diff --git a/checkin_notes b/checkin_notes
index 316241f006..c79c755be3 100755
--- a/checkin_notes
+++ b/checkin_notes
@@ -14980,4 +14980,14 @@ Brian  9 July 2004
         - makes sure that project will get work if there is space on client
 
     sched/
-        sched_send.C
\ No newline at end of file
+        sched_send.C
+
+Jeff  9 July 2004
+    - create_work() now take a new parameter - the path to the result template
+      file.  This was needed because some programs (eg the sah splitter) are
+      not run from the project root directory.
+
+    tools/
+	backend_lib.C 
+	backend_lib.h 
+	create_work.C
diff --git a/tools/backend_lib.C b/tools/backend_lib.C
index b573742fc8..2821a5fa86 100644
--- a/tools/backend_lib.C
+++ b/tools/backend_lib.C
@@ -279,6 +279,7 @@ int create_work(
     DB_WORKUNIT& wu,
     const char* _wu_template,
     const char* result_template_filename,
+    const char* result_template_filepath,
     const char* infile_dir,
     const char** infiles,
     int ninfiles,
@@ -309,10 +310,10 @@ int create_work(
     }
 
     retval = read_filename(
-        result_template_filename, _result_template, sizeof(_result_template)
+        result_template_filepath, _result_template, sizeof(_result_template)
     );
     if (retval) {
-        fprintf(stderr, "create_work: can't read result template\n");
+        fprintf(stderr, "create_work: can't read result template file %s\n", result_template_filepath);
         return retval;
     }
 
diff --git a/tools/backend_lib.h b/tools/backend_lib.h
index e9e1eac2eb..648f9401dd 100644
--- a/tools/backend_lib.h
+++ b/tools/backend_lib.h
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@ extern int create_result(
 extern int create_work(
     DB_WORKUNIT& wu,
     const char* wu_template,
-    const char* result_template,
+    const char* result_template_filename,
+    const char* result_template_filepath,
     const char* infile_dir,
     const char** infiles,
     int ninfiles,
diff --git a/tools/create_work.C b/tools/create_work.C
index 97c835b87b..ea362ff971 100644
--- a/tools/create_work.C
+++ b/tools/create_work.C
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
     DB_WORKUNIT wu;
     int retval;
     char wu_template[LARGE_BLOB_SIZE];
-    char wu_template_file[256], result_template_file[256];
+    char wu_template_file[256], result_template_file[256], result_template_path[1024];
     char keyfile[256];
     char** infiles = NULL;
     int i, ninfiles;
@@ -182,10 +182,13 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
         exit(1);
     }
 
+    strcpy(result_template_path, "./");
+    strcat(result_template_path, result_template_file);
     retval = create_work(
         wu,
         wu_template,
         result_template_file,
+	result_template_path,
         download_dir,
         const_cast<const char **>(infiles),
         ninfiles,