diff --git a/libs/pbd/openuri.cc b/libs/pbd/openuri.cc
index 3ae57d09fb..1843043ea5 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/openuri.cc
+++ b/libs/pbd/openuri.cc
@@ -34,8 +34,11 @@
 #endif
 
 #ifdef PLATFORM_WINDOWS
-	#include <windows.h>
-	#include <shellapi.h>
+# include <windows.h>
+# include <shellapi.h>
+#else
+# include <sys/types.h>
+# include <unistd.h>
 #endif
 
 bool
@@ -66,13 +69,20 @@ PBD::open_uri (const char* uri)
 	while (s.find("\"") != std::string::npos)
 		s.replace(s.find("\\"), 1, "\\\"");
 
+#ifdef NO_VFORK
 	std::string command = "xdg-open ";
 	command += '"' + s + '"';
 	command += " &";
 	(void) system (command.c_str());
-
-	return true;
+#else
+	if (::vfork () == 0) {
+		::execlp ("xdg-open", "xdg-open", s.c_str(), (char*)NULL);
+		exit (0);
+	}
 #endif
+
+#endif /* not PLATFORM_WINDOWS and not __APPLE__ */
+	return true;
 }
 
 bool