diff -Nru bbkeys-0.8.6/src/Baseresource.cc bbkeys-0.8.6.new/src/Baseresource.cc
--- bbkeys-0.8.6/src/Baseresource.cc	Sun Jun  2 00:52:48 2002
+++ bbkeys-0.8.6.new/src/Baseresource.cc	Sun Mar 23 15:36:00 2003
@@ -45,8 +45,14 @@
       ResourceType=BBTOOLS;
   } else {
     char *homedir = getenv("HOME");
-    bbtool->config_filename = new char[strlen(homedir) + 32];
-    sprintf(bbtool->config_filename, "%s/.blackboxrc", homedir);
+    char *etc_dir = getenv("ETC_DIR");
+    if (etc_dir != NULL) {
+      bbtool->config_filename = new char[strlen(etc_dir) + 32];
+      sprintf(bbtool->config_filename, "%s/blackboxrc", etc_dir);
+    } else {
+      bbtool->config_filename = new char[strlen(homedir) + 32];
+      sprintf(bbtool->config_filename, "%s/.blackboxrc", homedir);
+    }
     if ((resource_db = XrmGetFileDatabase(bbtool->config_filename))!=NULL) {
       ReadBlackboxResource();
       ResourceType=BLACKBOX;
@@ -243,11 +249,20 @@
   else {
     delete [] style.conf_filename;
     char *homedir = getenv("HOME");
-    int len=strlen(homedir) + strlen(BBTOOL_LOCAL);
-
-    style.conf_filename = new char[len+2];
-    memset(style.conf_filename, 0, len + 2);
-    sprintf(style.conf_filename, "%s/%s", homedir,BBTOOL_LOCAL);
+    char *etc_dir = getenv("ETC_DIR");
+    int len;
+    
+    if (etc_dir != NULL) {
+      len=strlen(etc_dir) + strlen(BBTOOL_ETC_DIR);
+      style.conf_filename = new char[len+2];
+      memset(style.conf_filename, 0, len + 2);
+      sprintf(style.conf_filename, "%s/%s", etc_dir,BBTOOL_ETC_DIR);
+    } else {
+      len=strlen(homedir) + strlen(BBTOOL_LOCAL);
+      style.conf_filename = new char[len+2];
+      memset(style.conf_filename, 0, len + 2);
+      sprintf(style.conf_filename, "%s/%s", homedir,BBTOOL_LOCAL);
+    }
     if ((resource_db = XrmGetFileDatabase(style.conf_filename))==NULL) {
       delete [] style.conf_filename;
       int len=strlen(GLOBAL_NOBB);
@@ -286,10 +301,20 @@
   } else {
     delete [] style.conf_filename;
     char *homedir = getenv("HOME");
-    int len=strlen(homedir) + strlen(BLACKBOX_LOCAL); 
-    style.conf_filename = new char[len+2];
-    memset(style.conf_filename, 0, len + 2);
-    sprintf(style.conf_filename, "%s/%s", homedir,BLACKBOX_LOCAL);
+    char *etc_dir = getenv("ETC_DIR");
+    int len;
+    
+    if (etc_dir != NULL) {
+      len=strlen(etc_dir) + strlen(BLACKBOX_ETC_DIR); 
+      style.conf_filename = new char[len+2];
+      memset(style.conf_filename, 0, len + 2);
+      sprintf(style.conf_filename, "%s/%s", etc_dir,BLACKBOX_ETC_DIR);
+    } else {
+      len=strlen(homedir) + strlen(BLACKBOX_LOCAL); 
+      style.conf_filename = new char[len+2];
+      memset(style.conf_filename, 0, len + 2);
+      sprintf(style.conf_filename, "%s/%s", homedir,BLACKBOX_LOCAL);
+    }
     if ((db = XrmGetFileDatabase(style.conf_filename))==NULL) {
       delete [] style.conf_filename;
       int len=strlen(GLOBAL_BB);
diff -Nru bbkeys-0.8.6/src/Baseresource.hh bbkeys-0.8.6.new/src/Baseresource.hh
--- bbkeys-0.8.6/src/Baseresource.hh	Tue Oct  8 02:06:41 2002
+++ bbkeys-0.8.6.new/src/Baseresource.hh	Sun Mar 23 15:31:53 2003
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@
 
 #define BBTOOL_LOCAL ".bbtools/bbkeys.nobb"
 #define BLACKBOX_LOCAL ".bbtools/bbkeys.bb"
+#define BBTOOL_ETC_DIR "bbtools/bbkeys.nobb"
+#define BLACKBOX_ETC_DIR "bbtools/bbkeys.bb"
 
 class ToolWindow;
 class BImageControl;
diff -Nru bbkeys-0.8.6/src/bbkeys.cc bbkeys-0.8.6.new/src/bbkeys.cc
--- bbkeys-0.8.6/src/bbkeys.cc	Tue Oct 15 19:23:16 2002
+++ bbkeys-0.8.6.new/src/bbkeys.cc	Sun Mar 23 15:28:04 2003
@@ -817,9 +817,15 @@
 	timer->fireOnce(True);
 	
 	if (!(options->bbkeysrc)){
+		char *etc_dir = getenv("ETC_DIR");
 		char *homedir = getenv("HOME");
-		bbkeys_rcfile = new char[strlen(homedir) + 32];
-		sprintf(bbkeys_rcfile, "%s/.bbkeysrc", homedir);
+		if (etc_dir != NULL) {
+			bbkeys_rcfile = new char[strlen(etc_dir) + 32];
+			sprintf(bbkeys_rcfile, "%s/bbkeysrc", etc_dir);
+		} else {
+			bbkeys_rcfile = new char[strlen(homedir) + 32];
+			sprintf(bbkeys_rcfile, "%s/.bbkeysrc", homedir);
+		}
 	} else {
 		bbkeys_rcfile = options->bbkeysrc;
 	}
diff -Nru bbkeys-0.8.6/src/bbkeysconf.pl.in bbkeys-0.8.6.new/src/bbkeysconf.pl.in
--- bbkeys-0.8.6/src/bbkeysconf.pl.in	Sun Jan 13 18:59:39 2002
+++ bbkeys-0.8.6.new/src/bbkeysconf.pl.in	Sun Mar 23 15:25:49 2003
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
 # prototypes
 sub trim;
 
-my $bbkeysrc = $ENV{HOME} . "/.bbkeysrc";
+my $bbkeysrc = ($ENV{ETC_DIR} ? $ENV{ETC_DIR} . "/bbkeysrc" : $ENV{HOME} . "/.bbkeysrc");
 
 # get the keyconfig file from the commandline, or use the default
 for ( $i=0; $i< @ARGV; $i++) {