diff -rupN netgen-5.3.0/ng/ngappinit.cpp netgen-5.3.0-new/ng/ngappinit.cpp
--- netgen-5.3.0/ng/ngappinit.cpp	2014-09-01 20:54:49.511249194 +0200
+++ netgen-5.3.0-new/ng/ngappinit.cpp	2014-09-01 21:03:21.679227844 +0200
@@ -148,9 +148,11 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv)
 
   if (getenv ("NETGENDIR") && strlen (getenv ("NETGENDIR")))
     ngdir = getenv ("NETGENDIR");
-  else
-    ngdir = ".";
-  
+  else {
+    ngdir = "/usr/share/netgen-mesher";
+    setenv("NETGENDIR", ngdir.c_str(), 1);
+  }
+
   verbose = parameters.GetDefineFlag ("V");
 
   if (verbose)