diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+Version 0.5.3 released 1 Feb 2009
+
+* Fixed bug which caused jsMath not to load.
+
 Version 0.5.2 released 1 Feb 2009
 
 * Fixed cookie problem caused by empty value fields.
diff --git a/Gitit/State.hs b/Gitit/State.hs
--- a/Gitit/State.hs
+++ b/Gitit/State.hs
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@
 import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy.UTF8 as L (fromString)
 import Data.IORef
 import System.IO.Unsafe (unsafePerformIO)
+import System.Directory (doesFileExist)
+import System.FilePath ((</>))
 import Control.Monad.Trans (MonadIO(), liftIO)
 import Control.Monad (replicateM, liftM)
 import Control.Exception (try, throwIO)
@@ -49,6 +51,7 @@
 initializeAppState :: MonadIO m => Config -> M.Map String User -> T.StringTemplate String -> m ()
 initializeAppState conf users' templ = do
   mimeMapFromFile <- liftIO $ readMimeTypesFile (mimeTypesFile conf)
+  jsMathExists <- liftIO $ doesFileExist $ staticDir conf </> "js" </> "jsMath" </> "easy" </> "load.js"
   updateAppState $ \s -> s { sessions  = Sessions M.empty
                            , users     = users'
                            , config    = conf
@@ -58,7 +61,7 @@
                            , mimeMap   = mimeMapFromFile
                            , cache     = M.empty
                            , template  = templ
-                           , jsMath    = False }
+                           , jsMath    = jsMathExists }
 
 updateAppState :: MonadIO m => (AppState -> AppState) -> m () 
 updateAppState fn = liftIO $! atomicModifyIORef appstate $ \st -> (fn st, ())
diff --git a/README.markdown b/README.markdown
--- a/README.markdown
+++ b/README.markdown
@@ -218,7 +218,11 @@
 `static/js` directory (a new subdirectory, `jsMath`, will be
 created).  You can test to see if math is working properly by clicking
 "help" on the top navigation bar and looking for the math example
-(the quadratic formula).
+(the quadratic formula).  Note that if you copied the `jsMath` directory
+into `static` *after* starting gitit, you will have to restart gitit
+for the change to be noticed.  Gitit checks for the existence of the
+jsMath files when it starts, and will not include links to them unless
+they exist.
 
 To write math on a wiki page, just enclose it in dollar signs, as in LaTeX:
 
diff --git a/gitit.cabal b/gitit.cabal
--- a/gitit.cabal
+++ b/gitit.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:                gitit
-version:             0.5.2
+version:             0.5.3
 Cabal-version:       >= 1.2
 build-type:          Simple
 synopsis:            Wiki using HAppS, git or darcs, and pandoc.
@@ -62,6 +62,6 @@
     build-depends:   HAppS-Server >= 0.9.3 && < 0.9.4
     cpp-options:     -D_HAPPS
   ghc-options:       -Wall -threaded
-  cpp-options:       -D_VERSION="0.5.2"
+  cpp-options:       -D_VERSION="0.5.3"
   ghc-prof-options:  -auto-all