diff --git a/core/includes/bootstrap.inc b/core/includes/bootstrap.inc
index 3bac36b..694bc03 100644
--- a/core/includes/bootstrap.inc
+++ b/core/includes/bootstrap.inc
@@ -651,10 +651,6 @@ function drupal_environment_initialize() {
   // Set sane locale settings, to ensure consistent string, dates, times and
   // numbers handling.
   setlocale(LC_ALL, 'C');
-
-  // Detect string handling method.
-  require_once DRUPAL_ROOT . '/core/lib/Drupal/Component/Utility/Unicode.php';
-  Unicode::check();
 }
 
 /**
@@ -2201,6 +2197,9 @@ function _drupal_bootstrap_configuration() {
   // Start a page timer:
   Timer::start('page');
 
+  // Detect string handling method.
+  Unicode::check();
+
   // Load the procedural configuration system helper functions.
   require_once DRUPAL_ROOT . '/core/includes/config.inc';
 
diff --git a/core/includes/unicode.inc b/core/includes/unicode.inc
index 3b3a8da..5abf5ea 100644
--- a/core/includes/unicode.inc
+++ b/core/includes/unicode.inc
@@ -16,17 +16,17 @@ function unicode_requirements() {
   $t = get_t();
 
   $libraries = array(
-    UNICODE_SINGLEBYTE => $t('Standard PHP'),
-    UNICODE_MULTIBYTE => $t('PHP Mbstring Extension'),
-    UNICODE_ERROR => $t('Error'),
+    Unicode::STATUS_SINGLEBYTE => $t('Standard PHP'),
+    Unicode::STATUS_MULTIBYTE => $t('PHP Mbstring Extension'),
+    Unicode::STATUS_ERROR => $t('Error'),
   );
   $severities = array(
-    UNICODE_SINGLEBYTE => REQUIREMENT_WARNING,
-    UNICODE_MULTIBYTE => NULL,
-    UNICODE_ERROR => REQUIREMENT_ERROR,
+    Unicode::STATUS_SINGLEBYTE => REQUIREMENT_WARNING,
+    Unicode::STATUS_MULTIBYTE => NULL,
+    Unicode::STATUS_ERROR => REQUIREMENT_ERROR,
   );
   $failed_check = Unicode::check();
-  $library = $GLOBALS['multibyte'];
+  $library = Unicode::getStatus();
 
