diff -up openmpi-1.6/orte/runtime/orte_mca_params.c.hostfile openmpi-1.6/orte/runtime/orte_mca_params.c
--- openmpi-1.6/orte/runtime/orte_mca_params.c.hostfile	2012-04-24 13:18:21.000000000 -0600
+++ openmpi-1.6/orte/runtime/orte_mca_params.c	2012-05-15 16:35:24.769565442 -0600
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ int orte_register_params(void)
                                 false, false, 1000, &orte_timeout_usec_per_proc);
     
     /* default hostfile */
-    asprintf(&orte_default_hostfile, "%s/etc/openmpi-default-hostfile", opal_install_dirs.prefix);
+    asprintf(&orte_default_hostfile, "%s/openmpi-default-hostfile", opal_install_dirs.sysconfdir);
     mca_base_param_reg_string_name("orte", "default_hostfile",
                                    "Name of the default hostfile (relative or absolute path, \"none\" to ignore environmental or default MCA param setting)",
                                    false, false, orte_default_hostfile, &orte_default_hostfile);