diff -Nru elmo-0.4/src/abook.c elmo-0.4.new/src/abook.c
--- elmo-0.4/src/abook.c	Thu Mar 13 20:51:32 2003
+++ elmo-0.4.new/src/abook.c	Sat Mar 29 07:34:33 2003
@@ -194,8 +194,14 @@
   FILE *fp;
 
   afile = cf_txtvar_lookup ("addressbook");
-  if (afile == NULL)
-    afile = file_with_dir (getenv ("HOME"), ".addressbook");
+  if (afile == NULL) {
+    char *etc_dir = getenv("ETC_DIR");
+    
+    if (etc_dir)
+      afile = file_with_dir (etc_dir, "addressbook");
+    else
+      afile = file_with_dir (getenv ("HOME"), ".addressbook");
+  }
   else
     afile = xstrdup (afile);
   
diff -Nru elmo-0.4/src/confread.c elmo-0.4.new/src/confread.c
--- elmo-0.4/src/confread.c	Mon Mar 17 08:24:02 2003
+++ elmo-0.4.new/src/confread.c	Sat Mar 29 07:31:40 2003
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@
 #define BUFFER_SIZE 128
 
 #define CONF_FILE ".elmorc"
+#define ETC_DIR_CONF_FILE "elmorc"
 
 enum type_t {TYPE_TXT, TYPE_NUM};
 
@@ -272,8 +273,14 @@
   conf_table  = htable_create (size);
   initialized = 1;
 
-  if (config_file == NULL)
-    file = file_with_dir (getenv ("HOME"), CONF_FILE);
+  if (config_file == NULL){
+    char *etc_dir = getenv("ETC_DIR");
+    
+    if (etc_dir)
+      file = file_with_dir (etc_dir, ETC_DIR_CONF_FILE);
+    else
+      file = file_with_dir (getenv ("HOME"), CONF_FILE);
+  }
   else
     file = xstrdup (config_file);
   cf_read_file (file);