   $requirements['unicode'] = array(
     'title' => $t('Unicode library'),
@@ -148,6 +148,9 @@ function drupal_convert_to_utf8($data, $encoding) {
  * @return string
  *   The truncated string.
  *
+ * @deprecated as of Drupal 8.0.
+ *   Use \Drupal\Component\Utility\Unicode::truncateBytes() instead.
+ *
  * @see \Drupal\Component\Utility\Unicode::truncateBytes().
  */
 function drupal_truncate_bytes($string, $len) {
@@ -188,6 +191,9 @@ function drupal_truncate_bytes($string, $len) {
  * @return string
  *   The truncated string.
  *
+ * @deprecated as of Drupal 8.0.
+ *   Use \Drupal\Component\Utility\String::truncate() instead.
+ *
  * @see \Drupal\Component\Utility\Unicode::truncate().
  */
 function truncate_utf8($string, $max_length, $wordsafe = FALSE, $add_ellipsis = FALSE, $min_wordsafe_length = 1) {
@@ -203,6 +209,9 @@ function truncate_utf8($string, $max_length, $wordsafe = FALSE, $add_ellipsis =
  * @return string
  *   The mime-encoded header.
  *
+ * @deprecated as of Drupal 8.0.
+ *   Use \Drupal\Component\Utility\Unicode::mimeHeaderEncode() instead.
+ *
  * @see mime_header_decode()
  * @see \Drupal\Component\Utility\Unicode::mimeHeaderEncode().
  */
@@ -219,6 +228,9 @@ function mime_header_encode($string) {
  * @return string
  *   The mime-decoded header.
  *
+ * @deprecated as of Drupal 8.0.
+ *   Use \Drupal\Component\Utility\Unicode::mimeHeaderDecode() instead.
+ *
  * @see mime_header_encode()
  * @see \Drupal\Component\Utility\Unicode::mimeHeaderDecode().
  */
@@ -235,6 +247,9 @@ function mime_header_decode($header) {
  * @return
  *   The input $text, with all HTML entities decoded once.
  *
+ * @deprecated as of Drupal 8.0.
+ *   Use \Drupal\Component\Utility\Unicode::decodeEntities() instead.
+ *
  * @see \Drupal\Component\Utility\Unicode::decodeEntities().
  */
 function decode_entities($text) {
@@ -250,6 +265,9 @@ function decode_entities($text) {
  * @return integer
  *   The length of the string.
  *
+ * @deprecated as of Drupal 8.0.
+ *   Use \Drupal\Component\Utility\String::length() instead.
+ *
  * @see \Drupal\Component\Utility\String::length().
  * @ingroup php_wrappers
  */
@@ -266,6 +284,9 @@ function drupal_strlen($text) {
  * @return string
  *   The string in uppercase.
  *
+ * @deprecated as of Drupal 8.0.
+ *   Use \Drupal\Component\Utility\String::toUpperCase() instead.
+ *
  * @see \Drupal\Component\Utility\String::toUpperCase().
  * @ingroup php_wrappers
  */
@@ -282,6 +303,9 @@ function drupal_strtoupper($text) {
  * @return string
  *   The string in lowercase.
  *
+ * @deprecated as of Drupal 8.0.
+ *   Use \Drupal\Component\Utility\String::toLowerCase() instead.
+ *
  * @see \Drupal\Component\Utility\String::toLowerCase().
  * @ingroup php_wrappers
  */
@@ -298,6 +322,9 @@ function drupal_strtolower($text) {
  * @return
  *   The string with the first letter as uppercase.
  *
+ * @deprecated as of Drupal 8.0.
+ *   Use \Drupal\Component\Utility\String::upperCaseFirst() instead.
+ *
  * @see \Drupal\Component\Utility\String::upperCaseFirst().
  * @ingroup php_wrappers
  */
@@ -318,6 +345,9 @@ function drupal_ucfirst($text) {
  * @return
  *   The shortened string.
  *
+ * @deprecated as of Drupal 8.0.
+ *   Use \Drupal\Component\Utility\String::substract() instead.
+ *
  * @see \Drupal\Component\Utility\String::toUpper().
  * @ingroup php_wrappers
  */
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Component/Utility/String.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Component/Utility/String.php
index 3bfa56d..5b04033 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Component/Utility/String.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Component/Utility/String.php
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ public static function placeholder($text) {
    *   The length of the string.
    */
   public static function length($text) {
-    if (Unicode::$status == Unicode::STATUS_MULTIBYTE) {
+    if (Unicode::getStatus() == Unicode::STATUS_MULTIBYTE) {
       return mb_strlen($text);
     }
     else {
@@ -138,14 +138,14 @@ public static function length($text) {
    *   The string in uppercase.
    */
   public static function toUpperCase($text) {
-    if (Unicode::$status == Unicode::STATUS_MULTIBYTE) {
+    if (Unicode::getStatus() == Unicode::STATUS_MULTIBYTE) {
       return mb_strtoupper($text);
     }
     else {
       // Use C-locale for ASCII-only uppercase
       $text = strtoupper($text);
       // Case flip Latin-1 accented letters
-      $text = preg_replace_callback('/\xC3[\xA0-\xB6\xB8-\xBE]/', array('Unicode', 'caseFlip') , $text);
+      $text = preg_replace_callback('/\xC3[\xA0-\xB6\xB8-\xBE]/', array('\Drupal\Component\Utility\Unicode', 'caseFlip') , $text);
       return $text;
     }
   }
@@ -160,15 +160,14 @@ public static function toUpperCase($text) {
    *   The string in lowercase.
    */
   public static function toLowerCase($text) {
-    global $multibyte;
-    if (Unicode::$status == Unicode::STATUS_MULTIBYTE) {
+    if (Unicode::getStatus() == Unicode::STATUS_MULTIBYTE) {
       return mb_strtolower($text);
     }
     else {
       // Use C-locale for ASCII-only lowercase
       $text = strtolower($text);
       // Case flip Latin-1 accented letters
-      $text = preg_replace_callback('/\xC3[\x80-\x96\x98-\x9E]/', array('Unicode', 'caseFlip'), $text);
+      $text = preg_replace_callback('/\xC3[\x80-\x96\x98-\x9E]/', array('\Drupal\Component\Utility\Unicode', 'caseFlip'), $text);
       return $text;
     }
   }
@@ -204,7 +203,7 @@ public static function upperCaseFirst($text) {
    *   The shortened string.
    */
   public static function substract($text, $start, $length = NULL) {
-    if (Unicode::$status == Unicode::STATUS_MULTIBYTE) {
+    if (Unicode::getStatus() == Unicode::STATUS_MULTIBYTE) {
       return $length === NULL ? mb_substr($text, $start) : mb_substr($text, $start, $length);
     }
     else {
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Component/Utility/Unicode.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Component/Utility/Unicode.php
index e26ab90..5a460b2 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Component/Utility/Unicode.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Component/Utility/Unicode.php
@@ -95,7 +95,29 @@ class Unicode {
    *
    * @var int
    */
-  public static $status = 0;
+  protected static $status = 0;
+
+  /**
+   * Get the current status of unicode/multibyte support on this enviroment.
+   */
+  public static function getStatus() {
+    return static::$status;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Sets the name for multibyte support status for the current enviroment.
+   *
+   * The following header keys are supported:
+   *   - Unicode::STATUS_MULTIBYTE: Standard PHP (emulated) unicode support.
+   *   - Unicode::STATUS_SINGLEBYTE: Full unicode support using an extension.
+   *   - Unicode::STATUS_ERROR: An error occured. No unicode support.
+   *
+   * @param int $status
+   *   The new status of multibyte support.
+   */
+  public static function setStatus($status) {
+    static::$status = $status;
+  }
 
