diff --git a/bash_completion b/bash_completion
index 6565f6d1..00f73866 100644
--- a/bash_completion
+++ b/bash_completion
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #   bash_completion - some programmable completion functions for bash 2.05a
 #
-#   $Id: bash_completion,v 1.178 2002/03/06 00:23:30 ianmacd Exp $
+#   $Id: bash_completion,v 1.179 2002/03/06 18:38:37 ianmacd Exp $
 #
 #   Copyright (C) Ian Macdonald <ian@caliban.org>
 #
@@ -409,7 +409,7 @@ _man()
 
 	OS=$( uname -s )
 	if [ $OS = Linux ]; then
-		manpath=$( man --path )
+		manpath=$( manpath 2>/dev/null || man --path )
 	else
 		manpath=$MANPATH
 	fi