diff -up src/sage/libs/gap/test/main.c.orig src/sage/libs/gap/test/main.c
--- src/sage/libs/gap/test/main.c.orig	2017-07-21 13:10:16.000000000 -0600
+++ src/sage/libs/gap/test/main.c	2017-11-24 10:40:06.024865775 -0700
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ void eval(char* cmd) {
   libgap_start_interaction(cmd);
 
   libgap_enter();
-  libGAP_ReadEvalCommand(libGAP_BottomLVars);
+  libGAP_ReadEvalCommand(libGAP_BottomLVars, NULL);
   libGAP_ViewObjHandler(libGAP_ReadEvalResult);
   char* out = libgap_get_output();
   libgap_exit();
diff -up src/sage/libs/gap/util.pyx.orig src/sage/libs/gap/util.pyx
--- src/sage/libs/gap/util.pyx.orig	2017-07-21 13:10:16.000000000 -0600
+++ src/sage/libs/gap/util.pyx	2017-11-24 10:41:12.757621519 -0700
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ from sage.interfaces.gap_workspace impor
 from sage.env import SAGE_LOCAL, GAP_ROOT_DIR
 from .element cimport *
 
+import re
+
 
 ############################################################################
 ### Hooking into the GAP memory management #################################
@@ -160,17 +162,9 @@ def gap_root():
 
         sage: from sage.libs.gap.util import gap_root
         sage: gap_root()   # random output
-        '/home/vbraun/opt/sage-5.3.rc0/local/gap/latest'
+        '/usr/lib/gap'
     """
-    import os.path
-    if os.path.exists(GAP_ROOT_DIR):
-        return GAP_ROOT_DIR
-    print('The gap-4.5.5.spkg (or later) seems to be not installed!')
-    gap_sh = open(os.path.join(SAGE_LOCAL, 'bin', 'gap')).read().splitlines()
-    gapdir = filter(lambda dir:dir.strip().startswith('GAP_DIR'), gap_sh)[0]
-    gapdir = gapdir.split('"')[1]
-    gapdir = gapdir.replace('$SAGE_LOCAL', SAGE_LOCAL)
-    return gapdir
+    return '/usr/lib/gap'
 
 
 cdef initialize():
@@ -224,6 +218,7 @@ cdef initialize():
     libgap_initialize(argc, argv)
     gap_error_msg = str(libgap_get_output())
     libgap_finish_interaction()
+    gap_error_msg = re.sub(r'#I.*\n?', '', gap_error_msg, flags=re.MULTILINE)
     if gap_error_msg:
         raise RuntimeError('libGAP initialization failed\n' + gap_error_msg)