diff --git common/rclinit.cpp common/rclinit.cpp
index 45ba5741..e5eed5e2 100644
--- common/rclinit.cpp
+++ common/rclinit.cpp
@@ -273,6 +273,18 @@ RclConfig *recollinit(int flags,
     if (cleanup)
 	atexit(cleanup);
 
+#ifdef MACPORTS
+    // Apple keeps changing the way to set the environment (PATH) for
+    // a desktop app (started by launchd or whatever). Life is too
+    // short.
+    const char *cp = getenv("PATH");
+    if (!cp) //??
+        cp = "";
+    string PATH(cp);
+    PATH = string("/opt/local/bin/") + ":" + PATH;
+    setenv("PATH", PATH.c_str(), 1);
+#endif
+    
     // Make sure the locale is set. This is only for converting file names 
     // to utf8 for indexing.
     setlocale(LC_CTYPE, "");