--- a/libinterp/octave.cc
+++ b/libinterp/octave.cc
@@ -656,6 +656,8 @@
 {
   octave_process_command_line (argc, argv);
 
+  sysdep_init ();
+
   install_defaults ();
 
   octave_initialize_interpreter (argc, argv, embedded);
@@ -861,8 +863,6 @@
 
   init_signals ();
 
-  sysdep_init ();
-
   octave_ieee_init ();
 
   // The idea here is to force xerbla to be referenced so that we will
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
   -I$(top_srcdir)/liboctave/numeric \
   -I$(top_srcdir)/liboctave/util \
   -I$(top_srcdir)/libinterp \
-  -I$(top_builddir)/libinterp/interpfcn \
+  -I$(top_builddir)/libinterp/interpfcn -I$(top_srcdir)/libinterp/interpfcn \
   -I$(top_builddir)/libgnu -I$(top_srcdir)/libgnu
 
 AM_CFLAGS += $(WARN_CFLAGS)
diff --git a/src/main-cli.cc b/src/main-cli.cc
--- a/src/main-cli.cc
+++ b/src/main-cli.cc
@@ -26,12 +26,15 @@
 
 #include "defaults.h"
 #include "octave.h"
+#include "sysdep.h"
 
 int
 main (int argc, char **argv)
 {
   octave_process_command_line (argc, argv);
 
+  sysdep_init ();
+
   install_defaults ();
 
   octave_initialize_interpreter (argc, argv, 0);
diff --git a/src/main.cc b/src/main.cc
--- a/src/main.cc
+++ b/src/main.cc
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 #include "defaults.h"
 #include "octave.h"
 #include "octave-gui.h"
+#include "sysdep.h"
 
 int
 main (int argc, char **argv)
@@ -35,6 +36,8 @@
 
   octave_process_command_line (argc, argv);
 
+  sysdep_init ();
+
   install_defaults ();
 
   if (octave_starting_gui ())