diff --git a/ares/CHANGES b/ares/CHANGES
index d4a21ada2..9558c84b9 100644
--- a/ares/CHANGES
+++ b/ares/CHANGES
@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
   Changelog for the c-ares project
 
+* May 11
+- Nico Stappenbelt reported that when processing domain and search lines in
+  the resolv.conf file, the first entry encountered is processed and used as
+  the search list. According to the manual pages for both Linux, Solaris and
+  Tru64, the last entry of either a domain or a search field is used.
+
+  This is now adjusted in the code
+
 Version 1.2.0 (April 13, 2004)
 
 * April 2, 2004
diff --git a/ares/ares_init.c b/ares/ares_init.c
index 41598e6ed..09062ac80 100644
--- a/ares/ares_init.c
+++ b/ares/ares_init.c
@@ -437,11 +437,11 @@ DhcpNameServer
       return (errno == ENOENT) ? ARES_SUCCESS : ARES_EFILE;
     while ((status = ares__read_line(fp, &line, &linesize)) == ARES_SUCCESS)
     {
-      if ((p = try_config(line, "domain")) && channel->ndomains == -1)
+      if ((p = try_config(line, "domain")))
         status = config_domain(channel, p);
       else if ((p = try_config(line, "lookup")) && !channel->lookups)
         status = config_lookup(channel, p);
-      else if ((p = try_config(line, "search")) && channel->ndomains == -1)
+      else if ((p = try_config(line, "search")))
         status = set_search(channel, p);
       else if ((p = try_config(line, "nameserver")) && channel->nservers == -1)
         status = config_nameserver(&servers, &nservers, p);
@@ -702,6 +702,14 @@ static int set_search(ares_channel channel, const char *str)
   int n;
   const char *p, *q;
 
+  if(channel->ndomains != -1) {
+    /* if we already have some domains present, free them first */
+    for(n=0; n < channel->ndomains; n++)
+      free(channel->domains[n]);
+    free(channel->domains);
+    channel->ndomains = -1;
+  }
+
   /* Count the domains given. */
   n = 0;
   p = str;