diff --git a/base/deprecated.jl b/base/deprecated.jl
index 50f2386804559..7dffd61acc9ba 100644
--- a/base/deprecated.jl
+++ b/base/deprecated.jl
@@ -775,6 +775,9 @@ function transpose(x)
     return x
 end
 
+@deprecate cholfact!(A::Base.LinAlg.HermOrSym, uplo::Symbol, ::Type{Val{false}}) cholfact!(A, Val{false})
+@deprecate cholfact!(A::Base.LinAlg.HermOrSym, uplo::Symbol = :U) cholfact!(A)
+
 # During the 0.5 development cycle, do not add any deprecations below this line
 # To be deprecated in 0.6
 
diff --git a/base/linalg/cholesky.jl b/base/linalg/cholesky.jl
index e961ef09f5a57..ce799f327b782 100644
--- a/base/linalg/cholesky.jl
+++ b/base/linalg/cholesky.jl
@@ -121,8 +121,10 @@ non_hermitian_error(f) = throw(ArgumentError("matrix is not symmetric/" *
 
 # chol!. Destructive methods for computing Cholesky factor of real symmetric or Hermitian
 # matrix
-chol!(A::Hermitian)                                = _chol!(A.data, UpperTriangular)
-chol!{T<:Real,S<:StridedMatrix}(A::Symmetric{T,S}) = _chol!(A.data, UpperTriangular)
+chol!(A::Hermitian) =
+    _chol!(A.uplo == 'U' ? A.data : LinAlg.copytri!(A.data, 'L', true), UpperTriangular)
+chol!{T<:Real,S<:StridedMatrix}(A::Symmetric{T,S}) =
+    _chol!(A.uplo == 'U' ? A.data : LinAlg.copytri!(A.data, 'L', true), UpperTriangular)
 function chol!(A::StridedMatrix)
     ishermitian(A) || non_hermitian_error("chol!")
     return _chol!(A, UpperTriangular)
@@ -135,14 +137,22 @@ end
 function chol(A::Hermitian)
     T = promote_type(typeof(chol(one(eltype(A)))), Float32)
     AA = similar(A, T, size(A))
-    copy!(AA, A.data)
-    chol!(Hermitian(AA))
+    if A.uplo == 'U'
+        copy!(AA, A.data)
+    else
+        Base.ccopy!(AA, A.data)
+    end
+    chol!(Hermitian(AA, :U))
 end
 function chol{T<:Real,S<:AbstractMatrix}(A::Symmetric{T,S})
     TT = promote_type(typeof(chol(one(T))), Float32)
     AA = similar(A, TT, size(A))
-    copy!(AA, A.data)
-    chol!(Hermitian(AA))
+    if A.uplo == 'U'
+        copy!(AA, A.data)
+    else
+        Base.ccopy!(AA, A.data)
+    end
+    chol!(Hermitian(AA, :U))
 end
 
 ## for StridedMatrices, check that matrix is symmetric/Hermitian
@@ -170,15 +180,15 @@ chol(x::Number, args...) = _chol!(x, nothing)
 # cholfact!. Destructive methods for computing Cholesky factorization of real symmetric
 # or Hermitian matrix
 ## No pivoting
-function cholfact!(A::Hermitian, uplo::Symbol, ::Type{Val{false}})
-    if uplo == :U
+function cholfact!(A::Hermitian, ::Type{Val{false}})
+    if A.uplo == :U
         Cholesky(_chol!(A.data, UpperTriangular).data, 'U')
     else
         Cholesky(_chol!(A.data, LowerTriangular).data, 'L')
     end
 end
-function cholfact!{T<:Real,S}(A::Symmetric{T,S}, uplo::Symbol, ::Type{Val{false}})
-    if uplo == :U
+function cholfact!{T<:Real,S}(A::Symmetric{T,S}, ::Type{Val{false}})
+    if A.uplo == :U
         Cholesky(_chol!(A.data, UpperTriangular).data, 'U')
     else
         Cholesky(_chol!(A.data, LowerTriangular).data, 'L')
@@ -187,7 +197,7 @@ end
 
