diff --git a/talk/app/webrtc/statstypes.h b/talk/app/webrtc/statstypes.h
index 8eae1ad63b..656b83c3e6 100644
--- a/talk/app/webrtc/statstypes.h
+++ b/talk/app/webrtc/statstypes.h
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 #include <vector>
 
 #include "webrtc/base/basictypes.h"
+#include "webrtc/base/common.h"
 #include "webrtc/base/stringencode.h"
 
 namespace webrtc {
diff --git a/webrtc/base/BUILD.gn b/webrtc/base/BUILD.gn
index 4e14ab1c75..17cd3afee0 100644
--- a/webrtc/base/BUILD.gn
+++ b/webrtc/base/BUILD.gn
@@ -110,11 +110,35 @@ if (rtc_build_ssl == 0) {
   }
 }
 
+# The subset of rtc_base approved for use outside of libjingle.
+static_library("rtc_base_approved") {
+  configs += [ "..:common_config" ]
+  direct_dependent_configs = [ "..:common_inherited_config" ]
+
+  sources = [
+    "checks.cc",
+    "checks.h",
+    "exp_filter.cc",
+    "exp_filter.h",
+    "md5.cc",
+    "md5.h",
+    "md5digest.h",
+    "stringencode.cc",
+    "stringencode.h",
+    "stringutils.cc",
+    "stringutils.h",
+    "timeutils.cc",
+    "timeutils.h",
+  ]
+}
+
 static_library("webrtc_base") {
   cflags = []
   cflags_cc = []
   libs = []
-  deps= []
+  deps = [
+    ":rtc_base_approved",
+  ]
 
   configs += [
     "..:common_config",
diff --git a/webrtc/base/base.gyp b/webrtc/base/base.gyp
index 58c4994589..f5fad01f25 100644
--- a/webrtc/base/base.gyp
+++ b/webrtc/base/base.gyp
@@ -34,9 +34,32 @@
         'rtc_base',
       ],
     },
+    {
+      # The subset of rtc_base approved for use outside of libjingle.
+      'target_name': 'rtc_base_approved',
+      'type': 'static_library',
+      'sources': [
+        'checks.cc',
+        'checks.h',
+        'exp_filter.cc',
+        'exp_filter.h',
+        'md5.cc',
+        'md5.h',
+        'md5digest.h',
+        'stringencode.cc',
+        'stringencode.h',
+        'stringutils.cc',
+        'stringutils.h',
+        'timeutils.cc',
+        'timeutils.h',
+      ],
+    },
     {
       'target_name': 'rtc_base',
       'type': 'static_library',
+      'dependencies': [
+        'rtc_base_approved',
+      ],
       'defines': [
         'FEATURE_ENABLE_SSL',
         'LOGGING=1',
@@ -75,11 +98,9 @@
         'byteorder.h',
         'callback.h',
         'callback.h.pump',
-        'checks.cc',
-        'checks.h',
+        'constructormagic.h',
         'common.cc',
         'common.h',
-        'constructormagic.h',
         'cpumonitor.cc',
         'cpumonitor.h',
         'crc32.cc',
@@ -94,8 +115,6 @@
         'diskcache_win32.h',
         'event.cc',
         'event.h',
-        'exp_filter.cc',
-        'exp_filter.h',
         'filelock.cc',
         'filelock.h',
         'fileutils.cc',
@@ -154,9 +173,6 @@
         'macwindowpicker.cc',
         'macwindowpicker.h',
         'mathutils.h',
-        'md5.cc',
-        'md5.h',
-        'md5digest.h',
         'messagedigest.cc',
         'messagedigest.h',
         'messagehandler.cc',
@@ -261,10 +277,6 @@
         'stream.cc',
         'stream.h',
         'stringdigest.h',
-        'stringencode.cc',
-        'stringencode.h',
-        'stringutils.cc',
-        'stringutils.h',
         'systeminfo.cc',
         'systeminfo.h',
         'task.cc',
@@ -280,8 +292,6 @@
         'thread_checker.h',
         'thread_checker_impl.cc',
         'thread_checker_impl.h',
-        'timeutils.cc',
-        'timeutils.h',
         'timing.cc',
         'timing.h',
         'transformadapter.cc',
diff --git a/webrtc/base/stringencode.cc b/webrtc/base/stringencode.cc
index 1e0a1493cd..52b75da705 100644
--- a/webrtc/base/stringencode.cc
+++ b/webrtc/base/stringencode.cc
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 
 #include "webrtc/base/basictypes.h"
-#include "webrtc/base/common.h"
+#include "webrtc/base/checks.h"
 #include "webrtc/base/stringutils.h"
 
