diff -Nru aewm-1.2.2/clients/lib/launch.c aewm-1.2.2.new/clients/lib/launch.c
--- aewm-1.2.2/clients/lib/launch.c	Sat Nov 23 23:41:14 2002
+++ aewm-1.2.2.new/clients/lib/launch.c	Sat Mar 22 18:11:25 2003
@@ -69,9 +69,13 @@
 {
     char defrc_buf[BUF_SIZE];
     FILE *rc;
-
+    char *etc_dir = getenv("ETC_DIR");
+    
     if (rcfile && (rc = fopen(rcfile, "r"))) goto opened;
-    snprintf(defrc_buf, sizeof defrc_buf, "%s/.aewm/clientsrc", getenv("HOME"));
+    if (etc_dir)
+        snprintf(defrc_buf, sizeof defrc_buf, "%s/aewm/clientsrc", etc_dir);
+    else
+        snprintf(defrc_buf, sizeof defrc_buf, "%s/.aewm/clientsrc", getenv("HOME"));
     if ((rc = fopen(defrc_buf, "r"))) goto opened;
     if ((rc = fopen(DEF_RC, "r"))) goto opened;
 
diff -Nru aewm-1.2.2/init.c aewm-1.2.2.new/init.c
--- aewm-1.2.2/init.c	Sun Nov 24 00:02:51 2002
+++ aewm-1.2.2.new/init.c	Sat Mar 22 18:09:32 2003
@@ -277,9 +277,13 @@
 {
     char defrc_buf[BUF_SIZE];
     FILE *rc;
+	char *etc_dir = getenv("ETC_DIR");
 
     if (rcfile && (rc = fopen(rcfile, "r"))) goto opened;
-    snprintf(defrc_buf, sizeof defrc_buf, "%s/.aewm/aewmrc", getenv("HOME"));
+    if (etc_dir)
+        snprintf(defrc_buf, sizeof defrc_buf, "%s/aewm/aewmrc", etc_dir);
+    else
+        snprintf(defrc_buf, sizeof defrc_buf, "%s/.aewm/aewmrc", getenv("HOME"));
     if ((rc = fopen(defrc_buf, "r"))) goto opened;
     if ((rc = fopen(DEF_RC, "r"))) goto opened;