diff --git a/src/qgisapp.cpp b/src/qgisapp.cpp
index 5b1a81ce134..2199089f833 100644
--- a/src/qgisapp.cpp
+++ b/src/qgisapp.cpp
@@ -21,6 +21,11 @@
 #ifndef WIN32
 #include <dlfcn.h>
 #endif
+
+#ifdef Q_OS_MACX
+#import <Carbon/Carbon.h>
+#endif
+
 #include <qaction.h>
 #include <qapplication.h>
 #include <qbitmap.h>
@@ -363,8 +368,24 @@ QgisApp::QgisApp(QWidget * parent, const char *name, WFlags fl):QgisAppBase(pare
 #else
   mAppDir = PREFIX;
 #endif
+
   // Get pointer to the provider registry singleton
+#ifdef Q_OS_MACX
+  // we do different things for OSX - set both application dir and plugin lib
+  // location here:
+  CFURLRef pprefixRef = CFBundleCopyBundleURL(CFBundleGetMainBundle());
+  CFStringRef mmacPath = CFURLCopyFileSystemPath(pprefixRef, kCFURLPOSIXPathStyle);
+  // store application dir
+  mAppDir = CFStringGetCStringPtr(macPath, CFStringGetSystemEncoding());
+  mAppDir = mAppDir + "/Contents/Resources";
+  // store location of plugins
+  plib = CFStringGetCStringPtr(mmacPath, CFStringGetSystemEncoding());
+  plib = plib + "/Contents/Resources/lib";
+#else
+  // win32 and posix plugin path:
   QString plib = PLUGINPATH;
+#endif
+
   mProviderRegistry = QgsProviderRegistry::instance(plib);
 
 #ifdef QGISDEBUG