 namespace rtc {
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ namespace rtc {
 size_t escape(char * buffer, size_t buflen,
               const char * source, size_t srclen,
               const char * illegal, char escape) {
-  ASSERT(NULL != buffer);  // TODO: estimate output size
+  DCHECK(buffer);  // TODO: estimate output size
   if (buflen <= 0)
     return 0;
 
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ size_t escape(char * buffer, size_t buflen,
 size_t unescape(char * buffer, size_t buflen,
                 const char * source, size_t srclen,
                 char escape) {
-  ASSERT(NULL != buffer);  // TODO: estimate output size
+  DCHECK(buffer);  // TODO: estimate output size
   if (buflen <= 0)
     return 0;
 
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ size_t unescape(char * buffer, size_t buflen,
 size_t encode(char * buffer, size_t buflen,
               const char * source, size_t srclen,
               const char * illegal, char escape) {
-  ASSERT(NULL != buffer);  // TODO: estimate output size
+  DCHECK(buffer);  // TODO: estimate output size
   if (buflen <= 0)
     return 0;
 
@@ -118,9 +118,9 @@ const char* unsafe_filename_characters() {
   // all operating systems, unless one system is overly restrictive.
 #if defined(WEBRTC_WIN)
   return "\\/:*?\"<>|";
-#else  // !WEBRTC_WIN 
+#else  // !WEBRTC_WIN
   // TODO
-  ASSERT(false);
+  DCHECK(false);
   return "";
 #endif  // !WEBRTC_WIN
 }
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ size_t utf8_encode(char* buffer, size_t buflen, unsigned long value) {
 
 size_t html_encode(char * buffer, size_t buflen,
                    const char * source, size_t srclen) {
-  ASSERT(NULL != buffer);  // TODO: estimate output size
+  DCHECK(buffer);  // TODO: estimate output size
   if (buflen <= 0)
     return 0;
 
@@ -275,7 +275,7 @@ size_t html_encode(char * buffer, size_t buflen,
           case '\'': escseq = "&#39;";  esclen = 5; break;
           case '\"': escseq = "&quot;"; esclen = 6; break;
           case '&':  escseq = "&amp;";  esclen = 5; break;
-          default: ASSERT(false);
+          default: DCHECK(false);
         }
         if (bufpos + esclen >= buflen) {
           break;
@@ -287,7 +287,8 @@ size_t html_encode(char * buffer, size_t buflen,
       }
     } else {
       // Largest value is 0x1FFFFF => &#2097151;  (10 characters)
-      char escseq[11];
+      const size_t kEscseqSize = 11;
+      char escseq[kEscseqSize];
       unsigned long val;
       if (size_t vallen = utf8_decode(&source[srcpos], srclen - srcpos, &val)) {
         srcpos += vallen;
@@ -295,7 +296,7 @@ size_t html_encode(char * buffer, size_t buflen,
         // Not a valid utf8 sequence, just use the raw character.
         val = static_cast<unsigned char>(source[srcpos++]);
       }
-      size_t esclen = sprintfn(escseq, ARRAY_SIZE(escseq), "&#%lu;", val);
+      size_t esclen = sprintfn(escseq, kEscseqSize, "&#%lu;", val);
       if (bufpos + esclen >= buflen) {
         break;
       }
@@ -309,13 +310,13 @@ size_t html_encode(char * buffer, size_t buflen,
 
 size_t html_decode(char * buffer, size_t buflen,
                    const char * source, size_t srclen) {
-  ASSERT(NULL != buffer);  // TODO: estimate output size
+  DCHECK(buffer);  // TODO: estimate output size
   return xml_decode(buffer, buflen, source, srclen);
 }
 
 size_t xml_encode(char * buffer, size_t buflen,
                   const char * source, size_t srclen) {
-  ASSERT(NULL != buffer);  // TODO: estimate output size
+  DCHECK(buffer);  // TODO: estimate output size
   if (buflen <= 0)
     return 0;
 
