diff --git a/include/wine/library.h b/include/wine/library.h
index d22368f89b0..1f72a0fbaf0 100644
--- a/include/wine/library.h
+++ b/include/wine/library.h
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 extern const char *wine_get_config_dir(void);
 extern const char *wine_get_server_dir(void);
 extern const char *wine_get_user_name(void);
+extern const char *wine_get_argv0_path(void);
 
 /* dll loading */
 
diff --git a/libs/wine/config.c b/libs/wine/config.c
index a2e3c152f7f..e4ef9d54fdc 100644
--- a/libs/wine/config.c
+++ b/libs/wine/config.c
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 #include <stdarg.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <errno.h>
 #include <sys/stat.h>
 #ifdef HAVE_UNISTD_H
 # include <unistd.h>
@@ -40,6 +41,7 @@ static const char * const server_dir_prefix = "/server-";      /* prefix for ser
 static char *config_dir;
 static char *server_dir;
 static char *user_name;
+static char *argv0_path;
 
 #ifdef __GNUC__
 static void fatal_error( const char *err, ... )  __attribute__((noreturn,format(printf,1,2)));
@@ -178,6 +180,43 @@ static void init_paths(void)
         sprintf( server_dir + strlen(server_dir), "%lx", (unsigned long)st.st_ino );
 }
 
+/* initialize the argv0 path */
+void init_argv0_path( const char *argv0 )
+{
+    size_t size, len;
+    const char *p;
+    char *cwd;
+
+    if (!(p = strrchr( argv0, '/' )))
+        return;  /* if argv0 doesn't contain a path, don't do anything */
+
+    len = p - argv0 + 1;
+    if (argv0[0] == '/')  /* absolute path */
+    {
+        argv0_path = xmalloc( len + 1 );
+        memcpy( argv0_path, argv0, len );
+        argv0_path[len] = 0;
+        return;
+    }
+
+    /* relative path, make it absolute */
+    for (size = 256 + len; ; size *= 2)
+    {
+        if (!(cwd = malloc( size ))) break;
+        if (getcwd( cwd, size - len ))
+        {
+            argv0_path = cwd;
+            cwd += strlen(cwd);
+            *cwd++ = '/';
+            memcpy( cwd, argv0, len );
+            cwd[len] = 0;
+            return;
+        }
+        free( cwd );
+        if (errno != ERANGE) break;
+    }
+}
+
 /* return the configuration directory ($WINEPREFIX or $HOME/.wine) */
 const char *wine_get_config_dir(void)
 {
@@ -198,3 +237,9 @@ const char *wine_get_user_name(void)
     if (!user_name) init_paths();
     return user_name;
 }
+
+/* return the path of argv[0], including a trailing slash */
+const char *wine_get_argv0_path(void)
+{
+    return argv0_path;
+}
diff --git a/libs/wine/loader.c b/libs/wine/loader.c
index f2956532b78..ed2a8260cad 100644
--- a/libs/wine/loader.c
+++ b/libs/wine/loader.c
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ int __wine_main_argc = 0;
 char **__wine_main_argv = NULL;
 WCHAR **__wine_main_wargv = NULL;
 
+extern void init_argv0_path( const char *argv0 );  /* config.c */
+
 #define MAX_DLLS 100
 
 static struct
@@ -63,7 +65,6 @@ static load_dll_callback_t load_dll_callback;
 static const char **dll_paths;
 static int nb_dll_paths;
 static int dll_path_maxlen;
-static int init_done;
 
 
 /* build the dll load path from the WINEDLLPATH variable */
@@ -73,8 +74,6 @@ static void build_dll_path(void)
     int len, count = 0;
     char *p, *path = getenv( "WINEDLLPATH" );
 
-    init_done = 1;
-
     if (path)
     {
         /* count how many path elements we need */
@@ -132,8 +131,6 @@ static void *dlopen_dll( const char *name, char *error, int errorsize,
     char *buffer, *p;
     void *ret = NULL;
 
-    if (!init_done) build_dll_path();
-
     buffer = malloc( dll_path_maxlen + namelen + 5 );
 
     /* store the name at the end of the buffer, followed by .so */
@@ -421,6 +418,8 @@ void wine_init( int argc, char *argv[], char *error, int error_size )
     void *kernel;
     void (*init_func)(int, char **);
 
+    build_dll_path();
+    init_argv0_path( argv[0] );
     if (!dlopen_dll( "ntdll.dll", error, error_size, 0, &file_exists )) return;
     /* make sure kernel32 is loaded too */
     if (!(kernel = dlopen_dll( "kernel32.dll", error, error_size, 0, &file_exists ))) return;