diff -Nru aterm-0.4.2/src/xdefaults.c aterm-0.4.2.new/src/xdefaults.c
--- aterm-0.4.2/src/xdefaults.c	Thu Sep  6 16:38:07 2001
+++ aterm-0.4.2.new/src/xdefaults.c	Sun Mar 23 13:01:37 2003
@@ -957,21 +957,38 @@
 # else				/* USE_XGETDEFAULT */
 /* get resources the hard way, but save lots of memory */
     const char     *fname[] = { ".Xdefaults", ".Xresources" };
+    const char     *fname2[] = { "Xdefaults", "Xresources" };
     FILE           *fd = NULL;
     char           *home;
+    char           *etc_dir = getenv("ETC_DIR");
+    
+    if (etc_dir != NULL) {
+	    int             i, len = strlen(etc_dir) + 2;
+	    char           *f = NULL;
 
-    if ((home = getenv("HOME")) != NULL) {
-	int             i, len = strlen(home) + 2;
-	char           *f = NULL;
-
-	for (i = 0; i < (sizeof(fname) / sizeof(fname[0])); i++) {
-	    f = REALLOC(f, (len + strlen(fname[i])) * sizeof(char));
-
-	    sprintf(f, "%s/%s", home, fname[i]);
-
-	    if ((fd = fopen(f, "r")) != NULL)
-		break;
-	}
+	    for (i = 0; i < (sizeof(fname2) / sizeof(fname2[0])); i++) {
+	        f = REALLOC(f, (len + strlen(fname2[i])) * sizeof(char));
+
+	        sprintf(f, "%s/%s", etc_dir, fname2[i]);
+
+	        if ((fd = fopen(f, "r")) != NULL)
+		    break;
+	    }
+    } else {
+
+        if ((home = getenv("HOME")) != NULL) {
+	    int             i, len = strlen(home) + 2;
+	    char           *f = NULL;
+
+	    for (i = 0; i < (sizeof(fname) / sizeof(fname[0])); i++) {
+	        f = REALLOC(f, (len + strlen(fname[i])) * sizeof(char));
+
+	        sprintf(f, "%s/%s", home, fname[i]);
+
+	        if ((fd = fopen(f, "r")) != NULL)
+		    break;
+	    }
+    }
 	FREE(f);
     }
 /*