@@ -331,7 +332,7 @@ size_t xml_encode(char * buffer, size_t buflen,
         case '\'': escseq = "&apos;"; esclen = 6; break;
         case '\"': escseq = "&quot;"; esclen = 6; break;
         case '&':  escseq = "&amp;";  esclen = 5; break;
-        default: ASSERT(false);
+        default: DCHECK(false);
       }
       if (bufpos + esclen >= buflen) {
         break;
@@ -348,7 +349,7 @@ size_t xml_encode(char * buffer, size_t buflen,
 
 size_t xml_decode(char * buffer, size_t buflen,
                   const char * source, size_t srclen) {
-  ASSERT(NULL != buffer);  // TODO: estimate output size
+  DCHECK(buffer);  // TODO: estimate output size
   if (buflen <= 0)
     return 0;
 
@@ -410,7 +411,7 @@ size_t xml_decode(char * buffer, size_t buflen,
 static const char HEX[] = "0123456789abcdef";
 
 char hex_encode(unsigned char val) {
-  ASSERT(val < 16);
+  DCHECK_LT(val, 16);
   return (val < 16) ? HEX[val] : '!';
 }
 
@@ -435,7 +436,7 @@ size_t hex_encode(char* buffer, size_t buflen,
 size_t hex_encode_with_delimiter(char* buffer, size_t buflen,
                                  const char* csource, size_t srclen,
                                  char delimiter) {
-  ASSERT(NULL != buffer);  // TODO: estimate output size
+  DCHECK(buffer);  // TODO: estimate output size
   if (buflen == 0)
     return 0;
 
@@ -475,7 +476,7 @@ std::string hex_encode_with_delimiter(const char* source, size_t srclen,
   char* buffer = STACK_ARRAY(char, kBufferSize);
   size_t length = hex_encode_with_delimiter(buffer, kBufferSize,
                                             source, srclen, delimiter);
-  ASSERT(srclen == 0 || length > 0);
+  DCHECK(srclen == 0 || length > 0);
   return std::string(buffer, length);
 }
 
@@ -487,7 +488,7 @@ size_t hex_decode(char * cbuffer, size_t buflen,
 size_t hex_decode_with_delimiter(char* cbuffer, size_t buflen,
                                  const char* source, size_t srclen,
                                  char delimiter) {
-  ASSERT(NULL != cbuffer);  // TODO: estimate output size
+  DCHECK(cbuffer);  // TODO: estimate output size
   if (buflen == 0)
     return 0;
 
@@ -551,7 +552,7 @@ std::string s_transform(const std::string& source, Transform t) {
 
 size_t tokenize(const std::string& source, char delimiter,
                 std::vector<std::string>* fields) {
-  ASSERT(NULL != fields);
+  DCHECK(fields);
   fields->clear();
   size_t last = 0;
   for (size_t i = 0; i < source.length(); ++i) {
@@ -608,7 +609,7 @@ size_t tokenize(const std::string& source, char delimiter, char start_mark,
 
 size_t split(const std::string& source, char delimiter,
              std::vector<std::string>* fields) {
-  ASSERT(NULL != fields);
+  DCHECK(fields);
   fields->clear();
   size_t last = 0;
   for (size_t i = 0; i < source.length(); ++i) {
diff --git a/webrtc/base/stringencode.h b/webrtc/base/stringencode.h
index b6c666f98a..2e69a9c021 100644
--- a/webrtc/base/stringencode.h
+++ b/webrtc/base/stringencode.h
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 #include <sstream>
 #include <vector>
 
