diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 6375f559..da36cdda 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+2009-06-20
+	* Use the internal process list for if_running on Linux
+
 2009-06-14
 	* Fix XMMS2 related crash (sf.net #2806111 and #2805310, thanks Lassi)
 
diff --git a/src/conky.c b/src/conky.c
index af8db824..614a039c 100644
--- a/src/conky.c
+++ b/src/conky.c
@@ -2100,12 +2100,18 @@ static struct text_object *construct_text_object(const char *s,
 		} else {
 			obj->data.ifblock.s = strndup(arg, text_buffer_size);
 		}
+#ifdef __linux__
+	END OBJ_IF(if_running, INFO_TOP)
+		if (arg) {
+			obj->data.ifblock.s = strndup(arg, text_buffer_size);
+#else
 	END OBJ_IF(if_running, 0)
 		if (arg) {
 			char buf[256];
 
 			snprintf(buf, 256, "pidof %s >/dev/null", arg);
 			obj->data.ifblock.s = strndup(buf, text_buffer_size);
+#endif
 		} else {
 			ERR("if_running needs an argument");
 			obj->data.ifblock.s = 0;
@@ -4796,7 +4802,11 @@ static void generate_text_internal(char *p, int p_max_size,
 				}
 			}
 			OBJ(if_running) {
+#ifdef __linux__
+				if (!get_process_by_name(obj->data.ifblock.s)) {
+#else
 				if ((obj->data.ifblock.s) && system(obj->data.ifblock.s)) {
+#endif
 					DO_JUMP;
 				}
 			}
diff --git a/src/top.c b/src/top.c
index 6d92fafc..640658fe 100644
--- a/src/top.c
+++ b/src/top.c
@@ -52,6 +52,18 @@ void free_all_processes(void)
 	first_process = NULL;
 }
 
+struct process *get_process_by_name(const char *name)
+{
+	struct process *p = first_process;
+
+	while (p) {
+		if (!strcmp(p->name, name))
+			return p;
+		p = p->next;
+	}
+	return 0;
+}
+
 static struct process *find_process(pid_t pid)
 {
 	struct process *p = first_process;
diff --git a/src/top.h b/src/top.h
index 7d616170..c17faaab 100644
--- a/src/top.h
+++ b/src/top.h
@@ -136,4 +136,7 @@ void process_find_top(struct process **, struct process **, struct process **
 #endif
 		);
 
+/* lookup a program by it's name */
+struct process *get_process_by_name(const char *);
+
 #endif /* _top_h_ */