diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 16dba4ad47..589fec4639 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 *~
 phpunit.xml
+phpBB/cache/*.html
 phpBB/cache/*.php
 phpBB/cache/queue.php.lock
 phpBB/config.php
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/template.php b/phpBB/includes/template.php
index e99b9a8c6c..935605b12a 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/template.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/template.php
@@ -529,7 +529,14 @@ class phpbb_template
 	*/
 	public function _php_include($filename)
 	{
-		$file = $this->phpbb_root_path . $filename;
+		if (is_absolute($filename))
+		{
+			$file = $filename;
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			$file = $this->phpbb_root_path . $filename;
+		}
 
 		if (!file_exists($file))
 		{
diff --git a/tests/template/includephp_test.php b/tests/template/includephp_test.php
index 6c1cdb0fd6..45dc8dc39e 100644
--- a/tests/template/includephp_test.php
+++ b/tests/template/includephp_test.php
@@ -24,4 +24,28 @@ class phpbb_template_includephp_test extends phpbb_template_template_test_case
 
 		$GLOBALS['config']['tpl_allow_php'] = false;
 	}
+
+	public function test_includephp_absolute()
+	{
+		$path_to_php = dirname(__FILE__) . '/templates/_dummy_include.php.inc';
+		$this->assertTrue(is_absolute($path_to_php));
+		$template_text = "Path is absolute.\n<!-- INCLUDEPHP $path_to_php -->";
+
+		$cache_dir = dirname($this->template->cachepath) . '/';
+		$fp = fopen($cache_dir . 'includephp_absolute.html', 'w');
+		fputs($fp, $template_text);
+		fclose($fp);
+
+		$GLOBALS['config']['tpl_allow_php'] = true;
+
+		$this->template->set_custom_template($cache_dir, 'tests');
+		$cache_file = $this->template->cachepath . 'includephp_absolute.html.php';
+
+		$this->run_template('includephp_absolute.html', array(), array(), array(), "Path is absolute.\ntesting included php", $cache_file);
+
+		$this->template->set_filenames(array('test' => 'includephp_absolute.html'));
+		$this->assertEquals("Path is absolute.\ntesting included php", $this->display('test'), "Testing INCLUDEPHP");
+
+		$GLOBALS['config']['tpl_allow_php'] = false;
+	}
 }