diff --git a/src/file.h b/src/file.h
index 85675df..8d0f058 100644
--- a/src/file.h
+++ b/src/file.h
@@ -95,9 +95,10 @@

 #define ENABLE_CONDITIONALS

-#ifndef MAGIC
-#define MAGIC "/etc/magic"
-#endif
+const char *tea_get_lib_dir(void);
+
+#undef MAGIC
+#define MAGIC tea_get_lib_dir()

 #if defined(__EMX__) || defined (WIN32)
 #define PATHSEP	';'
diff --git a/src/magic.c b/src/magic.c
index 7768497..84e8ba7 100644
--- a/src/magic.c
+++ b/src/magic.c
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ magic_getpath(const char *magicfile, int action)
 		return magicfile;

 	magicfile = getenv("MAGIC");
-	if (magicfile != NULL)
+	if (magicfile != NULL && magicfile[0] == '/')
 		return magicfile;

 	return action == FILE_LOAD ? get_default_magic() : MAGIC;
@@ -678,3 +678,23 @@ magic_getparam(struct magic_set *ms, int param, void *val)
 		return -1;
 	}
 }
+
+
+#include <libgen.h>
+
+/// returns the library dir of our relocatable installation
+protected const char *tea_get_lib_dir(void) {
+  char path[MAXPATHLEN + 1] = {0};
+  uint32_t len = sizeof(path) - 1;
+#if __APPLE__
+  int rv = _NSGetExecutablePath(path, &len);
+#else
+  int rv = readlink("/proc/self/exe", path, len - 1);
+#endif
+  if (rv != -1) {
+    sprintf(path, "%s/%s", dirname(dirname(path)), "share/misc/magic");
+    return strdup(path) ?: "/etc/magic";
+  } else {
+    return "/etc/magic";
+  }
+}