 ### for StridedMatrices, check that matrix is symmetric/Hermitian
 """
-    cholfact!(A, uplo::Symbol, Val{false}) -> Cholesky
+    cholfact!(A, [uplo::Symbol,] Val{false}) -> Cholesky
 
 The same as `cholfact`, but saves space by overwriting the input `A`, instead
 of creating a copy. An `InexactError` exception is thrown if the factorisation
@@ -196,37 +206,36 @@ integer types.
 """
 function cholfact!(A::StridedMatrix, uplo::Symbol, ::Type{Val{false}})
     ishermitian(A) || non_hermitian_error("cholfact!")
-    return cholfact!(Hermitian(A), uplo, Val{false})
+    return cholfact!(Hermitian(A, uplo), Val{false})
 end
 
 ### Default to no pivoting (and storing of upper factor) when not explicit
-cholfact!(A::Hermitian, uplo::Symbol = :U) = cholfact!(A, uplo, Val{false})
-cholfact!{T<:Real,S}(A::Symmetric{T,S}, uplo::Symbol = :U) = cholfact!(A, uplo, Val{false})
+cholfact!(A::Hermitian) = cholfact!(A, Val{false})
+cholfact!{T<:Real,S}(A::Symmetric{T,S}) = cholfact!(A, Val{false})
 #### for StridedMatrices, check that matrix is symmetric/Hermitian
 function cholfact!(A::StridedMatrix, uplo::Symbol = :U)
     ishermitian(A) || non_hermitian_error("cholfact!")
-    return cholfact!(Hermitian(A), uplo)
+    return cholfact!(Hermitian(A, uplo))
 end
 
 
 ## With pivoting
 ### BLAS/LAPACK element types
 function cholfact!{T<:BlasReal,S<:StridedMatrix}(A::RealHermSymComplexHerm{T,S},
-        uplo::Symbol, ::Type{Val{true}}; tol = 0.0)
-    uplochar = char_uplo(uplo)
-    AA, piv, rank, info = LAPACK.pstrf!(uplochar, A.data, tol)
-    return CholeskyPivoted{eltype(AA),typeof(AA)}(AA, uplochar, piv, rank, tol, info)
+        ::Type{Val{true}}; tol = 0.0)
+    AA, piv, rank, info = LAPACK.pstrf!(A.uplo, A.data, tol)
+    return CholeskyPivoted{eltype(AA),typeof(AA)}(AA, A.uplo, piv, rank, tol, info)
 end
 
 ### Non BLAS/LAPACK element types (generic). Since generic fallback for pivoted Cholesky
 ### is not implemented yet we throw an error
-cholfact!{T<:Real,S}(A::RealHermSymComplexHerm{T,S}, uplo::Symbol, ::Type{Val{true}};
+cholfact!{T<:Real,S}(A::RealHermSymComplexHerm{T,S}, ::Type{Val{true}};
     tol = 0.0) =
         throw(ArgumentError("generic pivoted Cholesky factorization is not implemented yet"))
 
 ### for StridedMatrices, check that matrix is symmetric/Hermitian
 """
-    cholfact!(A, uplo::Symbol, Val{true}; tol = 0.0) -> CholeskyPivoted
+    cholfact!(A, [uplo::Symbol,] Val{true}; tol = 0.0) -> CholeskyPivoted
 
 The same as `cholfact`, but saves space by overwriting the input `A`, instead
 of creating a copy. An `InexactError` exception is thrown if the
@@ -235,26 +244,25 @@ e.g. for integer types.
 """
 function cholfact!(A::StridedMatrix, uplo::Symbol, ::Type{Val{true}}; tol = 0.0)
     ishermitian(A) || non_hermitian_error("cholfact!")
-    return cholfact!(Hermitian(A), uplo, Val{true}; tol = tol)
+    return cholfact!(Hermitian(A, uplo), Val{true}; tol = tol)
 end
 
