--- node.old.module	2008-06-25 03:59:58.000000000 -0500
+++ node.module	2008-11-05 08:00:24.000000000 -0600
@@ -1228,10 +1228,14 @@ function node_search($op = 'search', $ke
       }
       if ($weight = (int)variable_get('node_rank_recent', 5)) {
         // Exponential decay with half-life of 6 months, starting at last indexed node
-        $ranking[] = '%d * POW(2, (GREATEST(MAX(n.created), MAX(n.changed), MAX(c.last_comment_timestamp)) - %d) * 6.43e-8)';
+        $ranking[] = '%d * POW(2, (GREATEST(MAX(n.created), MAX(n.changed)' . (module_exists('comment') ? ', MAX(c.last_comment_timestamp)' : '') . ') - %d) * 6.43e-8)';
         $arguments2[] = $weight;
         $arguments2[] = (int)variable_get('node_cron_last', 0);
-        $join2 .= ' LEFT JOIN {node_comment_statistics} c ON c.nid = i.sid';
+        
+        if (module_exists('comment')) {
+          $join2 .= ' LEFT JOIN {node_comment_statistics} c ON c.nid = i.sid';
+        }
+        
         $stats_join = TRUE;
         $total += $weight;
       }
@@ -1778,7 +1782,7 @@ function node_update_index() {
   $limit = (int)variable_get('search_cron_limit', 100);
 
   // Store the maximum possible comments per thread (used for ranking by reply count)
-  variable_set('node_cron_comments_scale', 1.0 / max(1, db_result(db_query('SELECT MAX(comment_count) FROM {node_comment_statistics}'))));
+  variable_set('node_cron_comments_scale', module_exists('comment') ? 1.0 / max(1, db_result(db_query('SELECT MAX(comment_count) FROM {node_comment_statistics}'))) : 1);
   variable_set('node_cron_views_scale', 1.0 / max(1, db_result(db_query('SELECT MAX(totalcount) FROM {node_counter}'))));
 
   $result = db_query_range("SELECT n.nid FROM {node} n LEFT JOIN {search_dataset} d ON d.type = 'node' AND d.sid = n.nid WHERE d.sid IS NULL OR d.reindex <> 0 ORDER BY d.reindex ASC, n.nid ASC", 0, $limit);