   /**
    * Checks for Unicode support in PHP and sets the proper settings if possible.
@@ -295,6 +317,8 @@ public static function caseFlip(array $matches) {
    *
    * @return string
    *   The mime-decoded string.
+   *
+   * @todo Find a better name for this method.
    */
   public static function _mimeHeaderDecode($matches) {
     // Regexp groups:
diff --git a/core/modules/search/search.module b/core/modules/search/search.module
index 15b8935..6501a85 100644
--- a/core/modules/search/search.module
+++ b/core/modules/search/search.module
@@ -1103,7 +1103,7 @@ function search_data($keys, $module, $conditions = NULL) {
  */
 function search_excerpt($keys, $text, $langcode = NULL) {
   // We highlight around non-indexable or CJK characters.
-  $boundary = '(?:(?<=[' . Unicode::PREG_CLASS_WORD_BOUNDARY . PREG_CLASS_CJK . '])|(?=[' . PREG_CLASS_UNICODE_WORD_BOUNDARY . PREG_CLASS_CJK . ']))';
+  $boundary = '(?:(?<=[' . Unicode::PREG_CLASS_WORD_BOUNDARY . PREG_CLASS_CJK . '])|(?=[' . Unicode::PREG_CLASS_WORD_BOUNDARY . PREG_CLASS_CJK . ']))';
 
   // Extract positive keywords and phrases
   preg_match_all('/ ("([^"]+)"|(?!OR)([^" ]+))/', ' ' . $keys, $matches);
diff --git a/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/System/UnicodeUnitTest.php b/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/System/UnicodeUnitTest.php
index 052694f..a145f03 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/System/UnicodeUnitTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/system/lib/Drupal/system/Tests/System/UnicodeUnitTest.php
@@ -36,11 +36,11 @@ public static function getInfo() {
   function testMbStringUnicode() {
     // mbstring was not detected on this installation, there is no way to test
     // multibyte features. Treat that as an exception.
-    if (Unicode::$status == Unicode::STATUS_SINGLEBYTE) {
+    if (Unicode::getStatus() == Unicode::STATUS_SINGLEBYTE) {
       $this->error(t('Unable to test Multibyte features: mbstring extension was not detected.'));
     }
 
-    $multibyte = Unicode::STATUS_MULTIBYTE;
+    Unicode::setStatus(Unicode::STATUS_MULTIBYTE);
 
     $this->extendedMode = TRUE;
     $this->pass(t('Testing in mbstring mode'));
@@ -57,9 +57,7 @@ function testMbStringUnicode() {
    * Test emulated unicode features.
    */
   function testEmulatedUnicode() {
-    global $multibyte;
-
-    $multibyte = Unicode::STATUS_SINGLEBYTE;
+    Unicode::setStatus(Unicode::STATUS_SINGLEBYTE);
 
     $this->extendedMode = FALSE;
 
diff --git a/core/modules/views/lib/Drupal/views/Plugin/views/HandlerBase.php b/core/modules/views/lib/Drupal/views/Plugin/views/HandlerBase.php
index bb1223d..8adfaff 100644
--- a/core/modules/views/lib/Drupal/views/Plugin/views/HandlerBase.php
+++ b/core/modules/views/lib/Drupal/views/Plugin/views/HandlerBase.php
@@ -243,8 +243,6 @@ public function sanitizeValue($value, $type = NULL) {
    *    The transformed string.
    */
   protected function caseTransform($string, $option) {
-    global $multibyte;
-
     switch ($option) {
       default:
         return $string;
@@ -255,7 +253,7 @@ protected function caseTransform($string, $option) {
       case 'ucfirst':
         return drupal_strtoupper(drupal_substr($string, 0, 1)) . drupal_substr($string, 1);
       case 'ucwords':
-        if ($multibyte == Unicode::STATUS_MULTIBYTE) {
+        if (Unicode::getStatus() == Unicode::STATUS_MULTIBYTE) {
           return mb_convert_case($string, MB_CASE_TITLE);
         }
         else {