diff --git a/src/musredit/PAdmin.cpp b/src/musredit/PAdmin.cpp
index 50b57da0..865a9d1b 100644
--- a/src/musredit/PAdmin.cpp
+++ b/src/musredit/PAdmin.cpp
@@ -556,7 +556,15 @@ PAdmin::PAdmin()
   fMsr2DataParam.global = false;
 
   // XML Parser part
-  QString fln = "./musredit_startup.xml";
+  QString fln = "musredit_startup.xml";
+  // check if it is a MacOSX
+#ifdef Q_WS_MAC
+  fln = "./musredit_startup.xml";
+  if (!QFile::exists(fln)) {
+    fln = "/Applications/musredit.app/Contents/Resources/musredit_startup.xml";
+  }
+#else
+  fln = "./musredit_startup.xml";
   if (!QFile::exists(fln)) {
     QString path = std::getenv("MUSRFITPATH");
     QString rootsys = std::getenv("ROOTSYS");
@@ -564,6 +572,7 @@ PAdmin::PAdmin()
       path = rootsys + "/bin";
     fln = path + "/musredit_startup.xml";
   }
+#endif
   if (QFile::exists(fln)) { // administration file present
     PAdminXMLParser handler(this);
     QFile xmlFile(fln);
diff --git a/src/musredit/musredit.pro b/src/musredit/musredit.pro
index 63a0a0e5..4ad26dca 100644
--- a/src/musredit/musredit.pro
+++ b/src/musredit/musredit.pro
@@ -46,14 +46,14 @@ QMAKE_CXX = g++
 
 # install path for the XML configuration file
 unix:xml.path = $${MUSREDIT_INSTALL_PATH}
-macx:xml.path = $${MUSREDIT_INSTALL_PATH}
+macx:xml.path = /Applications/musredit.app/Contents/Resources
 win32:xml.path = c:/musrfit/bin
 xml.files = musredit_startup.xml
 INSTALLS += xml
 
 CONFIG += qt \
     warn_on \
-    debug
+    release
 
 QT += xml
 QT += webkit