Minor error when upgrading nodes programmaticly.

I encountered a minor error when i am updating a node programmaticly.
Relevant modules:

• path module enabled
• pathauto module installed
• cck + ctools

I have a custom content type where i get the following error when i try to update a node programmaticly:
Notice: Undefined index: alias in path_node_update() (row 204 from \modules\path\path.module).

if i look in this function and i see:

function path_node_update($node) {
  if (isset($node->path)) {
    $path = $node->path;
    $path['alias'] = trim($path['alias']);
    // Delete old alias if user erased it.
    if (!empty($path['pid']) && empty($path['alias'])) {
      path_delete($path['pid']);
    }
    // Only save a non-empty alias.
    if (!empty($path['alias'])) {
      // Ensure fields for programmatic executions.
      $path['source'] = 'node/' . $node->nid;
      $path['language'] = isset($node->language) ? $node->language : LANGUAGE_NONE;
      path_save($path);
    }
  }
}

the $node->path contains only Array ( [pathauto] => 1 ) .
This happens only if i run the below code:

  $node = node_load($nodeId);
  $node->title = 'test';
  node_save($node);

I dont know if this is pathauto or the drupal core path module. the only way for me to solve it is hack into the core path.module which i dont preffer.

function path_node_update($node) {
  if (isset($node->path) && !$node->path['pathauto'] ) {
    $path = $node->path;
    $path['alias'] = trim($path['alias']);
    // Delete old alias if user erased it.
    if (!empty($path['pid']) && empty($path['alias'])) {
      path_delete($path['pid']);
    }
    // Only save a non-empty alias.
    if (!empty($path['alias'])) {
      // Ensure fields for programmatic executions.
      $path['source'] = 'node/' . $node->nid;
      $path['language'] = isset($node->language) ? $node->language : LANGUAGE_NONE;
      path_save($path);
    }
  }
}