diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 9cf8fa4..70b34ad 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ jobs:
       matrix:
         version:
           - '1.6'
-          - '1.7'
+          - '1.9'
           - 'nightly'
         os:
           - ubuntu-latest
diff --git a/Project.toml b/Project.toml
index d581837..1f9de83 100644
--- a/Project.toml
+++ b/Project.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ authors  = ["ScottPJones <scottjones@alum.mit.edu>"]
 keywords = ["Strings"]
 license  = "MIT"
 uuid     = "e79e7a6a-7bb1-5a4d-9d64-da657b06f53a"
-version = "1.1.4"
+version = "1.1.5"
 
 [deps]
 Unicode = "4ec0a83e-493e-50e2-b9ac-8f72acf5a8f5"
diff --git a/src/encode.jl b/src/encode.jl
index 9e77947..307af07 100644
--- a/src/encode.jl
+++ b/src/encode.jl
@@ -195,6 +195,8 @@ function convert(::Type{T},
     Str(C, _str_cpy(UInt8, vec, length(vec)))
 end
 
+convert(::Type{UniStr}, vec::AbstractArray{UInt8}) = _str(vec)
+
 convert(::Type{<:Str{C}}, vec::AbstractArray{UInt8}) where {C<:Union{BinaryCSE,Text1CSE}} =
     Str(C, _str_cpy(UInt8, vec, length(vec)))
 convert(::Type{<:Str{Text2CSE}}, vec::AbstractArray{UInt16}) =
@@ -210,6 +212,7 @@ convert(::Type{<:Str{Text4CSE}}, vec::AbstractArray{UInt32}) =
 (::Type{UniStr})(str::String)         = _str(str)
 (::Type{UniStr})(str::Str{<:Union{ASCIICSE,SubSet_CSEs}}) = str
 
+# need to fix this, should only allow already validated strings
 function convert(::Type{UniStr}, str::T) where {T<:Str}
     # handle zero length string quickly
     is_empty(str) && return empty_ascii
diff --git a/src/util.jl b/src/util.jl
index 7be3208..0a7111e 100644
--- a/src/util.jl
+++ b/src/util.jl
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #=
 Utility functions for Str strings
 
-Copyright 2018-2021 Gandalf Software, Inc., Scott P. Jones,
+Copyright 2018-2023 Gandalf Software, Inc., Scott P. Jones,
 and other contributors to the Julia language
 Licensed under MIT License, see LICENSE.md
 Based initially on julia/test/strings/util.jl
@@ -131,16 +131,21 @@ split(str::_SplitTypes, splitter::SetOfChars;
       limit::Integer=0, keepempty::Bool=true, keep::Union{Nothing,Bool}=nothing) =
     __split(str, in(splitter), limit, checkkeep(keepempty, keep, :split), splitarr(str))
 
+@static if isdefined(Base, :eachrsplit)
+const _RSplitTypes = MaybeSub{<:Str{<:Union{_LatinCSE,_UCS2CSE,_UTF32CSE}}}
+else
+const _RSplitTypes = MaybeSub{<:Str}
 Base._rsplit(str::MaybeSub{<:Str}, splitter, limit, keepempty, vec) =
     __rsplit(str, splitter, limit, keepempty, vec)
+end
 
-rsplit(str::MaybeSub{<:Str}, splitter;
+rsplit(str::_RSplitTypes, splitter;
        limit::Integer=0, keepempty::Bool=true, keep::Union{Nothing,Bool}=nothing) =
     __rsplit(str, splitter, limit, checkkeep(keepempty, keep, :rsplit), splitarr(str))
-rsplit(str::MaybeSub{<:Str}, splitter::AbstractChar;
+rsplit(str::_RSplitTypes, splitter::AbstractChar;
        limit::Integer=0, keepempty::Bool=true, keep::Union{Nothing,Bool}=nothing) =
     __rsplit(str, isequal(splitter), limit, checkkeep(keepempty, keep, :rsplit), splitarr(str))
-rsplit(str::MaybeSub{<:Str}, splitter::SetOfChars;
+rsplit(str::_RSplitTypes, splitter::SetOfChars;
        limit::Integer=0, keepempty::Bool=true, keep::Union{Nothing,Bool}=nothing) =
     __rsplit(str, in(splitter), limit, checkkeep(keepempty, keep, :rsplit), splitarr(str))