diff --git a/bin/nova-scheduler b/bin/nova-scheduler
index 97f98b17f267..38a8f213fedf 100755
--- a/bin/nova-scheduler
+++ b/bin/nova-scheduler
@@ -21,6 +21,17 @@
   Twistd daemon for the nova scheduler nodes.
 """
 
+import os
+import sys
+
+# If ../nova/__init__.py exists, add ../ to Python search path, so that
+# it will override what happens to be installed in /usr/(local/)lib/python...
+possible_topdir = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[0]),
+                                   os.pardir,
+                                   os.pardir))
+if os.path.exists(os.path.join(possible_topdir, 'nova', '__init__.py')):
+    sys.path.insert(0, possible_topdir)
+
 from nova import service
 from nova import twistd