diff --git a/LCS/PyCommon/dbcredentials.py b/LCS/PyCommon/dbcredentials.py
index 7fb06c209d811cf7cfc004c0a51e647b35552394..05f89b60fdfe72cf45db3dccacc956219272bbe9 100644
--- a/LCS/PyCommon/dbcredentials.py
+++ b/LCS/PyCommon/dbcredentials.py
@@ -20,12 +20,19 @@
 # $Id$
 
 from glob import glob
-from os import environ
+import os
+import pwd
 from ConfigParser import SafeConfigParser, NoSectionError, DuplicateSectionError
 from optparse import OptionGroup
 
 __all__ = ["DBCredentials", "options_group", "parse_options"]
 
+# obtain the environment, and add USER and HOME if needed (since supervisord does not)
+environ = os.environ
+user_info = pwd.getpwduid(os.getuid())
+environ.setdefault("HOME", user_info["pw_dir"])
+environ.setdefault("USER", user_info["pw_name"])
+
 def findfiles(pattern):
   """ Returns a list of files matched by `pattern'.
       The pattern can include environment variables using the