diff --git a/orte/mca/plm/rsh/plm_rsh_component.c b/orte/mca/plm/rsh/plm_rsh_component.c
index fd88c60343..005f6dccd6 100644
--- a/orte/mca/plm/rsh/plm_rsh_component.c
+++ b/orte/mca/plm/rsh/plm_rsh_component.c
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
  *                         All rights reserved.
  * Copyright (c) 2007      Los Alamos National Security, LLC.  All rights
  *                         reserved. 
- * Copyright (c) 2008      Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2008-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
  * Copyright (c) 2009      Cisco Systems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
  * $COPYRIGHT$
  * 
@@ -147,24 +147,25 @@ int orte_plm_rsh_component_query(mca_base_module_t **module, int *priority)
 {
     char *tmp;
     
-    /* To be absolutely sure that we are under an SGE parallel env */
+    /* Check if we are under SGE parallel environment by looking at several
+     * environment variables.  If so, setup the path and argv[0]. */
     if (!mca_plm_rsh_component.disable_qrsh &&
         NULL != getenv("SGE_ROOT") && NULL != getenv("ARC") &&
         NULL != getenv("PE_HOSTFILE") && NULL != getenv("JOB_ID")) {
-        /* setting exec_argv and exec_path for qrsh */
-        asprintf(&orte_plm_globals.rsh_agent_path, "%s/bin/%s", getenv("SGE_ROOT"), getenv("ARC"));
-        asprintf(&tmp, "%s/bin/%s/qrsh", getenv("SGE_ROOT"), getenv("ARC"));
+        /* setting rsh_agent_path and rsh_agent_argv[0] for qrsh */
+        asprintf(&orte_plm_globals.rsh_agent_path, "%s/bin/%s/qrsh", 
+                 getenv("SGE_ROOT"), getenv("ARC"));
         orte_plm_globals.rsh_agent_argv = NULL;
-        opal_argv_append_nosize(&orte_plm_globals.rsh_agent_argv, tmp);
-        free(tmp);
+        opal_argv_append_nosize(&orte_plm_globals.rsh_agent_argv,
+                                orte_plm_globals.rsh_agent_path);
         /* double check that we have access and permissions for the qrsh agent */
         if (NULL == opal_path_findv(orte_plm_globals.rsh_agent_argv[0], X_OK,
                                     environ, NULL)) {
-            OPAL_OUTPUT_VERBOSE((1, orte_plm_globals.output,
-                                 "%s plm:rsh: unable to be used: cannot find path "
-                                 "or execution permissions not set for launching agent \"%s\"\n", 
-                                 ORTE_NAME_PRINT(ORTE_PROC_MY_NAME),
-                                 orte_plm_globals.rsh_agent_argv[0]));
+            opal_output_verbose(1, orte_plm_globals.output,
+                                "%s plm:rsh: unable to be used: cannot find path "
+                                "or execution permissions not set for launching agent \"%s\"\n", 
+                                ORTE_NAME_PRINT(ORTE_PROC_MY_NAME),
+                                orte_plm_globals.rsh_agent_argv[0]);
             *module = NULL;
             return ORTE_ERROR;
         }