diff --git a/client/powerline.sh b/client/powerline.sh
index 2c85fe77..b112ec21 100755
--- a/client/powerline.sh
+++ b/client/powerline.sh
@@ -1,11 +1,21 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
+test "${OSTYPE#darwin}" = "${OSTYPE}" && darwin=n || darwin=y
+
 if test "$1" = "--socket" ; then
 	shift
 	ADDRESS="$1"
 	shift
 else
 	ADDRESS="powerline-ipc-${UID:-`id -u`}"
+	test "$darwin" = y && ADDRESS="/tmp/$ADDRESS"
+fi
+
+if test "$darwin" = y; then
+	ENV=genv
+else
+	ENV=env
+	ADDRESS="abstract-client:$ADDRESS"
 fi
 
 # Warning: env -0 does not work in busybox. Consider switching to parsing 
@@ -16,8 +26,8 @@ fi
 		printf '%s\0' "$argv"
 	done
 	printf '%s\0' "$PWD"
-	env -0
-) | socat -lf/dev/null -t 10 - abstract-client:"$ADDRESS"
+	$ENV -0
+) | socat -lf/dev/null -t 10 - "$ADDRESS"
 
 if test $? -ne 0 ; then
 	powerline-render "$@"
diff --git a/docs/source/installation/osx.rst b/docs/source/installation/osx.rst
index 204666a7..70523b78 100644
--- a/docs/source/installation/osx.rst
+++ b/docs/source/installation/osx.rst
@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@ Python package
 
    .
 
+.. note::
+    In case you want or have to use ``powerline.sh`` socat-based client you 
+    should also install GNU env named ``genv``. This may be achieved by running 
+    ``brew install coreutils``.
+
 2. Install Powerline using the following command::
 
        pip install --user git+git://github.com/Lokaltog/powerline