diff -urN pidgin-2.5.2.orig/pidgin/gtksound.c pidgin-2.5.2/pidgin/gtksound.c
--- pidgin-2.5.2.orig/pidgin/gtksound.c	2008-07-13 22:05:38.000000000 -0400
+++ pidgin-2.5.2/pidgin/gtksound.c	2008-11-22 13:36:54.000000000 -0500
@@ -298,6 +298,9 @@
 	purple_prefs_add_bool(PIDGIN_PREFS_ROOT "/sound/mute", FALSE);
 	purple_prefs_add_path(PIDGIN_PREFS_ROOT "/sound/command", "");
 	purple_prefs_add_string(PIDGIN_PREFS_ROOT "/sound/method", "automatic");
+#ifndef USE_GSTREAMER
+	purple_prefs_add_bool(PIDGIN_PREFS_ROOT "/sound/rhel4migrated", FALSE);
+#endif
 	purple_prefs_add_int(PIDGIN_PREFS_ROOT "/sound/volume", 50);
 
 #ifdef USE_GSTREAMER
@@ -433,6 +436,19 @@
 		return;
 	}
 
+#ifndef USE_GSTREAMER
+	/* RHEL4 migration code */
+	if (!purple_prefs_get_bool(PIDGIN_PREFS_ROOT "/sound/rhel4migrated")) {
+		purple_prefs_set_bool(PIDGIN_PREFS_ROOT "/sound/rhel4migrated", TRUE);
+		if(!strcmp(method, "automatic") ||
+		   !strcmp(method, "esd") ||
+		   !strcmp(method, "arts")) {
+			purple_prefs_set_string(PIDGIN_PREFS_ROOT "/sound/method", "custom");
+			purple_prefs_set_path(PIDGIN_PREFS_ROOT "/sound/command", "aplay %s");
+		}
+	}
+#endif
+
 #ifndef _WIN32
 	if (!strcmp(method, "custom")) {
 		const char *sound_cmd;