diff --git a/config/vufind/httpd-vufind.conf b/config/vufind/httpd-vufind.conf
index 5fa16bf7710239cf4881c770c419015503b2d619..31b94863c4e9493bc2aa2b632388bf8adf5702ac 100644
--- a/config/vufind/httpd-vufind.conf
+++ b/config/vufind/httpd-vufind.conf
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ Alias /vufind /usr/local/vufind/public
   # encounter unexpected side effects -- while this directory may be outside of the
   # local settings directory, there should be exactly one separate cache location per
   # local settings directory.
+  # If you adjust this, be sure to change the public cache AliasMatch above to match.
   #SetEnv VUFIND_CACHE_DIR /usr/local/vufind/local/cache
 
   # This line specifies additional Zend Framework 2 modules to load after the standard VuFind module.
diff --git a/module/VuFindTheme/src/VuFindTheme/View/Helper/ConcatTrait.php b/module/VuFindTheme/src/VuFindTheme/View/Helper/ConcatTrait.php
index 24dd1dda5848d478a2a9ceb8dee16470c7feec9a..94b27cdea4acbb2b144db751c0d9eb09ceea642b 100644
--- a/module/VuFindTheme/src/VuFindTheme/View/Helper/ConcatTrait.php
+++ b/module/VuFindTheme/src/VuFindTheme/View/Helper/ConcatTrait.php
@@ -194,7 +194,12 @@ trait ConcatTrait
      */
     protected function getResourceCacheDir()
     {
-        return $this->themeInfo->getBaseDir() . '/../local/cache/public/';
+        if (!defined('LOCAL_CACHE_DIR')) {
+            throw new \Exception(
+                'Asset pipeline feature depends on the LOCAL_CACHE_DIR constant.'
+            );
+        }
+        return LOCAL_CACHE_DIR . '/public/';
     }
 
     /**
@@ -293,8 +298,13 @@ trait ConcatTrait
     protected function isPipelineActive()
     {
         if ($this->usePipeline) {
-            $cacheDir = $this->getResourceCacheDir();
-            if (!is_writable($cacheDir)) {
+            try {
+                $cacheDir = $this->getResourceCacheDir();
+            } catch (\Exception $e) {
+                $this->usePipeline = $cacheDir = false;
+                error_log($e->getMessage());
+            }
+            if ($cacheDir && !is_writable($cacheDir)) {
                 $this->usePipeline = false;
                 error_log("Cannot write to $cacheDir; disabling asset pipeline.");
             }