diff -Nru gimp-1.3.22.orig/app/core/gimpimagefile.c gimp-1.3.22/app/core/gimpimagefile.c
--- gimp-1.3.22.orig/app/core/gimpimagefile.c	2003-08-26 23:12:55.000000000 +0200
+++ gimp-1.3.22/app/core/gimpimagefile.c	2003-11-22 19:28:32.000000000 +0100
@@ -181,6 +181,7 @@
   GimpObjectClass   *gimp_object_class;
   GimpViewableClass *viewable_class;
   gint               i;
+	gchar             *home_etc = g_getenv("HOME_ETC");
 
   parent_class = g_type_class_peek_parent (klass);
 
@@ -207,10 +208,10 @@
 
   g_type_class_ref (GIMP_TYPE_IMAGE_TYPE);
 
-  thumb_dir = g_build_filename (g_get_home_dir(), ".thumbnails", NULL);
+  thumb_dir = g_build_filename (home_etc ? home_etc : g_get_home_dir(), ".thumbnails", NULL);
 
   for (i = 0; i < G_N_ELEMENTS (thumb_sizes); i++)
-    thumb_subdirs[i] = g_build_filename (g_get_home_dir(), ".thumbnails",
+    thumb_subdirs[i] = g_build_filename (home_etc ? home_etc : g_get_home_dir(), ".thumbnails",
                                          thumb_sizes[i].dirname, NULL);
   
   thumb_fail_subdir = thumb_subdirs[0];
diff -Nru gimp-1.3.22.orig/libgimpbase/gimpenv.c gimp-1.3.22/libgimpbase/gimpenv.c
--- gimp-1.3.22.orig/libgimpbase/gimpenv.c	2003-10-25 21:02:18.000000000 +0200
+++ gimp-1.3.22/libgimpbase/gimpenv.c	2003-11-22 19:23:31.000000000 +0100
@@ -95,13 +95,13 @@
   static gchar *gimp_dir = NULL;
 
   const gchar  *env_gimp_dir;
-  const gchar  *home_dir;
+  const gchar  *home_dir = g_getenv("HOME_ETC");
 
   if (gimp_dir)
     return gimp_dir;
 
   env_gimp_dir = g_getenv ("GIMP2_DIRECTORY");
-  home_dir     = g_get_home_dir ();
+  if (!home_dir) home_dir     = g_get_home_dir ();
 
   if (env_gimp_dir)
     {