-#include "webrtc/base/common.h"
+#include "webrtc/base/checks.h"
 
 namespace rtc {
 
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ size_t tokenize(const std::string& source, char delimiter, char start_mark,
 
 template <class T>
 static bool ToString(const T &t, std::string* s) {
-  ASSERT(NULL != s);
+  DCHECK(s);
   std::ostringstream oss;
   oss << std::boolalpha << t;
   *s = oss.str();
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ static bool ToString(const T &t, std::string* s) {
 
 template <class T>
 static bool FromString(const std::string& s, T* t) {
-  ASSERT(NULL != t);
+  DCHECK(t);
   std::istringstream iss(s);
   iss >> std::boolalpha >> *t;
   return !iss.fail();
diff --git a/webrtc/base/stringutils.cc b/webrtc/base/stringutils.cc
index 041708d3d5..cb99c25489 100644
--- a/webrtc/base/stringutils.cc
+++ b/webrtc/base/stringutils.cc
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@
  *  be found in the AUTHORS file in the root of the source tree.
  */
 
+#include "webrtc/base/checks.h"
 #include "webrtc/base/stringutils.h"
-#include "webrtc/base/common.h"
 
 namespace rtc {
 
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ int ascii_string_compare(const wchar_t* s1, const char* s2, size_t n,
     if (n-- == 0) return 0;
     c1 = transformation(*s1);
     // Double check that characters are not UTF-8
-    ASSERT(static_cast<unsigned char>(*s2) < 128);
+    DCHECK_LT(static_cast<unsigned char>(*s2), 128);
     // Note: *s2 gets implicitly promoted to wchar_t
     c2 = transformation(*s2);
     if (c1 != c2) return (c1 < c2) ? -1 : 1;
@@ -80,14 +80,14 @@ size_t asccpyn(wchar_t* buffer, size_t buflen,
 #if _DEBUG
   // Double check that characters are not UTF-8
   for (size_t pos = 0; pos < srclen; ++pos)
-    ASSERT(static_cast<unsigned char>(source[pos]) < 128);
+    DCHECK_LT(static_cast<unsigned char>(source[pos]), 128);
 #endif  // _DEBUG
   std::copy(source, source + srclen, buffer);
   buffer[srclen] = 0;
   return srclen;
 }
 
-#endif  // WEBRTC_WIN 
+#endif  // WEBRTC_WIN
 
 void replace_substrs(const char *search,
                      size_t search_len,
diff --git a/webrtc/base/timeutils.cc b/webrtc/base/timeutils.cc
index dcf83e3dd9..64dae2f975 100644
--- a/webrtc/base/timeutils.cc
+++ b/webrtc/base/timeutils.cc
@@ -18,12 +18,14 @@
 #endif
 
 #if defined(WEBRTC_WIN)
+#ifndef WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN
 #define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN
+#endif
 #include <windows.h>
 #include <mmsystem.h>
 #endif
 
-#include "webrtc/base/common.h"
+#include "webrtc/base/checks.h"
 #include "webrtc/base/timeutils.h"
 
 #define EFFICIENT_IMPLEMENTATION 1
@@ -39,7 +41,9 @@ uint64 TimeNanos() {
   if (timebase.denom == 0) {
     // Get the timebase if this is the first time we run.
     // Recommended by Apple's QA1398.
-    VERIFY(KERN_SUCCESS == mach_timebase_info(&timebase));
+    if (mach_timebase_info(&timebase) != KERN_SUCCESS) {
+      DCHECK(false);
+    }
   }
   // Use timebase to convert absolute time tick units into nanoseconds.
   ticks = mach_absolute_time() * timebase.numer / timebase.denom;
@@ -118,7 +122,7 @@ static struct tm *gmtime_r(const time_t *timep, struct tm *result) {
   *result = *tm;
   return result;
 }
-#endif  // WEBRTC_WIN 
+#endif  // WEBRTC_WIN
 
