diff --git a/desktop/scripts/soffice.sh b/desktop/scripts/soffice.sh
index 006f28d5250d..ba9bbc7d2dab 100644
--- a/desktop/scripts/soffice.sh
+++ b/desktop/scripts/soffice.sh
@@ -62,6 +62,20 @@ fi
 
 sd_binary=`basename "$0"`.bin
 
+# this is a temporary hack until we can live with the default search paths
+case "`uname -s`" in
+OpenBSD)
+    sd_prog1="$sd_prog/../basis-link/program"
+    sd_prog2="$sd_prog/../basis-link/ure-link/lib"
+    LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$sd_prog1:$sd_prog2${LD_LIBRARY_PATH+:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}}
+    JAVA_HOME=$(javaPathHelper -h libreoffice-java 2> /dev/null)
+    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+    if [ -n "${JAVA_HOME}" ]; then
+        export JAVA_HOME
+    fi
+    ;;
+esac
+
 #collect all bootstrap variables specified on the command line
 #so that they can be passed as arguments to javaldx later on
 for arg in $@
diff --git a/desktop/scripts/unopkg.sh b/desktop/scripts/unopkg.sh
index 7a8901525357..c629f65587a8 100644
--- a/desktop/scripts/unopkg.sh
+++ b/desktop/scripts/unopkg.sh
@@ -43,6 +43,20 @@ fi
 sd_prog=`pwd`
 cd "$sd_cwd"
 
+# this is a temporary hack until we can live with the default search paths
+case "`uname -s`" in
+OpenBSD)
+    sd_prog1="$sd_prog/../basis-link/program"
+    sd_prog2="$sd_prog/../basis-link/ure-link/lib"
+    LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$sd_prog1:$sd_prog2${LD_LIBRARY_PATH+:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}}
+    JAVA_HOME=$(javaPathHelper -h libreoffice-java 2> /dev/null)
+    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+    if [ -n "${JAVA_HOME}" ]; then
+        export JAVA_HOME
+    fi
+    ;;
+esac
+
 #collect all bootstrap variables specified on the command line
 #so that they can be passed as arguments to javaldx later on
 for arg in $@