diff --git a/lucene/codecs/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/simpletext/SimpleTextSimpleDocValuesFormat.java b/lucene/codecs/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/simpletext/SimpleTextSimpleDocValuesFormat.java
index 12ac42804a8..45b5fbbafd0 100644
--- a/lucene/codecs/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/simpletext/SimpleTextSimpleDocValuesFormat.java
+++ b/lucene/codecs/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/simpletext/SimpleTextSimpleDocValuesFormat.java
@@ -272,6 +272,11 @@ public class SimpleTextSimpleDocValuesFormat extends SimpleDocValuesFormat {
       SimpleTextUtil.write(data, Integer.toString(valueCount), scratch);
       SimpleTextUtil.writeNewline(data);
       
+      // write fixedlength
+      SimpleTextUtil.write(data, FIXEDLENGTH);
+      SimpleTextUtil.write(data, Boolean.toString(fixedLength), scratch);
+      SimpleTextUtil.writeNewline(data);
+      
       // write maxLength
       SimpleTextUtil.write(data, MAXLENGTH);
       SimpleTextUtil.write(data, Integer.toString(maxLength), scratch);
@@ -438,6 +443,9 @@ public class SimpleTextSimpleDocValuesFormat extends SimpleDocValuesFormat {
           assert startsWith(NUMVALUES);
           field.numValues = Integer.parseInt(stripPrefix(NUMVALUES));
           readLine();
+          assert startsWith(FIXEDLENGTH);
+          field.fixedLength = Boolean.parseBoolean(stripPrefix(FIXEDLENGTH));
+          readLine();
           assert startsWith(MAXLENGTH);
           field.maxLength = Integer.parseInt(stripPrefix(MAXLENGTH));
           readLine();
@@ -613,6 +621,21 @@ public class SimpleTextSimpleDocValuesFormat extends SimpleDocValuesFormat {
         public int getValueCount() {
           return field.numValues;
         }
+
+        @Override
+        public int size() {
+          return maxDoc;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public boolean isFixedLength() {
+          return field.fixedLength;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public int maxLength() {
+          return field.maxLength;
+        }
       };
     }
 
diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/SortedDocValuesConsumer.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/SortedDocValuesConsumer.java
index e8fd1616e3a..870d4907af7 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/SortedDocValuesConsumer.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/SortedDocValuesConsumer.java
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ public abstract class SortedDocValuesConsumer {
         state.reader = reader;
         state.values = reader.getSortedDocValues(mergeState.fieldInfo.name);
         if (state.values == null) {
-          state.values = SortedDocValues.DEFAULT;
+          state.values = new SortedDocValues.EMPTY(maxDoc);
         }
 
         segStates.add(state);
diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/BinaryDocValues.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/BinaryDocValues.java
index e6c4c0ff54e..d6f30a7cdda 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/BinaryDocValues.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/BinaryDocValues.java
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ public abstract class BinaryDocValues {
   public abstract boolean isFixedLength();
   public abstract int maxLength();
   
+  // nocommit: rethink this api? alternative is boolean on atomicreader...?
+  // doc that the thing returned here must be thread safe...
   public BinaryDocValues newRAMInstance() {
     // TODO: optimize this default impl with e.g. isFixedLength/maxLength and so on
     // nocommit used packed ints/pagedbytes and so on
@@ -66,6 +68,12 @@ public abstract class BinaryDocValues {
       public int maxLength() {
         return maxLength;
       }
+
+      @Override
+      public BinaryDocValues newRAMInstance() {
+        // nocommit: ugly, maybe throw exception instead?
+        return this; 
+      }
     };
   }
   
diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/SortedDocValues.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/SortedDocValues.java
index 1359c4f3a92..831ed3794f0 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/SortedDocValues.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/SortedDocValues.java
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ package org.apache.lucene.index;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.BytesRef;
 
 // nocommit need marker interface?
-public abstract class SortedDocValues {
+public abstract class SortedDocValues extends BinaryDocValues {
   // nocommit throws IOE or not?
   public abstract int getOrd(int docID);
 
@@ -30,26 +30,110 @@ public abstract class SortedDocValues {
   // nocommit throws IOE or not?
   public abstract int getValueCount();
 
