diff --git a/SConstruct b/SConstruct
index 9a01aeebfdfc1477c84b6a75b2ff492cffb0b436..2acf3d79e7c5b34f0b7914a9dd6b8262a9943ca7 100644
--- a/SConstruct
+++ b/SConstruct
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ env.Append(
            'CONCURRENCY_LEVEL' : env.GetOption('num_jobs') or "1",
            'SCONS' : 1,
            'PATH' : os.environ.get('PATH'),
-	   'TEXINPUTS' : os.environ.get('TEXINPUTS'),
+	   'TEXINPUTS' : os.environ.get('TEXINPUTS',':'),
          },
    LOCAL_CONFIG_FILES = [ 'Doxyfile.local', 'SConfig', 'local_config.hh' ],
    DPKG_IGNORED_FILES = [ '$LOCAL_CONFIG_FILES', '.svn', '_templates' ],