diff --git a/extra/cocoa/cocoa.factor b/extra/cocoa/cocoa.factor
index c94984f00b..f4cfb20591 100755
--- a/extra/cocoa/cocoa.factor
+++ b/extra/cocoa/cocoa.factor
@@ -42,11 +42,13 @@ SYMBOL: super-sent-messages
         "NSArray"
         "NSAutoreleasePool"
         "NSBundle"
+        "NSDictionary"
         "NSError"
         "NSEvent"
         "NSException"
         "NSMenu"
         "NSMenuItem"
+        "NSMutableDictionary"
         "NSNib"
         "NSNotification"
         "NSNotificationCenter"
diff --git a/extra/cocoa/plists/plists.factor b/extra/cocoa/plists/plists.factor
index 5965c74af8..9e05773f53 100644
--- a/extra/cocoa/plists/plists.factor
+++ b/extra/cocoa/plists/plists.factor
@@ -1,23 +1,19 @@
-! Copyright (C) 2007 Slava Pestov.
+! Copyright (C) 2007, 2008 Slava Pestov.
 ! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
 USING: strings arrays hashtables assocs sequences
-xml.writer xml.utilities kernel namespaces ;
+cocoa.messages cocoa.classes cocoa.application cocoa kernel
+namespaces io.backend ;
 IN: cocoa.plists
 
-GENERIC: >plist ( obj -- tag )
+: assoc>NSDictionary ( assoc -- alien )
+    NSMutableDictionary over assoc-size -> dictionaryWithCapacity:
+    [
+        [
+            spin [ <NSString> ] bi@ -> setObject:forKey:
+        ] curry assoc-each
+    ] keep ;
 
-M: string >plist "string" build-tag ;
-
-M: array >plist
-    [ >plist ] map "array" build-tag* ;
-
-M: hashtable >plist
-    >alist [ >r "key" build-tag r> >plist ] assoc-map concat
-    "dict" build-tag* ;
-
-: build-plist ( obj -- tag )
-    >plist 1array "plist" build-tag*
-    dup { { "version" "1.0" } } update ;
-
-: plist>string ( obj -- string )
-    build-plist build-xml xml>string ;
+: write-plist ( assoc path -- )
+    >r assoc>NSDictionary
+    r> normalize-path <NSString> 0 -> writeToFile:atomically:
+    [ "write-plist failed" throw ] unless ;
diff --git a/extra/tools/deploy/macosx/macosx.factor b/extra/tools/deploy/macosx/macosx.factor
index 3a7f8e5d03..3121866d94 100755
--- a/extra/tools/deploy/macosx/macosx.factor
+++ b/extra/tools/deploy/macosx/macosx.factor
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
 USING: io io.files kernel namespaces sequences
 system tools.deploy.backend tools.deploy.config assocs
 hashtables prettyprint io.unix.backend cocoa io.encodings.utf8
-cocoa.application cocoa.classes cocoa.plists qualified ;
+io.backend cocoa.application cocoa.classes cocoa.plists
+qualified ;
 IN: tools.deploy.macosx
 
 : bundle-dir ( -- dir )
@@ -20,23 +21,21 @@ IN: tools.deploy.macosx
     "fonts/" resource-path
     swap "Contents/Resources/" append-path copy-tree-into ;
 
-: app-plist ( executable bundle-name -- string )
+: app-plist ( executable bundle-name -- assoc )
     [
-        namespace {
-            { "CFBundleInfoDictionaryVersion" "6.0" }
-            { "CFBundlePackageType" "APPL" }
-        } update
+        "6.0" "CFBundleInfoDictionaryVersion" set
+        "APPL" "CFBundlePackageType" set
 
         file-name "CFBundleName" set
 
-        dup "CFBundleExecutable" set
-        "org.factor." prepend "CFBundleIdentifier" set
-    ] H{ } make-assoc plist>string ;
+        [ "CFBundleExecutable" set ]
+        [ "org.factor." prepend "CFBundleIdentifier" set ] bi
+    ] H{ } make-assoc ;
 
-: create-app-plist ( vocab bundle-name -- )
+: create-app-plist ( executable bundle-name -- )
     [ app-plist ] keep
     "Contents/Info.plist" append-path
-    utf8 set-file-contents ;
+    write-plist ;
 
 : create-app-dir ( vocab bundle-name -- vm )
     dup "Frameworks" copy-bundle-dir
@@ -64,6 +63,6 @@ M: macosx deploy* ( vocab -- )
             [ bundle-name create-app-dir ] keep
             [ bundle-name deploy.app-image ] keep
             namespace make-deploy-image
-            bundle-name show-in-finder
+            bundle-name normalize-path show-in-finder
         ] bind
     ] with-directory ;