diff --git a/repo2html b/repo2html
index 7b06c88..1cad669 100755
--- a/repo2html
+++ b/repo2html
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ while getopts t:d:c:e:l:f:i:o:C:ER:T: opt; do
     c) copyright="$OPTARG";;
     e) html_ext="$OPTARG";;
     l) license="$OPTARG";;
-    f) msgfmt="$OPTARG";;
+    f) msgfmt="$path_root/$OPTARG";;
     i)
       do_raw=1
       raw_tpl="$OPTARG"
@@ -138,7 +138,8 @@ copyright="${copyright:-$( cwarn copyright 'Respective Authors' )}"
 license="${license:-$( cwarn license )}"
 
 # provide default message formatter if necessary
-msgfmt="${msgfmt:-./msgfmt}"
+export msgfmt_default=./msgfmt
+msgfmt="${msgfmt:-$default}"
 
 # make configuration available to all scripts
 export title desc copyright license msgfmt url_root path_tpl path path_root \