diff --git a/inc/auth.php b/inc/auth.php
index 6e9a2908f..2511516c2 100644
--- a/inc/auth.php
+++ b/inc/auth.php
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ function auth_login($user,$pass,$sticky=false,$silent=false){
       $pass   = PMA_blowfish_encrypt($pass,auth_cookiesalt());
       $cookie = base64_encode("$user|$sticky|$pass");
       if($sticky) $time = time()+60*60*24*365; //one year
-      setcookie(DOKU_COOKIE,$cookie,$time,'/');
+      setcookie(DOKU_COOKIE,$cookie,$time,DOKU_REL);
 
       // set session
       $_SESSION[DOKU_COOKIE]['auth']['user'] = $user;
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ function auth_logoff(){
   if(isset($_SERVER['REMOTE_USER']))
     unset($_SERVER['REMOTE_USER']);
   $USERINFO=null; //FIXME
-  setcookie(DOKU_COOKIE,'',time()-600000,'/');
+  setcookie(DOKU_COOKIE,'',time()-600000,DOKU_REL);
 
   if($auth && $auth->canDo('logoff')){
     $auth->logOff();
diff --git a/inc/init.php b/inc/init.php
index d59b2088e..f8697a845 100644
--- a/inc/init.php
+++ b/inc/init.php
@@ -53,8 +53,16 @@
   }
 
   // define baseURL
-  if(!defined('DOKU_BASE')) define('DOKU_BASE',getBaseURL());
-  if(!defined('DOKU_URL'))  define('DOKU_URL',getBaseURL(true));
+  if(!defined('DOKU_REL')) define('DOKU_REL',getBaseURL(false));
+  if(!defined('DOKU_URL')) define('DOKU_URL',getBaseURL(true));
+  if(!defined('DOKU_BASE')){
+    if($conf['canonical']){
+      define('DOKU_BASE',DOKU_URL);
+    }else{
+      define('DOKU_BASE',DOKU_REL);
+    }
+  }
+
 
   // define cookie and session id
   if (!defined('DOKU_COOKIE')) define('DOKU_COOKIE', 'DW'.md5(DOKU_URL));
@@ -90,7 +98,7 @@
   // init session
   if (!headers_sent() && !defined('NOSESSION')){
     session_name("DokuWiki");
-    session_set_cookie_params(0, DOKU_BASE);
+    session_set_cookie_params(0, DOKU_REL);
     session_start();
   }
 
@@ -263,10 +271,10 @@ function remove_magic_quotes(&$array) {
  *
  * @author Andreas Gohr <andi@splitbrain.org>
  */
-function getBaseURL($abs=false){
+function getBaseURL($abs=null){
   global $conf;
   //if canonical url enabled always return absolute
-  if($conf['canonical']) $abs = true;
+  if(is_null($abs)) $abs = $conf['canonical'];
 
   if($conf['basedir']){
     $dir = $conf['basedir'].'/';