-  // nocommit binary search lookup?
-  public static final SortedDocValues DEFAULT = new SortedDocValues() {
-      
+  @Override
+  public void get(int docID, BytesRef result) {
+    int ord = getOrd(docID);
+    lookupOrd(ord, result);
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public SortedDocValues newRAMInstance() {
+    // nocommit optimize this
+    // nocommit, see also BinaryDocValues nocommits
+    final int maxDoc = size();
+    final int maxLength = maxLength();
+    final boolean fixedLength = isFixedLength();
+    final int valueCount = getValueCount();
+    // nocommit used packed ints and so on
+    final byte[][] values = new byte[valueCount][];
+    BytesRef scratch = new BytesRef();
+    for(int ord=0;ord<values.length;ord++) {
+      lookupOrd(ord, scratch);
+      values[ord] = new byte[scratch.length];
+      System.arraycopy(scratch.bytes, scratch.offset, values[ord], 0, scratch.length);
+    }
+
+    final int[] docToOrd = new int[maxDoc];
+    for(int docID=0;docID<maxDoc;docID++) {
+      docToOrd[docID] = getOrd(docID);
+    }
+    return new SortedDocValues() {
+
       @Override
       public int getOrd(int docID) {
-        return 0;
+        return docToOrd[docID];
       }
 
       @Override
-      public void lookupOrd(int ord, BytesRef ret) {
-        if (ord != 0) {
-          throw new IllegalArgumentException("ord should be 0");
-        }
-        ret.length = 0;
+      public void lookupOrd(int ord, BytesRef result) {
+        result.bytes = values[ord];
+        result.offset = 0;
+        result.length = result.bytes.length;
       }
 
       @Override
       public int getValueCount() {
-        return 1;
+        return valueCount;
+      }
+
+      @Override
+      public int size() {
+        return maxDoc;
+      }
+
+      @Override
+      public boolean isFixedLength() {
+        return fixedLength;
+      }
+
+      @Override
+      public int maxLength() {
+        return maxLength;
+      }
+
+      @Override
+      public SortedDocValues newRAMInstance() {
+        return this; // see the nocommit in BinaryDocValues
       }
     };
+  }
 
+  // nocommit binary search lookup?
+  public static class EMPTY extends SortedDocValues {
+    private final int size;
+    
+    public EMPTY(int size) {
+      this.size = size;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int getOrd(int docID) {
+      return 0;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void lookupOrd(int ord, BytesRef result) {
+      result.length = 0;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int getValueCount() {
+      return 1;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int size() {
+      return size;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean isFixedLength() {
+      return true;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int maxLength() {
+      return 0;
+    }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/FieldCacheImpl.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/FieldCacheImpl.java
index 14eb49bfdb9..0cbf5c62980 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/FieldCacheImpl.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/FieldCacheImpl.java
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ import org.apache.lucene.util.FixedBitSet;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.PagedBytes;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.packed.GrowableWriter;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.packed.PackedInts;
+import org.apache.lucene.util.packed.PackedInts.Reader;
 
 // nocommit rename to UninvertFieldCacheImpl or something ...
 
@@ -1141,58 +1142,42 @@ class FieldCacheImpl implements FieldCache {
       final int maxDoc = reader.maxDoc();
       SortedDocValues valuesIn = reader.getSortedDocValues(key.field);
       if (valuesIn != null) {
-        // nocommit used packed ints like below!
-        final byte[][] values = new byte[valuesIn.getValueCount()][];
-        BytesRef scratch = new BytesRef();
-        for(int ord=0;ord<values.length;ord++) {
-          valuesIn.lookupOrd(ord, scratch);
-          values[ord] = new byte[scratch.length];
-          System.arraycopy(scratch.bytes, scratch.offset, values[ord], 0, scratch.length);
-        }
-
-        final int[] docToOrd = new int[maxDoc];
-        for(int docID=0;docID<maxDoc;docID++) {
-          docToOrd[docID] = valuesIn.getOrd(docID);
-        }
-
+        final SortedDocValues ramInstance = valuesIn.newRAMInstance();
         return new DocTermsIndex() {
 
           @Override
-          public PackedInts.Reader getDocToOrd() {
-            // nocommit
-            return null;
-          }
-
-          @Override
-          public int numOrd() {
-            return values.length;
+          public BytesRef lookup(int ord, BytesRef reuse) {
+            ramInstance.lookupOrd(ord, reuse);
+            return reuse;
           }
 
           @Override
           public int getOrd(int docID) {
-            return docToOrd[docID];
+            return ramInstance.getOrd(docID);
+          }
+
+          @Override
+          public int numOrd() {
+            return ramInstance.getValueCount();
           }
 
           @Override
           public int size() {
-            return docToOrd.length;
-          }
-
-          @Override
-          public BytesRef lookup(int ord, BytesRef ret) {
-            ret.bytes = values[ord];
-            ret.length = ret.bytes.length;
-            ret.offset = 0;
-            return ret;
+            return ramInstance.size();
           }
 
           @Override
           public TermsEnum getTermsEnum() {
-            // nocommit
+            // nocommit: to the codec api? or can that termsenum just use this thing?
+            return null;
+          }
+
+          @Override
+          public Reader getDocToOrd() {
+            // nocommit: add this to the codec api!
             return null;
           }
         };
-
       } else {
 
         Terms terms = reader.terms(key.field);