diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 2b15202b..e266b576 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -106,7 +106,9 @@ if File.readable?(gemfile_local)
 end
 
 # Load plugins' Gemfiles
-Dir.glob File.expand_path("../vendor/plugins/*/Gemfile", __FILE__) do |file|
-  puts "Loading #{file} ..." if $DEBUG # `ruby -d` or `bundle -v`
-  instance_eval File.read(file)
+["plugins", "chiliproject_plugins"].each do |plugin_path|
+  Dir.glob File.expand_path("../vendor/#{plugin_path}/*/Gemfile", __FILE__) do |file|
+    puts "Loading #{file} ..." if $DEBUG # `ruby -d` or `bundle -v`
+    instance_eval File.read(file)
+  end
 end
diff --git a/app/models/repository.rb b/app/models/repository.rb
index 9411dfb5..ef44345e 100644
--- a/app/models/repository.rb
+++ b/app/models/repository.rb
@@ -200,6 +200,14 @@ class Repository < ActiveRecord::Base
     encoding.blank? ? 'UTF-8' : encoding
   end
 
+  # Provide a log encoding even if the column was not created yet
+  # It's used by 20100714111653_build_initial_journals_for_acts_as_journalized
+  # for initial journal creaetion of the changesets while the colum is only
+  # created by 20110228000000_add_repositories_log_encoding
+  def log_encoding
+    read_attribute(:log_encoding)
+  end
+
   # Fetches new changesets for all repositories of active projects
   # Can be called periodically by an external script
   # eg. ruby script/runner "Repository.fetch_changesets"
diff --git a/config/environment.rb b/config/environment.rb
index cfb57a65..49b2aeb6 100644
--- a/config/environment.rb
+++ b/config/environment.rb
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@
 # you don't control web/app server and can't set it the proper way
 # ENV['RAILS_ENV'] ||= 'production'
 
+# use RACK_ENV if we are running as a simple rack app
+ENV['RAILS_ENV'] ||= ENV['RACK_ENV'] if ENV['RACK_ENV']
+
 # Specifies gem version of Rails to use when vendor/rails is not present
 RAILS_GEM_VERSION = '2.3.14' unless defined? RAILS_GEM_VERSION