diff --git a/includes/bootstrap.inc b/includes/bootstrap.inc
index 06f8c68..1f6db6a 100644
--- a/includes/bootstrap.inc
+++ b/includes/bootstrap.inc
@@ -226,6 +226,160 @@ define('REGISTRY_WRITE_LOOKUP_CACHE', 2);
 define('DRUPAL_PHP_FUNCTION_PATTERN', '[a-zA-Z_\x7f-\xff][a-zA-Z0-9_\x7f-\xff]*');
 
 /**
+ * Extends ArrayObject to enable it to be used as a caching wrapper.
+ *
+ * This class should be extended by systems that need to cache large amounts
+ * of data and have it represented as an array to calling functions. These
+ * arrays can become very large, so ArrayObject is used to allow different
+ * strategies to be used for caching internally (lazy loading, building caches
+ * over time etc.). This can dramatically reduce the amount of data that needs
+ * to be loaded from cache backends on each request, and memory usage from
+ * static caches of that same data.
+ *
+ * Note that array_* functions do not work with ArrayObject. Systems using
+ * CacheArrayObject should use this only internally. If providing API functions
+ * that return the full array, this can be cached separately or returned
+ * directly. However since CacheArrayObject holds partial content by design, it
+ * should be a normal PHP array or otherwise contain the full structure.
+ *
+ * By default, the class accounts for caches where calling functions might
+ * request keys in the array that won't exist even after a cache rebuild. This
+ * prevents situations where a cache rebuild would be triggered over and over
+ * due to a 'missing' item. These cases are stored internally as a value of
+ * NULL. This means that the offsetGet() and offsetExists() methods
+ * must be overridden if caching an array where the top level values can
+ * legitimately be NULL, and where $object->offsetExists() needs to correctly
+ * return (equivalent to array_key_exists() vs. isset()). This should not
+ * be necessary in the majority of cases.
+ *
+ * Classes extending this class must override at least the
+ * resolveCacheMiss() method to have a working implementation.
+ *
+ * offsetSet() is not overridden by this class by default. In practice this
+ * means that assigning an offset via arrayAccess will only apply while the
+ * object is in scope and will not be written back to the persistent cache.
+ * This follows a similar pattern to static vs. persistent caching in
+ * procedural code. Extending classes may wish to alter this behaviour, for
+ * example by overriding offsetSet() and adding an automatic call to persist().
+ *
+ * @see SchemaCache
+ */
+abstract class CacheArrayObject extends ArrayObject {
+
+  /**
+   * A cid to pass to cache_set() and cache_get().
+   */
+  private $cid;
+
+  /**
+   * A bin to pass to cache_set() and cache_get().
+   */
+  private $bin;
+
+  /**
+   * An array of keys to add to the cache at the end of the request.
+   */
+  protected $keysToSave = array();
+
+  /**
+   * Constructor.
+   *
+   * @param $cid
+   *   The cid for the array being cached.
+   * @param $bin
+   *   The bin to cache the array.
+   */
+  public function __construct($cid, $bin) {
+    $this->cid = $cid;
+    $this->bin = $bin;
+    
+    $cache_data = array();
+    if ($cached = cache_get($this->cid, $this->bin)) {
+      foreach (cache_get_multiple($cached->data, $this->bin) as $cid => $item) {
+        $cache_data[$cid] = $item->data;
+        $this->keysToSave[$cid] = TRUE;
+      }
+    }
+    parent::__construct($cache_data);
+  }
+
+  public function offsetExists($offset) {
+    return $this->offsetGet($offset) !== NULL;
+  }
+
+  public function offsetGet($offset) {
+    if (!parent::offsetExists($offset)) {
+      $this->resolveCacheMiss($offset);
+    }
+    return parent::offsetGet($offset);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Flags an offset value to be written to the persistent cache.
+   *
+   * If a value is assigned to a cache object with offsetSet(), by default it
+   * will not be written to the persistent cache unless it is flagged with this
+   * method. This allows items to be cached for the duration of a request,
+   * without necessarily writing back to the persistent cache at the end.
+   *
+   * @param $offset
+   *   The array offset that was request.
+   * @param $persist
+   *   Optional boolean to specify whether the offset should be persisted or
+   *   not, defaults to TRUE. When called with $persist = FALSE the offset will
+   *   be unflagged so that it will not written at the end of the request.
+   */
+  protected function persist($offset, $persist = TRUE) {
+    $this->keysToSave[$offset] = $persist;
+  }
+
+  public function exchangeArray($input) {
+    // Reset keysToSave to ensure there is no attempt to cache keys that are
+    // not part of the cache object.
+    $this->keysToSave = array();
+    return parent::exchangeArray($input);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Resolves a cache miss.
+   *
+   * When an offset is not found in the object, this is treated as a cache
+   * miss. This method allows classes implementing the interface to look up
+   * the actual value and allow it to be cached.
+   *
+   * @param $offset
+   *   The offset that was requested.
+   */
+  abstract protected function resolveCacheMiss($offset);
+
+  /**
+   * Immediately write a value to the persistent cache.
+   *
+   * @param $cid
+   *   The cache ID.
+   * @param $bin
+   *   The cache bin.
+   * @param $data
+   *   The data to write to the persistent cache.
+   */
+  protected function set($cid, $data, $bin) {
+    cache_set($cid, $data, $bin);
+  }
+
+  public function __destruct() {
+    $data = array();
+    foreach ($this->keysToSave as $offset => $persist) {
+      if ($persist) {
+        $data[] = $offset;
+      }
+    }
+    if (!empty($data)) {
+      $this->set($this->cid, $data, $this->bin);
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+/**
  * Start the timer with the specified name. If you start and stop the same
  * timer multiple times, the measured intervals will be accumulated.
  *
@@ -701,6 +855,19 @@ function drupal_get_filename($type, $name, $filename = NULL) {
 }
 
