diff --git a/alsactl/init_parse.c b/alsactl/init_parse.c
index a34cb0e3f..196204afa 100644
--- a/alsactl/init_parse.c
+++ b/alsactl/init_parse.c
@@ -692,7 +692,7 @@ static const char *elemid_get(struct space *space, const char *attr)
 		int err, index = 0;
 		snd_hctl_elem_t *elem;
 		snd_ctl_elem_id_t *id;
-		char *pos = strchr(attr, ' ');
+		const char *pos = strchr(attr, ' ');
 		if (pos)
 			index = strtol(pos, NULL, 0);
 		err = snd_ctl_elem_id_malloc(&id);
@@ -1281,7 +1281,7 @@ static char *new_root_dir(const char *filename)
 /* return non-zero if the file name has the extension ".conf" */
 static int conf_name_filter(const struct dirent *d)
 {
-	char *ext = strrchr(d->d_name, '.');
+	const char *ext = strrchr(d->d_name, '.');
 	return ext && !strcmp(ext, ".conf");
 }
 
diff --git a/aplay/aplay.c b/aplay/aplay.c
index 63a5214d5..ac4349883 100644
--- a/aplay/aplay.c
+++ b/aplay/aplay.c
@@ -3209,7 +3209,7 @@ static int new_capture_file(char *name, char *namebuf, size_t namelen,
  */
 int create_path(const char *path)
 {
-	char *start;
+	const char *start;
 	mode_t mode = S_IRWXU | S_IRGRP | S_IXGRP | S_IROTH | S_IXOTH;
 
 	if (path[0] == '/')
diff --git a/topology/pre-process-dapm.c b/topology/pre-process-dapm.c
index 78944a6d9..985bef711 100644
--- a/topology/pre-process-dapm.c
+++ b/topology/pre-process-dapm.c
@@ -168,7 +168,8 @@ static int tplg_pp_get_widget_name(struct tplg_pre_processor *tplg_pp,
 {
 	snd_config_iterator_t i, next;
 	snd_config_t *temp_cfg, *child, *class_cfg, *n;
-	char *class_name, *args, *widget_name;
+	const char *args;
+	char *class_name, *widget_name;
 	int ret;
 
 	/* get class name */
@@ -221,8 +222,8 @@ static int tplg_pp_get_widget_name(struct tplg_pre_processor *tplg_pp,
 
 	/* construct widget name using the constructor argument values */
 	snd_config_for_each(i, next, temp_cfg) {
-		const char *id;
-		char *arg, *remaining, *temp;
+		const char *id, *remaining;
+		char *arg, *temp;
 
 		n = snd_config_iterator_entry(i);
 		if (snd_config_get_string(n, &id) < 0)
diff --git a/topology/pre-process-object.c b/topology/pre-process-object.c
index de088a60f..d7649077f 100644
--- a/topology/pre-process-object.c
+++ b/topology/pre-process-object.c
@@ -542,8 +542,8 @@ static int tplg_pp_add_object_tuple_section(struct tplg_pre_processor *tplg_pp,
 					    const char *token_ref, const char *array_name)
 {
 	snd_config_t *top, *tuple_cfg, *child, *cfg, *new;
-	const char *id;
-	char *token, *type, *str;
+	const char *id, *type;
+	char *token, *str;
 	long tuple_value;
 	int ret;