Index: libvirt-0.4.4/src/remote_internal.c
===================================================================
--- libvirt-0.4.4.orig/src/remote_internal.c
+++ libvirt-0.4.4/src/remote_internal.c
@@ -660,9 +660,22 @@ doRemoteOpen (virConnectPtr conn,
             cmd_argv[j++] = strdup ("none");
         }
         cmd_argv[j++] = strdup (priv->hostname);
-        cmd_argv[j++] = strdup (netcat ? netcat : "nc");
-        cmd_argv[j++] = strdup ("-U");
-        cmd_argv[j++] = strdup (sockname ? sockname : LIBVIRTD_PRIV_UNIX_SOCKET);
+        if (netcat) {
+           cmd_argv[j++] = strdup (netcat);
+           cmd_argv[j++] = strdup ("-U");
+           cmd_argv[j++] = strdup (sockname ? sockname : LIBVIRTD_PRIV_UNIX_SOCKET);
+        } else {
+           cmd_argv[j++] = strdup ("socat");
+           cmd_argv[j++] = strdup ("-");
+           
+           char *socat_addr = 0;
+           if ((asprintf (&socat_addr, "GOPEN:%s",
+                         sockname ? sockname : LIBVIRTD_PRIV_UNIX_SOCKET)) < 0) {
+              error (conn, VIR_ERR_SYSTEM_ERROR, strerror (ENOMEM));
+              goto failed;
+           }
+           cmd_argv[j++] = socat_addr;
+        }
         cmd_argv[j++] = 0;
         assert (j == nr_args);
         for (j = 0; j < (nr_args-1); j++) {