diff -up src/sage/env.py.orig src/sage/env.py
--- src/sage/env.py.orig	2018-10-17 17:13:36.000000000 -0600
+++ src/sage/env.py	2018-10-25 14:10:21.564960823 -0600
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ _add_variable_or_fallback('CONWAY_POLYNO
 _add_variable_or_fallback('GRAPHS_DATA_DIR',  opj('$SAGE_SHARE','graphs'))
 _add_variable_or_fallback('ELLCURVE_DATA_DIR',opj('$SAGE_SHARE','ellcurves'))
 _add_variable_or_fallback('POLYTOPE_DATA_DIR',opj('$SAGE_SHARE','reflexive_polytopes'))
-_add_variable_or_fallback('GAP_ROOT_DIR',     opj('$SAGE_LOCAL','gap','latest'))
+_add_variable_or_fallback('GAP_ROOT_DIR',     opj('/usr','lib','gap'))
 _add_variable_or_fallback('THEBE_DIR',        opj('$SAGE_SHARE','thebe'))
 _add_variable_or_fallback('COMBINATORIAL_DESIGN_DATA_DIR', opj('$SAGE_SHARE', 'combinatorial_designs'))
 _add_variable_or_fallback('CREMONA_MINI_DATA_DIR', opj('$SAGE_SHARE', 'cremona'))
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	2018-10-17 17:13:52.000000000 -0600
+++ src/sage/libs/gap/test/main.c	2018-10-25 14:05:51.458727612 -0600
@@ -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	2018-10-25 13:50:51.168295628 -0600
+++ src/sage/libs/gap/util.pyx	2018-10-25 14:05:51.458727612 -0600
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ from sage.cpython.string cimport str_to_
 from sage.interfaces.gap_workspace import prepare_workspace_dir
 from sage.env import SAGE_LOCAL, GAP_ROOT_DIR
 
+import re
+
 
 ############################################################################
 ### Hooking into the GAP memory management #################################
@@ -164,7 +166,7 @@ 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):
@@ -232,6 +234,7 @@ cdef initialize():
     libgap_initialize(argc, argv)
     gap_error_msg = char_to_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)