-
-
 # cholfact. Non-destructive methods for computing Cholesky factorization of real symmetric
 # or Hermitian matrix
 ## No pivoting
-cholfact(A::Hermitian, uplo::Symbol, ::Type{Val{false}}) =
-    cholfact!(copy_oftype(A, promote_type(typeof(chol(one(eltype(A)))),Float32)), uplo, Val{false})
-cholfact{T<:Real,S<:StridedMatrix}(A::Symmetric{T,S}, uplo::Symbol, ::Type{Val{false}}) =
-    cholfact!(copy_oftype(A, promote_type(typeof(chol(one(eltype(A)))),Float32)), uplo, Val{false})
+cholfact(A::Hermitian, ::Type{Val{false}}) =
+    cholfact!(copy_oftype(A, promote_type(typeof(chol(one(eltype(A)))),Float32)), Val{false})
+cholfact{T<:Real,S<:StridedMatrix}(A::Symmetric{T,S}, ::Type{Val{false}}) =
+    cholfact!(copy_oftype(A, promote_type(typeof(chol(one(eltype(A)))),Float32)), Val{false})
 
 ### for StridedMatrices, check that matrix is symmetric/Hermitian
 """
-    cholfact(A, uplo::Symbol, Val{false}) -> Cholesky
+    cholfact(A, [uplo::Symbol,] Val{false}) -> Cholesky
 
 Compute the Cholesky factorization of a dense symmetric positive definite matrix `A`
-and return a `Cholesky` factorization.
-The `uplo` argument may be `:L` for using the lower part or `:U` for the upper part of `A`.
+and return a `Cholesky` factorization. The matrix `A` can either be a `Symmetric` or `Hermitian`
+`StridedMatrix` or a *perfectly* symmetric or Hermitian `StridedMatrix`. In the latter case,
+the optional argument `uplo` may be `:L` for using the lower part or `:U` for the upper part of `A`.
 The default is to use `:U`.
 The triangular Cholesky factor can be obtained from the factorization `F` with: `F[:L]` and `F[:U]`.
 The following functions are available for `Cholesky` objects: `size`, `\\`, `inv`, `det`.
@@ -262,36 +270,35 @@ A `PosDefException` exception is thrown in case the matrix is not positive defin
 """
 function cholfact(A::StridedMatrix, uplo::Symbol, ::Type{Val{false}})
     ishermitian(A) || non_hermitian_error("cholfact")
-    return cholfact(Hermitian(A), uplo, Val{false})
+    return cholfact(Hermitian(A, uplo), Val{false})
 end
 
 ### Default to no pivoting (and storing of upper factor) when not explicit
-cholfact(A::Hermitian, uplo::Symbol = :U) = cholfact(A, uplo, Val{false})
-cholfact{T<:Real,S<:StridedMatrix}(A::Symmetric{T,S}, uplo::Symbol = :U) =
-    cholfact(A, uplo, Val{false})
+cholfact(A::Hermitian) = cholfact(A, Val{false})
+cholfact{T<:Real,S<:StridedMatrix}(A::Symmetric{T,S}) = cholfact(A, Val{false})
 #### for StridedMatrices, check that matrix is symmetric/Hermitian
 function cholfact(A::StridedMatrix, uplo::Symbol = :U)
     ishermitian(A) || non_hermitian_error("cholfact")
-    return cholfact(Hermitian(A), uplo)
+    return cholfact(Hermitian(A, uplo))
 end
 
 
 ## With pivoting
-cholfact(A::Hermitian, uplo::Symbol, ::Type{Val{true}}; tol = 0.0) =
+cholfact(A::Hermitian, ::Type{Val{true}}; tol = 0.0) =
         cholfact!(copy_oftype(A, promote_type(typeof(chol(one(eltype(A)))),Float32)),
-            uplo, Val{true}; tol = tol)
-cholfact{T<:Real,S<:StridedMatrix}(A::RealHermSymComplexHerm{T,S}, uplo::Symbol,
-    ::Type{Val{true}}; tol = 0.0) =
+            Val{true}; tol = tol)
+cholfact{T<:Real,S<:StridedMatrix}(A::RealHermSymComplexHerm{T,S}, ::Type{Val{true}}; tol = 0.0) =
         cholfact!(copy_oftype(A, promote_type(typeof(chol(one(eltype(A)))),Float32)),
-            uplo, Val{true}; tol = tol)
+            Val{true}; tol = tol)
 