 /**
+ * Extends CacheArrayObject to allow for cumulative caching of variables.
+ */
+class VariableCache extends CacheArrayObject {
+  protected function resolveCacheMiss($offset) {
+    $result = db_query('SELECT value FROM {variable} WHERE name = :name', array(':name' => $offset))->fetchField();
+    $value = $result ? unserialize($result) : NULL;
+    cache_set($offset, $value, 'cache_bootstrap');
+    parent::offsetSet($offset, $value);
+    $this->persist($offset);
+  }
+}
+
+/**
  * Load the persistent variable table.
  *
  * The variable table is composed of values that have been saved in the table
@@ -708,33 +875,14 @@ function drupal_get_filename($type, $name, $filename = NULL) {
  * file.
  */
 function variable_initialize($conf = array()) {
-  // NOTE: caching the variables improves performance by 20% when serving
-  // cached pages.
-  if ($cached = cache_get('variables', 'cache_bootstrap')) {
-    $variables = $cached->data;
-  }
-  else {
-    // Cache miss. Avoid a stampede.
-    $name = 'variable_init';
-    if (!lock_acquire($name, 1)) {
-      // Another request is building the variable cache.
-      // Wait, then re-run this function.
-      lock_wait($name);
-      return variable_initialize($conf);
-    }
-    else {
-      // Proceed with variable rebuild.
-      $variables = array_map('unserialize', db_query('SELECT name, value FROM {variable}')->fetchAllKeyed());
-      cache_set('variables', $variables, 'cache_bootstrap');
-      lock_release($name);
-    }
-  }
+  $cache = &drupal_static('variables');
+  $cache = new VariableCache('variables', 'cache_bootstrap');
 
   foreach ($conf as $name => $value) {
-    $variables[$name] = $value;
+    $cache[$name] = $value;
   }
 
-  return $variables;
+  return $cache;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -757,8 +905,15 @@ function variable_initialize($conf = array()) {
  */
 function variable_get($name, $default = NULL) {
   global $conf;
-
-  return isset($conf[$name]) ? $conf[$name] : $default;
+  if (isset($conf[$name])) {
+    return $conf[$name];
+  }
+  $cache = &drupal_static('variables');
+  if (isset($cache) && isset($cache[$name])) {
+    $conf[$name] = $cache[$name];
+    return $conf[$name];
+  }
+  return $default;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -781,10 +936,8 @@ function variable_set($name, $value) {
   global $conf;
 
   db_merge('variable')->key(array('name' => $name))->fields(array('value' => serialize($value)))->execute();
-
-  cache_clear_all('variables', 'cache_bootstrap');
-
   $conf[$name] = $value;
+  cache_set($name, $value, 'cache_bootstrap');
 }
 
 /**
@@ -806,9 +959,8 @@ function variable_del($name) {
   db_delete('variable')
     ->condition('name', $name)
     ->execute();
-  cache_clear_all('variables', 'cache_bootstrap');
-
   unset($conf[$name]);
+  cache_clear_all($name, 'cache_bootstrap');
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/modules/simpletest/drupal_web_test_case.php b/modules/simpletest/drupal_web_test_case.php
index 40af458..ce3ff98 100644
--- a/modules/simpletest/drupal_web_test_case.php
+++ b/modules/simpletest/drupal_web_test_case.php
@@ -1238,6 +1238,10 @@ class DrupalWebTestCase extends DrupalTestCase {
       ->condition('test_id', $this->testId)
       ->execute();
 
+    // Reset all statics and variables to perform tests in a clean environment.
+    $conf = array();
+    drupal_static_reset();
+
     // Clone the current connection and replace the current prefix.
     $connection_info = Database::getConnectionInfo('default');
     Database::renameConnection('default', 'simpletest_original_default');
@@ -1280,10 +1284,6 @@ class DrupalWebTestCase extends DrupalTestCase {
     ini_set('log_errors', 1);
     ini_set('error_log', $public_files_directory . '/error.log');
 
-    // Reset all statics and variables to perform tests in a clean environment.
-    $conf = array();
-    drupal_static_reset();
-
     // Set the test information for use in other parts of Drupal.
     $test_info = &$GLOBALS['drupal_test_info'];
     $test_info['test_run_id'] = $this->databasePrefix;
