diff -urN cvs-1.12.13.org/src/filesubr.c cvs-1.12.13/src/filesubr.c
--- cvs-1.12.13.org/src/filesubr.c	2005-09-28 17:25:59.000000000 +0200
+++ cvs-1.12.13/src/filesubr.c	2007-11-05 20:47:46.928468198 +0100
@@ -832,7 +832,24 @@
 char *
 strcat_filename_onto_homedir (const char *dir, const char *file)
 {
-    char *path = Xasprintf ("%s/%s", dir, file);
+    char *path;
+    char *cfgdir;
+    struct stat st;
+    int isdot = (*file == '.');
+
+    if ( (path = getenv("CONFIG_DIR")) && path[0] ) {
+	    cfgdir = xmalloc(strlen(dir) + 1 + strlen(path) + 1);
+	    sprintf(cfgdir, "%s/%s", dir, path);
+    } else
+	    cfgdir = NULL;
+    if ( cfgdir && (stat(cfgdir, &st) != -1) && S_ISDIR(st.st_mode) ) {
+	    path = Xasprintf ("%s/%s", cfgdir, file+isdot);
+    } else {
+	    path = Xasprintf ("%s/%s", dir, file);
+    }
+    if (cfgdir)
+	    free(cfgdir);
+   
     return path;
 }