--- a/src/toplev.cc
+++ b/src/toplev.cc
@@ -88,6 +88,9 @@
 // Pointer to function that is currently being evaluated.
 octave_user_function *curr_function = 0;
 
+// Original value of TEXMFDBS environment variable.
+std::string octave_original_texmfdbs;
+
 // Top level context (?)
 jmp_buf toplevel;
 
@@ -381,6 +384,14 @@
   return retval;
 }
 
+static void
+restore_texmfdbs_envvar (void *ptr)
+{
+  std::string *s = static_cast<std::string *> (ptr);
+
+  octave_env::putenv ("TEXMFDBS", *s);
+}
+
 DEFUN (system, args, nargout,
   "-*- texinfo -*-\n\
 @deftypefn {Built-in Function} {} system (@var{string}, @var{return_output}, @var{type})\n\
@@ -425,6 +436,8 @@
 {
   octave_value_list retval;
 
+  unwind_protect::begin_frame ("Fsystem");
+
   int nargin = args.length ();
 
   if (nargin > 0 && nargin < 4)
@@ -461,6 +474,22 @@
 
       if (! error_state)
 	{
+	  // The value of TEXMFDBS that Octave puts in the environment
+	  // will cause trouble if we are asked to run TeX, so we
+	  // should reset it to whatever it was before Octave started.
+	  //
+	  // XXX FIXME XXX -- it would be better to fix the
+	  // kpathsearch library to not always do TeX-specific
+	  // things...
+
+	  static string odb;
+
+	  odb = octave_env::getenv ("TEXMFDBS");
+
+	  unwind_protect::add (restore_texmfdbs_envvar, &odb);
+
+	  octave_env::putenv ("TEXMFDBS", octave_original_texmfdbs);
+
 	  if (type == async)
 	    {
 	      pid_t pid = fork ();
@@ -500,6 +529,8 @@
   else
     print_usage ("system");
 
+  unwind_protect::run_frame ("Fsystem");
+
   return retval;
 }