diff --git a/sagemath-sympy.patch b/sagemath-sympy.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3b417b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sagemath-sympy.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+diff -up sage-5.9/spkg/build/sage-5.9/sage/env.py.orig sage-5.9/spkg/build/sage-5.9/sage/env.py
+--- sage-5.9/spkg/build/sage-5.9/sage/env.py.orig	2013-08-12 15:44:28.792116267 -0300
++++ sage-5.9/spkg/build/sage-5.9/sage/env.py	2013-08-12 15:45:35.582118824 -0300
+@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ SAGE_ENV = {
+         'LOCAL_IDENTIFIER' : '$HOSTNAME.%s'%os.getpid(),
+ 
+         # bunch of sage directories and files
+-        'SAGE_ROOT'        : None,
++        'SAGE_ROOT'        : '@@SAGE_ROOT@@',
+         'SAGE_LOCAL'       : opj('$SAGE_ROOT', 'local'),
+         'SAGE_SHARE'       : opj('$SAGE_LOCAL', 'share'),
+         # for backwards compatibility we include SAGE_DATA
+@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ SAGE_ENV = {
+         'SAGE_PACKAGES'    : opj('$SAGE_ROOT', 'spkg'),
+         'SAGE_LOGS'        : opj('$SAGE_ROOT', 'logs', 'pkgs'),
+         'SAGE_SPKG_INST'   : opj('$SAGE_ROOT', 'spkg', 'installed'),
+-        'SAGE_DOC'         : opj('$SAGE_ROOT', 'devel', 'sage', 'doc'),
++        'SAGE_DOC'         : '@@SAGE_DOC@@',
+         'DOT_SAGE'         : opj(os.environ.get('HOME','$SAGE_ROOT'), '.sage'),
+         # SAGE_LIB is the site-packages directory if the sage library
+         # has been installed, otherwise it is the same of SAGE_SRC
diff --git a/sagemath.spec b/sagemath.spec
index 4ced053..b2aa3f8 100644
--- a/sagemath.spec
+++ b/sagemath.spec
@@ -60,8 +60,6 @@
 %global	sagenb_pkg		sagenb-0.10.4
 %global sagetex_pkg		sagetex-2.3.4
 
-%global sagemath_share		%{_datadir}/%{name}
-
 %global SAGE_ROOT		%{_libdir}/sagemath
 %global SAGE_LOCAL		%{SAGE_ROOT}/local
 %global SAGE_SRC		%{SAGE_ROOT}/src
@@ -74,7 +72,7 @@ Name:		sagemath
 Group:		Applications/Engineering
 Summary:	A free open-source mathematics software system
 Version:	5.9
-Release:	5%{?dist}
+Release:	6%{?dist}
 # The file ${SAGE_ROOT}/COPYING.txt is the upstream license breakdown file
 # Additionally, every $files section has a comment with the license name
 # before files with that license
@@ -219,6 +217,10 @@ Patch33:	%{name}-m4rie.patch
 # https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=961372
 Patch34:	%{name}-rh_bz_961372.patch
 
+# Side effect of using distro packages
+# https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=974769
+Patch35:	%{name}-sympy.patch
+
 BuildRequires:	4ti2
 BuildRequires:	atlas-devel
 BuildRequires:	cddlib-tools
@@ -707,6 +709,11 @@ popd
 %patch34 -p1
 %endif
 
+%patch35 -p1
+sed -e 's|@@SAGE_ROOT@@|%{SAGE_ROOT}|' \
+    -e 's|@@SAGE_DOC@@|%{SAGE_DOC}|' \
+    -i spkg/build/sage-%{version}/sage/env.py
+
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # ensure proper/preferred libatlas is in linker path
 pushd spkg/build/sage-%{version}
@@ -1433,6 +1440,9 @@ exit 0
 
 ########################################################################
 %changelog
+* Mon Aug 12 2013 pcpa <paulo.cesar.pereira.de.andrade@gmail.com> - 5.9-6
+- Correct side effect of using system mpmath (#974769)
+
 * Sun May 12 2013 pcpa <paulo.cesar.pereira.de.andrade@gmail.com> - 5.9-5
 - Need one extra directory derefence in symlink SAGE_SRC symlink.