diff --git a/patches/applyPatches.sh b/patches/applyPatches.sh
index 56cbac7e05a1528ee041540ed84cc7faf7b3a5d6..14cbb49581aa0c5355e2a102a4801f21aec18633 100755
--- a/patches/applyPatches.sh
+++ b/patches/applyPatches.sh
@@ -26,6 +26,11 @@
 
 #apply all available patches.
 set -e
+if [ -z "$UTILSPATH" ]; then
+    UTILSPATH=$(realpath "$(dirname $0)/../utils")
+    export UTILSPATH
+fi
+
 PATCHES="./patch*/patch.sh"
 
 for p in $PATCHES