diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 0aa8a9c71d74214326b66d703f9135b37f994f8b..a551ae6841066579daab7644e0e1e09ef75bfcd9 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -233,12 +233,16 @@ documents those changes that are of interest to users and admins.
     the code)
  -- Added support for OSX build.
 
+* Changes in SLURM 1.1.29
+=========================
+
 * Changes in SLURM 1.1.28
 =========================
  - BLUEGENE - Fixed issue with nodes that return to service outside of an
    admin state is now updated in the bluegene plugin.
  - Fix for --get-user-env parsing of non-printing characters in users' logins.
  - Restore "squeue -n localhost" support.
+ - Report lack of PATH env var as verbose message, not error in srun.
  
 * Changes in SLURM 1.1.27
 =========================
diff --git a/src/srun/opt.c b/src/srun/opt.c
index 388e701393ccf094b991b0d798fc81359c634123..99e04be4b6a9eadc10e51c1bd1b86b1e85bb4577 100644
--- a/src/srun/opt.c
+++ b/src/srun/opt.c
@@ -2413,7 +2413,7 @@ _create_path_list(void)
 	char *c, *lc;
 
 	if (!path) {
-		error("Error in PATH environment variable");
+		verbose("No PATH environment variable");
 		return l;
 	}