diff --git a/xpath.c b/xpath.c
index 0e42893..43a8070 100644
--- a/xpath.c
+++ b/xpath.c
@@ -75,6 +75,17 @@
 *   only element-nodes and the document node.
 */
 #define XP_PATTERN_TO_ANY_NODE_ENABLED
+
+/*
+* XP_FAST_NON_ELEM_COMPARISON:
+* If defined, this will use xmlXPathCmpNodesExt() instead of
+* xmlXPathCmpNodes(). The new function is optimized comparison of
+* non-element nodes; actually it will speed up comparison only if
+* xmlXPathOrderDocElems() was called in order to index the elements of
+* a tree in document order; Libxslt does such an indexing, thus it will
+* benefit from this optimization.
+*/
+#define XP_FAST_NON_ELEM_COMPARISON
 /*
  * TODO:
  * There are a few spots where some tests are done which depend upon ascii
@@ -1691,6 +1702,284 @@
     return(-1); /* assume there is no sibling list corruption */
 }
 
+#ifdef XP_FAST_NON_ELEM_COMPARISON
+/**
+ * xmlXPathCmpNodesExt:
+ * @node1:  the first node
+ * @node2:  the second node
+ *
+ * Compare two nodes w.r.t document order.
+ * This one is optimized for handling of non-element nodes.
+ *
+ * Returns -2 in case of error 1 if first point < second point, 0 if
+ *         it's the same node, -1 otherwise
+ */
+static int
+xmlXPathCmpNodesExt(xmlNodePtr node1, xmlNodePtr node2) {
+    int depth1, depth2;
+    int misc = 0, precedence1 = 0, precedence2 = 0;
+    xmlNodePtr miscNode1 = NULL, miscNode2 = NULL;
+    xmlNodePtr cur, root;
+
+    if ((node1 == NULL) || (node2 == NULL))
+	return(-2);
+
+    if (node1 == node2)
+	return(0);
+   
+    /*
+     * a couple of optimizations which will avoid computations in most cases
+     */
+    
+    switch (node1->type) {
+	case XML_ELEMENT_NODE:
+	    break;
+	case XML_ATTRIBUTE_NODE:
+	    precedence1 = 1; /* element is owner */
+	    miscNode1 = node1;
+	    node1 = node1->parent;
+	    misc = 1;
+	    break;
+	case XML_TEXT_NODE:
+	case XML_CDATA_SECTION_NODE:
+	case XML_COMMENT_NODE:
+	case XML_PI_NODE: {
+	    miscNode1 = node1;
+	    /*
+	    * Find nearest element node.
+	    */	    
+	    if (node1->prev != NULL) {
+		do {
+		    node1 = node1->prev;
+		    if (node1->type == XML_ELEMENT_NODE) {
+			precedence1 = 3; /* element in prev-sibl axis */
+			break;
+		    }
+		    if (node1->prev == NULL) {
+			precedence1 = 2; /* element is parent */
+			/*
+			* URGENT TODO: Are there any cases, where the
+			* parent of such a node is not an element node?
+			*/
+			node1 = node1->parent;
+			break;
+		    }
+		} while (1);
+	    } else {
+		precedence1 = 2; /* element is parent */
+		node1 = node1->parent;
+	    }
+	    if ((node1 == NULL) || (node1->type != XML_ELEMENT_NODE)) {
+		/*
+		* Fallback for whatever case.
+		*/
+		node1 = miscNode1;
+		precedence1 = 0;
+	    } else
+		misc = 1;
+	}
+	    break;
+	case XML_NAMESPACE_DECL:
+	    /*
+	    * TODO: why do we return 1 for namespace nodes?
+	    */
+	    return(1);
+	default:
+	    break;
+    }    
+    switch (node2->type) {
+	case XML_ELEMENT_NODE:
+	    break;
+	case XML_ATTRIBUTE_NODE:
+	    precedence2 = 1; /* element is owner */
+	    miscNode2 = node2;
+	    node2 = node2->parent;
+	    misc = 1;
+	    break;
+	case XML_TEXT_NODE:
+	case XML_CDATA_SECTION_NODE:
+	case XML_COMMENT_NODE:
+	case XML_PI_NODE: {
+	    miscNode2 = node2;
+	    if (node2->prev != NULL) {
+		do {
+		    node2 = node2->prev;
+		    if (node2->type == XML_ELEMENT_NODE) {
+			precedence2 = 3; /* element in prev-sibl axis */
+			break;
+		    }
+		    if (node2->prev == NULL) {
+			precedence2 = 2; /* element is parent */
+			node2 = node2->parent;
+			break;
+		    }
+		} while (1);
+	    } else {
+		precedence2 = 2; /* element is parent */
+		node2 = node2->parent;
+	    }	    
+	    if ((node2 == NULL) || (node2->type != XML_ELEMENT_NODE) ||
+		(0 <= (long) node1->content))
+	    {
+		node2 = miscNode2;
+		precedence2 = 0;
+	    } else
+		misc = 1;
+	}
+	    break;
+	case XML_NAMESPACE_DECL:
+	    return(1);
+	default:
+	    break;
+    }
+    if (misc) {
+	if (node1 == node2) {
+	    if (precedence1 == precedence2) {
+		/*
+		* The ugly case; but normally there aren't many
+		* adjacent non-element nodes around.
