diff --git a/src/core/qgsdataitem.cpp b/src/core/qgsdataitem.cpp
index 3279e4abcfe4..ea252b7445b0 100644
--- a/src/core/qgsdataitem.cpp
+++ b/src/core/qgsdataitem.cpp
@@ -775,10 +775,12 @@ QgsZipItem::~QgsZipItem()
 
 // internal function to scan a vsidir (zip or tar file) recursively
 // GDAL trunk has this since r24423 (05/16/12) - VSIReadDirRecursive()
-// use a copy of the function internally for now
+// use a copy of the function internally for now,
+// but use char ** and CSLAddString, because CPLStringList was added in gdal-1.9
 char **VSIReadDirRecursive1( const char *pszPath )
 {
-  CPLStringList oFiles = NULL;
+  // CPLStringList oFiles = NULL;
+  char **papszOFiles = NULL;
   char **papszFiles1 = NULL;
   char **papszFiles2 = NULL;
   VSIStatBufL psStatBuf;
@@ -805,7 +807,8 @@ char **VSIReadDirRecursive1( const char *pszPath )
     if ( VSIStatL( osTemp1.c_str(), &psStatBuf ) == 0 &&
          VSI_ISREG( psStatBuf.st_mode ) )
     {
-      oFiles.AddString( papszFiles1[i] );
+      // oFiles.AddString( papszFiles1[i] );
+      papszOFiles = CSLAddString( papszOFiles, papszFiles1[i] );
     }
     else if ( VSIStatL( osTemp1.c_str(), &psStatBuf ) == 0 &&
               VSI_ISDIR( psStatBuf.st_mode ) )
@@ -814,7 +817,8 @@ char **VSIReadDirRecursive1( const char *pszPath )
       osTemp2.clear();
       osTemp2.append( papszFiles1[i] );
       osTemp2.append( "/" );
-      oFiles.AddString( osTemp2.c_str() );
+      // oFiles.AddString( osTemp2.c_str() );
+      papszOFiles = CSLAddString( papszOFiles, osTemp2.c_str() );
 
       // recursively add files inside directory
       papszFiles2 = VSIReadDirRecursive1( osTemp1.c_str() );
@@ -827,7 +831,8 @@ char **VSIReadDirRecursive1( const char *pszPath )
           osTemp2.append( papszFiles1[i] );
           osTemp2.append( "/" );
           osTemp2.append( papszFiles2[j] );
-          oFiles.AddString( osTemp2.c_str() );
+          // oFiles.AddString( osTemp2.c_str() );
+          papszOFiles = CSLAddString( papszOFiles, osTemp2.c_str() );
         }
         CSLDestroy( papszFiles2 );
       }
@@ -835,7 +840,8 @@ char **VSIReadDirRecursive1( const char *pszPath )
   }
   CSLDestroy( papszFiles1 );
 
-  return oFiles.StealList();
+  // return oFiles.StealList();
+  return papszOFiles;
 }
 
 QVector<QgsDataItem*> QgsZipItem::createChildren( )
diff --git a/tests/src/core/testziplayer.cpp b/tests/src/core/testziplayer.cpp
index bfc232a9cae3..53bf40fd34a6 100644
--- a/tests/src/core/testziplayer.cpp
+++ b/tests/src/core/testziplayer.cpp
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ class TestZipLayer: public QObject
     void testGZipItemVectorTransparency();
     void testZipItemRasterTransparency();
     void testGZipItemRasterTransparency();
+    //make sure items inside subfolders can be read
+    void testZipItemSubfolder();
 };
 
 
@@ -215,6 +217,12 @@ void TestZipLayer::initTestCase()
 {
   QgsApplication::init();
   QgsApplication::initQgis();
+
+  // output test environment
+  QgsApplication::showSettings();
+  qDebug() << "GDAL version (build):   " << GDAL_RELEASE_NAME;
+  qDebug() << "GDAL version (runtime): " << GDALVersionInfo( "RELEASE_NAME" );
+
   // save data dir
   mDataDir = QString( TEST_DATA_DIR ) + QDir::separator();
   // Set up the QSettings environment
@@ -370,5 +378,15 @@ void TestZipLayer::testGZipItemRasterTransparency()
   QVERIFY2(( myTransparency == myTarget ), QString( "Transparency is %1, should be %2" ).arg( myTransparency ).arg( myTarget ).toLocal8Bit().data() );
 }
 
+void TestZipLayer::testZipItemSubfolder()
+{
+  QSettings settings;
+  for ( int i = 2 ; i <= mMaxScanZipSetting ; i++ )
+  {
+    settings.setValue( "/qgis/scanZipInBrowser", i );
+    QVERIFY( i == settings.value( "/qgis/scanZipInBrowser" ).toInt() );
+    QVERIFY( testZipItem( mDataDir + "testzip.zip", "folder/folder2/landsat_b2.tif" ) );
+  }
+}
 QTEST_MAIN( TestZipLayer )
 #include "moc_testziplayer.cxx"
diff --git a/tests/testdata/testzip.zip b/tests/testdata/testzip.zip
index 6f8572b120f7..01e956017966 100644
Binary files a/tests/testdata/testzip.zip and b/tests/testdata/testzip.zip differ