diff --git a/physfs.c b/physfs.c
index a0bb6f2..fa3d4ce 100644
--- a/physfs.c
+++ b/physfs.c
@@ -340,7 +340,19 @@ static char *calculateBaseDir(const char *argv0)
     /*
      * Last ditch effort: it's the current working directory. (*shrug*)
      */
-    return(__PHYSFS_platformCurrentDir());
+    retval = __PHYSFS_platformCurrentDir();
+    if(retval != NULL) {
+	return(retval);
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * Ok, current directory doesn't exist, use the root directory.
+     * Not a good alternative, but it only happens if the current
+     * directory was deleted from under the program.
+     */
+    retval = (char *) malloc(strlen(dirsep) + 1);
+    strcpy(retval, dirsep);
+    return(retval);
 } /* calculateBaseDir */
 
 
diff --git a/platform/unix.c b/platform/unix.c
index 3d34533..1f07f93 100644
--- a/platform/unix.c
+++ b/platform/unix.c
@@ -436,11 +436,18 @@ char *__PHYSFS_platformCurrentDir(void)
                 free(retval);
             BAIL_IF_MACRO(1, ERR_OUT_OF_MEMORY, NULL);
         } /* if */
-
+	
         retval = ptr;
         ptr = getcwd(retval, allocSize);
-    } while (ptr == NULL);
-
+    } while (ptr == NULL && errno == ERANGE);
+    if(ptr == NULL && errno) {
+	/* getcwd() failed for some reason, for example current
+	 * directory not existing.
+	 */
+	if (retval != NULL)
+	    free(retval);
+	BAIL_IF_MACRO(1, ERR_NO_SUCH_FILE, NULL);
+    }
     return(retval);
 } /* __PHYSFS_platformCurrentDir */