+		*/
+		cur = miscNode2->prev;
+		while (cur != NULL) {
+		    if (cur == miscNode1)
+			return(1);
+		    if (cur->type == XML_ELEMENT_NODE)
+			return(-1);
+		    cur = cur->prev;
+		}
+		return (-1);
+	    } else {
+		/*
+		* Evaluate based on higher precedence wrt to the element.
+		* TODO: This assumes attributes are sorted before content.
+		*   Is this 100% correct?
+		*/
+		if (precedence1 < precedence2)
+		    return(1); 
+		else
+		    return(-1);	    
+	    }
+	}    
+	/*
+	* Special case: One of the helper-elements is contained by the other.
+	* <foo>
+	*   <node2>
+	*     <node1>Text-1(precedence1 == 2)</node1>
+	*   </node2>
+	*   Text-6(precedence2 == 3)
+	* </foo>
+	*/	
+	if ((precedence2 == 3) && (precedence1 > 1)) {
+	    cur = node1->parent;
+	    while (cur) {
+		if (cur == node2)
+		    return(1);
+		cur = cur->parent;
+	    }
+	}
+	if ((precedence1 == 3) && (precedence2 > 1)) {	
+	    cur = node2->parent;
+	    while (cur) {
+		if (cur == node1)
+		    return(-1);
+		cur = cur->parent;
+	    }
+	}
+    }
+    
+    if (node1 == node2->prev)
+	return(1);
+    if (node1 == node2->next)
+	return(-1);
+
+    /*
+     * Speedup using document order if availble.
+     */
+    if ((node1->type == XML_ELEMENT_NODE) &&
+	(node2->type == XML_ELEMENT_NODE) &&
+	(0 > (long) node1->content) &&
+	(0 > (long) node2->content) &&
+	(node1->doc == node2->doc)) {
+	long l1, l2;
+
+	l1 = -((long) node1->content);
+	l2 = -((long) node2->content);
+	if (l1 < l2)
+	    return(1);
+	if (l1 > l2)
+	    return(-1);
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * compute depth to root
+     */
+    for (depth2 = 0, cur = node2;cur->parent != NULL;cur = cur->parent) {
+	if (cur == node1)
+	    return(1);
+	depth2++;
+    }
+    root = cur;
+    for (depth1 = 0, cur = node1;cur->parent != NULL;cur = cur->parent) {
+	if (cur == node2)
+	    return(-1);
+	depth1++;
+    }
+    /*
+     * Distinct document (or distinct entities :-( ) case.
+     */
+    if (root != cur) {
+	return(-2);
+    }
+    /*
+     * get the nearest common ancestor.
+     */
+    while (depth1 > depth2) {
+	depth1--;
+	node1 = node1->parent;
+    }
+    while (depth2 > depth1) {
+	depth2--;
+	node2 = node2->parent;
+    }
+    while (node1->parent != node2->parent) {
+	node1 = node1->parent;
+	node2 = node2->parent;
+	/* should not happen but just in case ... */
+	if ((node1 == NULL) || (node2 == NULL))
+	    return(-2);
+    }
+    /*
+     * Find who's first.
+     */
+    if (node1 == node2->prev)
+	return(1);
+    if (node1 == node2->next)
+	return(-1);
+    /*
+     * Speedup using document order if availble.
+     */
+    if ((node1->type == XML_ELEMENT_NODE) &&
+	(node2->type == XML_ELEMENT_NODE) &&
+	(0 > (long) node1->content) &&
+	(0 > (long) node2->content) &&
+	(node1->doc == node2->doc)) {
+	long l1, l2;
+
+	l1 = -((long) node1->content);
+	l2 = -((long) node2->content);
+	if (l1 < l2)
+	    return(1);
+	if (l1 > l2)
+	    return(-1);
+    }
+
+    for (cur = node1->next;cur != NULL;cur = cur->next)
+	if (cur == node2)
+	    return(1);
+    return(-1); /* assume there is no sibling list corruption */
+}
+#endif /* XP_FAST_NON_ELEM_COMPARISON */
+
 /**
  * xmlXPathNodeSetSort:
  * @set:  the node set
@@ -1711,8 +2000,14 @@
 	for (i = incr; i < len; i++) {
 	    j = i - incr;
 	    while (j >= 0) {
+#ifdef XP_FAST_NON_ELEM_COMPARISON
+		if (xmlXPathCmpNodesExt(set->nodeTab[j],
+			set->nodeTab[j + incr]) == -1)
+#else
 		if (xmlXPathCmpNodes(set->nodeTab[j],
-				     set->nodeTab[j + incr]) == -1) {
+			set->nodeTab[j + incr]) == -1)
+#endif
+		{
 		    tmp = set->nodeTab[j];
 		    set->nodeTab[j] = set->nodeTab[j + incr];
 		    set->nodeTab[j + incr] = tmp;