int main(int argc, char * argv[])
 			linkgrammar_get_version());
 	}
 
+	put_opts_in_local_vars(copts); /* Update local.verbosity etc. */
+	initialize_screen_width(copts);
 	if (isatty_io)
 	{
 		find_history_filepath(dictionary_get_lang(dict), argv[0], "link-parser");
diff --git a/link-parser/parser-utilities.c b/link-parser/parser-utilities.c
index a0d361059..64578061f 100644
--- a/link-parser/parser-utilities.c
+++ b/link-parser/parser-utilities.c
@@ -11,10 +11,6 @@
 /*                                                                         */
 /***************************************************************************/
 
-/* Used for terminal resizing */
-#ifndef _WIN32
-#endif /* _WIN32 */
-
 #ifdef _WIN32
 #include <windows.h>
 #include <wchar.h>
@@ -146,7 +142,7 @@ int get_console_line(char *inbuf, int inbuf_size)
 		snprintf(inbuf, inbuf_size, "ReadConsoleW: Error %lu\n", GetLastError());
 		return -1;
 	}
-	winbuf[nchar] = L'\0'; /* nchar is always <= INPUT_UTF16_SIZE-1.  */
+	winbuf[nchar] = L'\0'; /* nchar is always <= INPUT_UTF16_SIZE-1. */
 
 	nchar = WideCharToMultiByte(CP_UTF8, 0, winbuf, -1, inbuf,
 	                            inbuf_size, NULL, NULL);
diff --git a/link-parser/parser-utilities.h b/link-parser/parser-utilities.h
index 3322ec864..62f660a60 100644
--- a/link-parser/parser-utilities.h
+++ b/link-parser/parser-utilities.h
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 char *expand_homedir(const char *fn);
 void set_screen_width(Command_Options*);
 void initialize_screen_width(Command_Options *);
+int get_verbosity(void); // Defined in command-line.c
 
 #define MAX_INPUT_LINE 2048