diff --git a/lib/common.php b/lib/common.php
index a9fef15f34..c6bc97d829 100644
--- a/lib/common.php
+++ b/lib/common.php
@@ -45,12 +45,13 @@ $config =
 			  'image' => 'http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/3.0/88x31.png'),
 		'avatar' =>
 		array('directory' => INSTALLDIR . '/avatar',
-			  'path' => '/avatar',
-			  'default' => 
-			  array('profile' => INSTALLDIR .'theme/default/image/default-avatar-profile.png',
-					'stream' => INSTALLDIR .'theme/default/image/default-avatar-stream.png',
-					'mini' => INSTALLDIR .'theme/default/image/default-avatar-mini.png'))
-);
+			  'path' => '/avatar'));
+
+# these depend on defaults above
+$config['avatar']['default'] =
+  array('profile' =>  "http://".$config['site']['server'].$config['site']['path'].'/'.'theme/default/image/default-avatar-profile.png',
+		'stream' => "http://".$config['site']['server'].$config['site']['path'].'/'.'theme/default/image/default-avatar-stream.png',
+		'mini' => "http://".$config['site']['server'].$config['site']['path'].'/'.'theme/default/image/default-avatar-mini.png');
 
 $config['db'] = &PEAR::getStaticProperty('DB_DataObject','options');