diff --git a/commonsh/00_helper b/commonsh/00_helper
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..0cb0339
--- /dev/null
+++ b/commonsh/00_helper
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+#! /bin/sh
+
+concat_path ()
+{
+	if [ -z "$1" ] ; then
+		echo "Please give me a value to concatinate to the variable!"
+		exit
+	fi
+
+	local addition
+
+	addition=$1
+
+	if [ -d "${addition}" ] ; then
+		if [ -z "${PATH}" ] ; then
+			PATH=${addition}
+		else
+			PATH=${addition}:${PATH}
+		fi
+
+		export PATH
+	fi
+}
+
+concat_manpath ()
+{
+	if [ -z "$1" ] ; then
+		echo "Please give me a value to concatinate to the variable!"
+		exit
+	fi
+
+	local addition
+
+	addition=$1
+
+	if [ -d "${addition}" ] ; then
+		if [ -z "${MANPATH}" ] ; then
+			MANPATH=${addition}
+		else
+			MANPATH=${addition}:${MANPATH}
+		fi
+
+		export MANPATH
+	fi
+}
+
+# we don't have a MANPATH? we can find one.
+if [ -z "${MANPATH}" ] ; then
+	case `uname -s` in
+			SunOS)
+				# some solaris systems have manpath
+				if ( command -v manpath >/dev/null 2>&1 ) ; then
+					MANPATH=`manpath`
+					export MANPATH
+				else
+					concat_manpath "/usr/share/man"
+				fi
+			;;
+			OpenBSD)
+				concat_manpath "/usr/local/man/old"
+				concat_manpath "/usr/gnu/man/old"
+				concat_manpath "/usr/contrib/man/old"
+				concat_manpath "/usr/X11R6/man/old"
+				concat_manpath "/usr/X11/man/old"
+				concat_manpath "/usr/gnu/man"
+				concat_manpath "/usr/contrib/man"
+				concat_manpath "/usr/X11R6/man"
+				concat_manpath "/usr/X11/man"
+				concat_manpath "/usr/share/man"
+			;;
+			Darwin|Linux|FreeBSD)
+				MANPATH=`manpath`
+				export MANPATH
+			;;
+	esac
+fi
diff --git a/commonsh/01_ports b/commonsh/01_ports
index d7ca964..1421c4c 100755
--- a/commonsh/01_ports
+++ b/commonsh/01_ports
@@ -1,28 +1,7 @@
 #! /bin/sh
 
-if [ -d /opt/local/man ] ; then
-	if [ -z "${MANPATH}" ] ; then
-		MANPATH="/opt/local/man":`manpath`
-	else
-		MANPATH="/opt/local/man:${MANPATH}"
-	fi
-	export MANPATH
-fi
+concat_manpath "/opt/local/man"
+concat_path "/opt/local/bin"
+concat_path "/opt/local/sbin"
+concat_path "/opt/local/libexec"
 
-if [ -d /opt/local/bin ] ; then
-	if [ -z "${PATH}" ] ; then
-		PATH="/opt/local/bin"
-	else
-		PATH="/opt/local/bin:${PATH}"
-	fi
-fi
-
-if [ -d /opt/local/sbin ] ; then
-	PATH="/opt/local/sbin:${PATH}"
-fi
-
-if [ -d /opt/local/libexec ] ; then
-	PATH="/opt/local/libexec:${PATH}"
-fi
-
-export PATH
diff --git a/commonsh/02_term b/commonsh/02_term
index a38335a..31a6674 100755
--- a/commonsh/02_term
+++ b/commonsh/02_term
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ fix_term ()
 # sorta hacky, but I cannot find a better way to do this :/
 fix_terminfo_db ()
 {
-	if [ `command -v infocmp 2>/dev/null` = "$1/bin/infocmp" ] ; then
+	if [ -d "$1" ] && [ `command -v infocmp 2>/dev/null` = "$1/bin/infocmp" ] ; then
 		TERMINFO="$1/share/terminfo"
 		export TERMINFO
 	fi
diff --git a/commonsh/03_cabal b/commonsh/03_cabal
index bdeccc3..4aa013b 100755
--- a/commonsh/03_cabal
+++ b/commonsh/03_cabal
@@ -1,11 +1,4 @@
 #! /bin/sh
 
-if [ -d "${HOME}/.cabal/bin" ] ; then
-	if [ -z "${PATH}" ] ; then
-		PATH="${HOME}/.cabal/bin"
-	else
-		PATH="${HOME}/.cabal/bin:${PATH}"
-	fi
-fi
+concat_path "${HOME}/.cabal/bin"
 
-export PATH
diff --git a/commonsh/10_git b/commonsh/10_git
index 2bad1c5..37e6128 100755
--- a/commonsh/10_git
+++ b/commonsh/10_git
@@ -1,24 +1,6 @@
 #! /bin/sh
 
-if [ -d /usr/local/git/man ] ; then
-	if [ -z "${MANPATH}" ] ; then
-		MANPATH="/usr/local/git/man":`manpath`
-	else
-		MANPATH="/usr/local/git/man:${MANPATH}"
-	fi
-	export MANPATH
-fi
+concat_manpath "/usr/local/git/man"
+concat_path "/usr/local/git/bin"
+concat_path "/usr/local/git/libexec/git-core"
 
-if [ -d /usr/local/git/bin ] ; then
-	if [ -z "${PATH}" ] ; then
-		PATH="/usr/local/git/bin"
-	else
-		PATH="/usr/local/git/bin:${PATH}"
-	fi
-fi
-
-if [ -d /usr/local/git/libexec/git-core ] ; then
-	PATH="/usr/local/git/libexec/git-core:${PATH}"
-fi
-
-export PATH