Index: includes/bootstrap.inc
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/drupal/drupal/includes/bootstrap.inc,v
retrieving revision 1.367
diff -u -p -r1.367 bootstrap.inc
--- includes/bootstrap.inc	26 Mar 2010 17:14:45 -0000	1.367
+++ includes/bootstrap.inc	27 Mar 2010 11:21:31 -0000
@@ -1173,6 +1173,11 @@ function bootstrap_hooks() {
  *   The object to which the elements are appended.
  * @param $field
  *   The attribute of $obj whose value should be unserialized.
+ *
+ * @return
+ *   The object with the contents of the serialized column appended as
+ *   additionally the $field object property will contain the serialized
+ *   array so that it can be re-serialized when saved.
  */
 function drupal_unpack($obj, $field = 'data') {
   if ($obj->$field && $data = unserialize($obj->$field)) {
@@ -1181,6 +1186,7 @@ function drupal_unpack($obj, $field = 'd
         $obj->$key = $value;
       }
     }
+    $obj->$field = $data;
   }
   return $obj;
 }
Index: modules/profile/profile.module
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/drupal/drupal/modules/profile/profile.module,v
retrieving revision 1.288
diff -u -p -r1.288 profile.module
--- modules/profile/profile.module	12 Mar 2010 15:56:29 -0000	1.288
+++ modules/profile/profile.module	27 Mar 2010 11:21:32 -0000
@@ -273,8 +273,6 @@ function profile_save_profile(&$edit, $a
       ))
       ->fields(array('value' => $edit[$field->name]))
       ->execute();
-    // Mark field as handled (prevents saving to user->data).
-    $edit[$field->name] = NULL;
   }
 }
 
Index: modules/user/user.module
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/drupal/drupal/modules/user/user.module,v
retrieving revision 1.1148
diff -u -p -r1.1148 user.module
--- modules/user/user.module	26 Mar 2010 22:24:31 -0000	1.1148
+++ modules/user/user.module	27 Mar 2010 11:21:33 -0000
@@ -334,11 +334,8 @@ function user_load_by_name($name) {
  *   TRUE or omit the $account->uid field.
  * @param $edit
  *   An array of fields and values to save. For example array('name'
- *   => 'My name'). Keys that do not belong to columns in the user-related
- *   tables are added to the a serialized array in the 'data' column
- *   and will be loaded in the $user->data array by user_load().
- *   Setting a field to NULL deletes it from the data column, if you are
- *   modifying an existing user account.
+ *   => 'My name'). Key / value pairs added to the $edit['data'] will be
+ *   serialized and saved in the {users.data} column.
  * @param $category
  *   (optional) The category for storing profile information in.
  *
@@ -3391,10 +3388,7 @@ function user_register_submit($form, &$f
   }
   $notify = !empty($form_state['values']['notify']);
 
-  // The unset below is needed to prevent these form values from being saved as
-  // user data.
   form_state_values_clean($form_state);
-  unset($form_state['values']['notify']);
 
   $form_state['values']['pass'] = $pass;
   $form_state['values']['init'] = $form_state['values']['mail'];