diff --git a/ietf/meeting/tests_views.py b/ietf/meeting/tests_views.py
index 4470e2fb0..24dd65b1b 100644
--- a/ietf/meeting/tests_views.py
+++ b/ietf/meeting/tests_views.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import shutil
 import datetime
 import urlparse
 import random
+from unittest import skipIf
 
 import debug           # pyflakes:ignore
 
@@ -41,6 +42,16 @@ from ietf.doc.factories import DocumentFactory
 from ietf.submit.tests import submission_file
 
 
+if os.path.exists(settings.GHOSTSCRIPT_COMMAND):
+    skip_pdf_tests = False
+    skip_message = ""
+else:
+    import sys
+    skip_pdf_tests = True
+    skip_message = ("Skipping pdf test: The binary for ghostscript wasn't found in the\n       "
+                    "location indicated in settings.py.")
+    sys.stderr.write("     "+skip_message+'\n')
+
 class MeetingTests(TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         self.materials_dir = self.tempdir('materials')
@@ -501,6 +512,7 @@ class MeetingTests(TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(response.get('Content-Type'), 'application/octet-stream')
         os.unlink(filename)
 
+    @skipIf(skip_pdf_tests, skip_message)
     def test_session_draft_pdf(self):
         session = SessionFactory(group__type_id='wg',meeting__type_id='ietf')
         doc = DocumentFactory(type_id='draft')
diff --git a/ietf/meeting/views.py b/ietf/meeting/views.py
index fdd23124b..18d57dd76 100644
--- a/ietf/meeting/views.py
+++ b/ietf/meeting/views.py
@@ -723,7 +723,8 @@ def session_draft_pdf(request, num, acronym):
     pdfmarks.close()
     pdfh, pdfn = mkstemp()
     os.close(pdfh)
-    code, out, err = pipe("gs -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -q -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=" + pdfn + " " + pdf_list + " " + pmn)
+    gs = settings.GHOSTSCRIPT_COMMAND
+    code, out, err = pipe(gs + " -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -q -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=" + pdfn + " " + pdf_list + " " + pmn)
     assertion('code == 0')
 
     pdf = open(pdfn,"r")
diff --git a/ietf/settings.py b/ietf/settings.py
index f3eb6ab4c..4017b2c77 100644
--- a/ietf/settings.py
+++ b/ietf/settings.py
@@ -805,6 +805,9 @@ DAYS_TO_EXPIRE_REGISTRATION_LINK = 3
 HTPASSWD_COMMAND = "/usr/bin/htpasswd"
 HTPASSWD_FILE = "/www/htpasswd"
 
+# Generation of pdf files
+GHOSTSCRIPT_COMMAND = "/usr/bin/gs"
+
 # Generation of bibxml files for xml2rfc
 BIBXML_BASE_PATH = '/a/www/ietf-ftp/xml2rfc'