diff --git a/src/ceph.in b/src/ceph.in
index ac356d80e75..320e4bd413f 100755
--- a/src/ceph.in
+++ b/src/ceph.in
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ if MYDIR.endswith('src') and \
     if 'LD_LIBRARY_PATH' in os.environ:
         if MYLIBPATH not in os.environ['LD_LIBRARY_PATH']:
             os.environ['LD_LIBRARY_PATH'] += ':' + MYLIBPATH
-            os.environ['PATH'] += ':' + MYDIR
             print >> sys.stderr, DEVMODEMSG
             os.execvp('python', ['python'] + sys.argv)
     else:
@@ -43,6 +42,8 @@ if MYDIR.endswith('src') and \
         print >> sys.stderr, DEVMODEMSG
         os.execvp('python', ['python'] + sys.argv)
     sys.path.insert(0, os.path.join(MYDIR, 'pybind'))
+    if MYDIR not in os.environ['PATH']:
+        os.environ['PATH'] += ':' + MYDIR
 
 import argparse
 import errno