diff --git a/change_log.txt b/change_log.txt
index 0728b23f..95b49c93 100644
--- a/change_log.txt
+++ b/change_log.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 11/09/2009
 - lexer/parser bugfix 
+- new SMARTY_SPL_AUTOLOAD constant to control the autoloader option
 
 11/08/2009
 - fixed alphanumeric array index 
diff --git a/libs/Smarty.class.php b/libs/Smarty.class.php
index 4fff5342..3899f141 100644
--- a/libs/Smarty.class.php
+++ b/libs/Smarty.class.php
@@ -87,8 +87,18 @@ define('SMARTY_PHP_ALLOW', 3); //-> escape tags as entities
 /**
 * register the class autoloader
 */
-spl_autoload_register('smartyAutoload');
-                            
+if (!defined('SMARTY_SPL_AUTOLOAD')) {
+    define('SMARTY_SPL_AUTOLOAD',0);
+} 
+
+if (SMARTY_SPL_AUTOLOAD && set_include_path(get_include_path() . PATH_SEPARATOR . SMARTY_SYSPLUGINS_DIR) !== false) {
+    $registeredAutoLoadFunctions = spl_autoload_functions();
+    if (!isset($registeredAutoLoadFunctions['spl_autoload'])) {
+        spl_autoload_register();
+    } 
+} else {
+    spl_autoload_register('smartyAutoload');
+}                             
 
 /**
 * This is the main Smarty class