diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index df10858b3..719e2b74b 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+2004-11-13  Carl Worth  <cworth@cworth.org>
+
+	* src/cairo_gstate.c (_cairo_gstate_select_font): Unconditionally
+	destroy the old font, (otherwise, if the same font was selected
+	twice in a row, a reference was lost to it, leading to assertion
+	failures).
+
 2004-11-12  Stuart Parmenter  <pavlov@pavlov.net>
 	* src/cairo_gdip_font.cpp:
 	* src/cairo_gdip_surface.cpp: Added GDI+ backend to Cairo.
diff --git a/src/cairo-gstate.c b/src/cairo-gstate.c
index 21481a66a..04dd92ec3 100644
--- a/src/cairo-gstate.c
+++ b/src/cairo-gstate.c
@@ -1992,21 +1992,14 @@ _cairo_gstate_select_font (cairo_gstate_t       *gstate,
 			   cairo_font_slant_t   slant, 
 			   cairo_font_weight_t  weight)
 {
-    cairo_unscaled_font_t *tmp;
+    _cairo_unscaled_font_destroy (gstate->font);
 
-    tmp = _cairo_unscaled_font_create (family, slant, weight);
+    gstate->font = _cairo_unscaled_font_create (family, slant, weight);
 
-    if (tmp == NULL)
+    if (gstate->font == NULL)
 	return CAIRO_STATUS_NO_MEMORY;
 
-    if (gstate->font != tmp)
-    {
-	if (gstate->font != NULL)
-	    _cairo_unscaled_font_destroy (gstate->font);
-
-	cairo_matrix_set_identity (&gstate->font_matrix);
-	gstate->font = tmp;
-    }
+    cairo_matrix_set_identity (&gstate->font_matrix);
   
     return CAIRO_STATUS_SUCCESS;
 }
diff --git a/src/cairo_gstate.c b/src/cairo_gstate.c
index 21481a66a..04dd92ec3 100644
--- a/src/cairo_gstate.c
+++ b/src/cairo_gstate.c
@@ -1992,21 +1992,14 @@ _cairo_gstate_select_font (cairo_gstate_t       *gstate,
 			   cairo_font_slant_t   slant, 
 			   cairo_font_weight_t  weight)
 {
-    cairo_unscaled_font_t *tmp;
+    _cairo_unscaled_font_destroy (gstate->font);
 
-    tmp = _cairo_unscaled_font_create (family, slant, weight);
+    gstate->font = _cairo_unscaled_font_create (family, slant, weight);
 
-    if (tmp == NULL)
+    if (gstate->font == NULL)
 	return CAIRO_STATUS_NO_MEMORY;
 
-    if (gstate->font != tmp)
-    {
-	if (gstate->font != NULL)
-	    _cairo_unscaled_font_destroy (gstate->font);
-
-	cairo_matrix_set_identity (&gstate->font_matrix);
-	gstate->font = tmp;
-    }
+    cairo_matrix_set_identity (&gstate->font_matrix);
   
     return CAIRO_STATUS_SUCCESS;
 }