 void CurrentTmTime(struct tm *tm, int *microseconds) {
   struct timeval timeval;
@@ -132,8 +136,8 @@ void CurrentTmTime(struct tm *tm, int *microseconds) {
 }
 
 uint32 TimeAfter(int32 elapsed) {
-  ASSERT(elapsed >= 0);
-  ASSERT(static_cast<uint32>(elapsed) < HALF);
+  DCHECK_GE(elapsed, 0);
+  DCHECK_LT(static_cast<uint32>(elapsed), HALF);
   return Time() + elapsed;
 }
 
diff --git a/webrtc/base/window.h b/webrtc/base/window.h
index d961026524..9f4381a610 100644
--- a/webrtc/base/window.h
+++ b/webrtc/base/window.h
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 #ifndef WEBRTC_BASE_WINDOW_H_
 #define WEBRTC_BASE_WINDOW_H_
 
+#include "webrtc/base/basictypes.h"
 #include "webrtc/base/stringencode.h"
 
 // Define platform specific window types.
diff --git a/webrtc/modules/desktop_capture/BUILD.gn b/webrtc/modules/desktop_capture/BUILD.gn
index f42ceecd68..10219b57ab 100644
--- a/webrtc/modules/desktop_capture/BUILD.gn
+++ b/webrtc/modules/desktop_capture/BUILD.gn
@@ -113,7 +113,10 @@ source_set("desktop_capture") {
     configs -= [ "//build/config/clang:find_bad_constructs" ]
   }
 
-  deps = ["../../system_wrappers"]
+  deps = [
+    "../../system_wrappers",
+    "../../base:webrtc_base",
+  ]
 
   if (use_desktop_capture_differ_sse2) {
     deps += [":desktop_capture_differ_sse2"]
diff --git a/webrtc/modules/desktop_capture/desktop_capture.gypi b/webrtc/modules/desktop_capture/desktop_capture.gypi
index a0195d664e..df6c4bcf59 100644
--- a/webrtc/modules/desktop_capture/desktop_capture.gypi
+++ b/webrtc/modules/desktop_capture/desktop_capture.gypi
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
       'type': 'static_library',
       'dependencies': [
         '<(webrtc_root)/system_wrappers/source/system_wrappers.gyp:system_wrappers',
+        '<(webrtc_root)/base/base.gyp:rtc_base',
       ],
       'sources': [
         "desktop_and_cursor_composer.cc",
diff --git a/webrtc/modules/video_capture/video_capture.gypi b/webrtc/modules/video_capture/video_capture.gypi
index 5bdb158b61..3e83ab3f7e 100644
--- a/webrtc/modules/video_capture/video_capture.gypi
+++ b/webrtc/modules/video_capture/video_capture.gypi
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@
               'link_settings': {
                 'xcode_settings': {
                   'OTHER_LDFLAGS': [
+                    '-framework Cocoa',
                     '-framework CoreVideo',
                     '-framework QTKit',
                   ],
diff --git a/webrtc/system_wrappers/BUILD.gn b/webrtc/system_wrappers/BUILD.gn
index 67c47545a4..76a0f34073 100644
--- a/webrtc/system_wrappers/BUILD.gn
+++ b/webrtc/system_wrappers/BUILD.gn
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ static_library("system_wrappers") {
   ]
 
   deps += [
-    "../base:webrtc_base",
+    "../base:rtc_base_approved",
   ]
 }
 
diff --git a/webrtc/system_wrappers/source/system_wrappers.gyp b/webrtc/system_wrappers/source/system_wrappers.gyp
index 610f6b0879..82addeb5ee 100644
--- a/webrtc/system_wrappers/source/system_wrappers.gyp
+++ b/webrtc/system_wrappers/source/system_wrappers.gyp
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
         '../interface',
       ],
       'dependencies': [
-        '../../base/base.gyp:rtc_base',
+        '../../base/base.gyp:rtc_base_approved',
       ],
       'direct_dependent_settings': {
         'include_dirs': [