 ### for StridedMatrices, check that matrix is symmetric/Hermitian
 """
-    cholfact(A, uplo::Symbol, Val{true}; tol = 0.0) -> CholeskyPivoted
+    cholfact(A, [uplo::Symbol,] Val{true}; tol = 0.0) -> CholeskyPivoted
 
 Compute the pivoted Cholesky factorization of a dense symmetric positive semi-definite matrix `A`
-and return a `CholeskyPivoted` factorization.
-The `uplo` argument may be `:L` for using the lower part or `:U` for the upper part of `A`.
+and return a `CholeskyPivoted` factorization. The matrix `A` can either be a `Symmetric` or `Hermitian`
+`StridedMatrix` or a *perfectly* symmetric or Hermitian `StridedMatrix`. In the latter case,
+the optional argument `uplo` may be `:L` for using the lower part or `:U` for the upper part of `A`.
 The default is to use `:U`.
 The triangular Cholesky factor can be obtained from the factorization `F` with: `F[:L]` and `F[:U]`.
 The following functions are available for `PivotedCholesky` objects: `size`, `\\`, `inv`, `det`, and `rank`.
@@ -300,7 +307,7 @@ For negative values, the tolerance is the machine precision.
 """
 function cholfact(A::StridedMatrix, uplo::Symbol, ::Type{Val{true}}; tol = 0.0)
     ishermitian(A) || non_hermitian_error("cholfact")
-    return cholfact(Hermitian(A), uplo, Val{true}; tol = tol)
+    return cholfact(Hermitian(A, uplo), Val{true}; tol = tol)
 end
 
 ## Number
diff --git a/doc/stdlib/linalg.rst b/doc/stdlib/linalg.rst
index 2bd41341c74fb..349869b5a5214 100644
--- a/doc/stdlib/linalg.rst
+++ b/doc/stdlib/linalg.rst
@@ -308,17 +308,17 @@ Linear algebra functions in Julia are largely implemented by calling functions f
 
    Compute the square root of a non-negative number ``x``\ .
 
-.. function:: cholfact(A, uplo::Symbol, Val{false}) -> Cholesky
+.. function:: cholfact(A, [uplo::Symbol,] Val{false}) -> Cholesky
 
    .. Docstring generated from Julia source
 
-   Compute the Cholesky factorization of a dense symmetric positive definite matrix ``A`` and return a ``Cholesky`` factorization. The ``uplo`` argument may be ``:L`` for using the lower part or ``:U`` for the upper part of ``A``\ . The default is to use ``:U``\ . The triangular Cholesky factor can be obtained from the factorization ``F`` with: ``F[:L]`` and ``F[:U]``\ . The following functions are available for ``Cholesky`` objects: ``size``\ , ``\``\ , ``inv``\ , ``det``\ . A ``PosDefException`` exception is thrown in case the matrix is not positive definite.
+   Compute the Cholesky factorization of a dense symmetric positive definite matrix ``A`` and return a ``Cholesky`` factorization. The matrix ``A`` can either be a ``Symmetric`` or ``Hermitian`` ``StridedMatrix`` or a *perfectly* symmetric or Hermitian ``StridedMatrix``\ . In the latter case, the optional argument ``uplo`` may be ``:L`` for using the lower part or ``:U`` for the upper part of ``A``\ . The default is to use ``:U``\ . The triangular Cholesky factor can be obtained from the factorization ``F`` with: ``F[:L]`` and ``F[:U]``\ . The following functions are available for ``Cholesky`` objects: ``size``\ , ``\``\ , ``inv``\ , ``det``\ . A ``PosDefException`` exception is thrown in case the matrix is not positive definite.
 
