diff -Nru abook-0.4.17/abook.c abook-0.4.17.new/abook.c
--- abook-0.4.17/abook.c	Tue Apr  2 20:45:47 2002
+++ abook-0.4.17.new/abook.c	Sat Mar 22 14:14:51 2003
@@ -63,7 +63,13 @@
 	/*if( options_get_int("datafile", "autosave") )*/
 
 	if( load_database(datafile) == 2 ) {
-		char *tmp = strconcat(getenv("HOME"),
+		char *etc_dir = getenv("ETC_DIR");
+		char *tmp;
+    
+		if (etc_dir)
+			tmp = strconcat(etc_dir, "/" ETC_DIR_DATAFILE, NULL);
+		else
+			tmp = strconcat(getenv("HOME"),
 				"/" DATAFILE, NULL);
 
 		if( safe_strcmp(tmp, datafile) ) {
@@ -119,17 +125,22 @@
 set_filenames()
 {
 	struct stat s;
+	char *etc_dir = getenv("ETC_DIR");
+	if (etc_dir) {
+		if (!datafile)
+			datafile = strconcat(etc_dir, "/" ETC_DIR_DATAFILE, NULL);
+		rcfile = strconcat(etc_dir, "/" ETC_DIR_RCFILE, NULL);
+	} else {
+		if( (stat(getenv("HOME"), &s)) == -1 || ! S_ISDIR(s.st_mode) ) {
+			fprintf(stderr,"%s is not a valid HOME directory\n", getenv("HOME") );
+			exit(1);
+		}
 
-	if( (stat(getenv("HOME"), &s)) == -1 || ! S_ISDIR(s.st_mode) ) {
-		fprintf(stderr,"%s is not a valid HOME directory\n", getenv("HOME") );
-		exit(1);
-	}
-
-	if (!datafile)
-		datafile = strconcat(getenv("HOME"), "/" DATAFILE, NULL);
-
-	rcfile = strconcat(getenv("HOME"), "/" RCFILE, NULL);
+		if (!datafile)
+			datafile = strconcat(getenv("HOME"), "/" DATAFILE, NULL);
 
+		rcfile = strconcat(getenv("HOME"), "/" RCFILE, NULL);
+	}
 	atexit(free_filenames);
 }
 
diff -Nru abook-0.4.17/abook.h abook-0.4.17.new/abook.h
--- abook-0.4.17/abook.h	Sat Sep 29 16:44:10 2001
+++ abook-0.4.17.new/abook.h	Sat Mar 22 14:08:42 2003
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 
 #define DEFAULT_UMASK	066
 #define DATAFILE	".abook.addressbook"
-
+#define ETC_DIR_DATAFILE "abook.addressbook"
 /*
  * some "abookwide" useful macros
  */
diff -Nru abook-0.4.17/options.h abook-0.4.17.new/options.h
--- abook-0.4.17/options.h	Mon Apr 23 14:58:43 2001
+++ abook-0.4.17.new/options.h	Sat Mar 22 14:09:11 2003
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #define _OPTIONS_H
 
 #define RCFILE		".abookrc"
+#define ETC_DIR_RCFILE "abookrc"
 #define SYSWIDE_RCFILE	"/etc/abookrc"
 
 #include "conff.h"