diff --git a/src/CHANGELOG b/src/CHANGELOG
index ff313de48..c4e2708f5 100755
--- a/src/CHANGELOG
+++ b/src/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-ECL 9.12.4:
+ECL 10.1.1:
 ===========
 
 * Bugs fixed:
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ ECL 9.12.4:
    PATHNAME-MATCH-P. Formerly there were small differences, the forming
    understanding characters #\? and #\\
 
+ - Standalone executables do not require the existence of the ECLDIR directory
+   to start up -- it may be required, though, for working Unicode because the
+   encodings are stored there.
+
 ECL 9.12.3:
 ===========
 
diff --git a/src/c/unixfsys.d b/src/c/unixfsys.d
index 2eefd1bea..472816727 100644
--- a/src/c/unixfsys.d
+++ b/src/c/unixfsys.d
@@ -942,10 +942,11 @@ si_get_library_pathname(void)
         {
                 cl_object true_pathname = cl_probe_file(s);
                 if (Null(true_pathname)) {
-                        ecl_internal_error("Cannot find ECL's directory");
+                        s = current_dir();
+                } else {
+                        /* Produce a string */
+                        s = ecl_namestring(s, ECL_NAMESTRING_FORCE_BASE_STRING);
                 }
-                /* Produce a string */
-                s = ecl_namestring(s, ECL_NAMESTRING_FORCE_BASE_STRING);
         }
         cl_core.library_pathname = s;
  OUTPUT_UNCHANGED:
diff --git a/src/lsp/config.lsp.in b/src/lsp/config.lsp.in
index 117cd3410..42e481ada 100644
--- a/src/lsp/config.lsp.in
+++ b/src/lsp/config.lsp.in
@@ -105,9 +105,10 @@ Returns, as a string, the version of the software under which ECL runs."
 ;;   Otherwise it would not be a directory.
 ;;
 #-ecl-min
-(progn
-  (si::pathname-translations "SYS"
-			     `(("**;*.*" ,(merge-pathnames "**/*.*" (si::get-library-pathname)))))
+(let ((path (si::get-library-pathname)))
+  (when path
+    (si::pathname-translations "SYS"
+                               `(("**;*.*" ,(merge-pathnames "**/*.*" path )))))
 );#-eclmin
 #-msvc
 (si::pathname-translations "HOME" '(("**;*.*" "~/**/*.*")))