-.. function:: cholfact(A, uplo::Symbol, Val{true}; tol = 0.0) -> CholeskyPivoted
+.. function:: cholfact(A, [uplo::Symbol,] Val{true}; tol = 0.0) -> CholeskyPivoted
 
    .. Docstring generated from Julia source
 
-   Compute the pivoted Cholesky factorization of a dense symmetric positive semi-definite matrix ``A`` and return a ``CholeskyPivoted`` factorization. The ``uplo`` argument may be ``:L`` for using the lower part or ``:U`` for the upper part of ``A``\ . The default is to use ``:U``\ . The triangular Cholesky factor can be obtained from the factorization ``F`` with: ``F[:L]`` and ``F[:U]``\ . The following functions are available for ``PivotedCholesky`` objects: ``size``\ , ``\``\ , ``inv``\ , ``det``\ , and ``rank``\ . The argument ``tol`` determines the tolerance for determining the rank. For negative values, the tolerance is the machine precision.
+   Compute the pivoted Cholesky factorization of a dense symmetric positive semi-definite matrix ``A`` and return a ``CholeskyPivoted`` factorization. The matrix ``A`` can either be a ``Symmetric`` or ``Hermitian`` ``StridedMatrix`` or a *perfectly* symmetric or Hermitian ``StridedMatrix``\ . In the latter case, the optional argument ``uplo`` may be ``:L`` for using the lower part or ``:U`` for the upper part of ``A``\ . The default is to use ``:U``\ . The triangular Cholesky factor can be obtained from the factorization ``F`` with: ``F[:L]`` and ``F[:U]``\ . The following functions are available for ``PivotedCholesky`` objects: ``size``\ , ``\``\ , ``inv``\ , ``det``\ , and ``rank``\ . The argument ``tol`` determines the tolerance for determining the rank. For negative values, the tolerance is the machine precision.
 
 .. function:: cholfact(A; shift = 0.0, perm = Int[]) -> CHOLMOD.Factor
 
@@ -344,13 +344,13 @@ Linear algebra functions in Julia are largely implemented by calling functions f
       This method uses the CHOLMOD library from SuiteSparse, which only supports doubles or complex doubles. Input matrices not of those element types will be converted to ``SparseMatrixCSC{Float64}`` or ``SparseMatrixCSC{Complex128}`` as appropriate.
 
 
-.. function:: cholfact!(A, uplo::Symbol, Val{false}) -> Cholesky
+.. function:: cholfact!(A, [uplo::Symbol,] Val{false}) -> Cholesky
 
    .. Docstring generated from Julia source
 
    The same as ``cholfact``\ , but saves space by overwriting the input ``A``\ , instead of creating a copy. An ``InexactError`` exception is thrown if the factorisation produces a number not representable by the element type of ``A``\ , e.g. for integer types.
 
-.. function:: cholfact!(A, uplo::Symbol, Val{true}; tol = 0.0) -> CholeskyPivoted
+.. function:: cholfact!(A, [uplo::Symbol,] Val{true}; tol = 0.0) -> CholeskyPivoted
 
    .. Docstring generated from Julia source
 
diff --git a/test/linalg/cholesky.jl b/test/linalg/cholesky.jl
index 00e4696b4f12b..bb0657c799838 100644
--- a/test/linalg/cholesky.jl
+++ b/test/linalg/cholesky.jl
@@ -74,15 +74,15 @@ for eltya in (Float32, Float64, Complex64, Complex128, BigFloat, Int)
     @test full(lapd) ≈ apd
     l = lapd[:L]
     @test l*l' ≈ apd
-    @test triu(capd.factors) ≈ lapd[:U]
-    @test tril(lapd.factors) ≈ capd[:L]
+    @test capd[:U] ≈ lapd[:U]
+    @test lapd[:L] ≈ capd[:L]
     if eltya <: Real
         capds = cholfact(apds)
-        lapds = cholfact(apds, :L)
+        lapds = cholfact(full(apds), :L)
         ls = lapds[:L]
         @test ls*ls' ≈ apd
-        @test triu(capds.factors) ≈ lapds[:U]
-        @test tril(lapds.factors) ≈ capds[:L]
+        @test capds[:U] ≈ lapds[:U]
+        @test lapds[:L] ≈ capds[:L]
     end
 
     #pivoted upper Cholesky