diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index b03bbfc1..9c23b3ac 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+24/8/08 fork for stable 7.16 branch
+- load plgs from libdir as well as libdir/vips-x.x for compat
+
 25/5/08 fork for loadable image format branch
 - image load/save in non-vips format code moved to own dir
 - simple format searching added
diff --git a/libsrc/iofuncs/im_init_world.c b/libsrc/iofuncs/im_init_world.c
index 06be52bd..8d10ee1a 100644
--- a/libsrc/iofuncs/im_init_world.c
+++ b/libsrc/iofuncs/im_init_world.c
@@ -149,6 +149,14 @@ im_init_world( const char *argv0 )
 		im_error_clear();
 	}
 
+	/* Also load from libdir. This is old and slightly broken behaviour
+	 * :-( kept for back compat convenience.
+	 */
+	if( im_load_plugins( "%s", libdir ) ) {
+		im_warn( "im_init_world", "%s", im_errorstring() );
+		im_error_clear();
+	}
+
 	/* Start up the buffer cache.
 	 */
 	im__buffer_init();