Index: ctools.module
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/drupal-contrib/contributions/modules/ctools/ctools.module,v
retrieving revision 1.27.2.48
diff -u -p -r1.27.2.48 ctools.module
--- ctools.module	27 Aug 2010 16:20:05 -0000	1.27.2.48
+++ ctools.module	15 Oct 2010 21:31:39 -0000
@@ -107,8 +107,15 @@ function ctools_api_version($minimum, $m
  */
 function ctools_include($file, $module = 'ctools', $dir = 'includes') {
   static $used = array();
-  if (!isset($used[$module][$dir][$file])) {
-    require_once './' . drupal_get_path('module', $module) . "/$dir/$file.inc";
+
+  if (!isset($used[$dir][$file])) {
+
+    $path = './' . drupal_get_path('module', $module) . '/';
+    if (!empty($dir)) {
+      $path .= "$dir/";
+    }
+
+    require_once "$path/$file.inc";
     $used[$module][$dir][$file] = true;
   }
 }