diff --git a/SystemTools.cxx b/SystemTools.cxx
index 2ae24656cf2564661a0afa892faccec4c8f2e64a..37556d7102a28b8c23ccad87db89254eb4f76470 100644
--- a/SystemTools.cxx
+++ b/SystemTools.cxx
@@ -626,8 +626,9 @@ bool SystemTools::SameFile(const char* file1, const char* file2)
 // return true if the file exists
 bool SystemTools::FileExists(const char* filename)
 {
-  struct stat fs;
-  if (stat(filename, &fs) != 0) 
+//  struct stat fs;
+//  if (stat(filename, &fs) != 0) 
+  if ( access(filename, F_OK) != 0 )
     {
     return false;
     }