diff --git a/apps/smime.c b/apps/smime.c
index 42451728d..b05bd704e 100644
--- a/apps/smime.c
+++ b/apps/smime.c
@@ -109,6 +109,12 @@ int MAIN(int argc, char **argv)
 	args = argv + 1;
 	ret = 1;
 
+	apps_startup();
+
+	if (bio_err == NULL)
+		if ((bio_err = BIO_new(BIO_s_file())) != NULL)
+			BIO_set_fp(bio_err, stderr, BIO_NOCLOSE|BIO_FP_TEXT);
+
 	if (!load_config(bio_err, NULL))
 		goto end;