diff -burN gentoo-0.11.46.orig/src/configure.c gentoo-0.11.46/src/configure.c
--- gentoo-0.11.46.orig/src/configure.c	2004-02-29 23:09:48.737669968 +0100
+++ gentoo-0.11.46/src/configure.c	2004-02-29 23:24:29.152826520 +0100
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@
 void cfg_save_all(MainInfo *min)
 {
 	gchar		*root = "GentooConfig", *home, rcname[PATH_MAX];
+	gchar		*home_etc;
 	FILE		*out;
 	guint		i;
 	const CfgModule	*page;
@@ -176,6 +177,11 @@
 	if((home = getenv("HOME")) != NULL)
 	{
 		strcpy(rcname, home);
+		if ( (home_etc = getenv("HOME_ETC")) != NULL)
+		{
+			strcat(rcname, "/");
+			strcat(rcname, home_etc);
+		};
 		strcat(rcname, "/" RCNAME);
 	}
 	else
@@ -437,11 +443,19 @@
 guint32 cfg_load_config(MainInfo *min)
 {
 	XmlNode	*tree;
-	gchar	name[PATH_MAX] = "", *hpath;
+	gchar	name[PATH_MAX] = "", *hpath, *home_etc;
 	guint32	i, flags = 0UL;
 
-	if((hpath = getenv("HOME")) != NULL)
+	if((hpath = getenv("HOME")) != NULL)
+	{
+		//strcpy(hpath, home);
+		if ( (home_etc = getenv("HOME_ETC")) != NULL)
+		{
+			strcat(hpath, "/");
+			strcat(hpath, home_etc);
+		};
 		g_snprintf(name, sizeof name, "%s" G_DIR_SEPARATOR_S "%s", hpath, RCNAME);
+	};
 
 	/* Does the user seem to have a local config? */
 	if(!fut_can_read_named(name))
@@ -464,8 +478,16 @@
 	{
 		gchar	homename[PATH_MAX] = "", syscfg[PATH_MAX], whine[2 * PATH_MAX];
 
-		if((hpath = getenv("HOME")) != NULL)
+		if((hpath = getenv("HOME")) != NULL)
+		{
+			// strcpy(hpath, home);
+			if ((home_etc = getenv("HOME_ETC")) != NULL)
+			{
+				strcat(hpath, "/");
+				strcat(hpath, home_etc);
+			}
 			g_snprintf(homename, sizeof homename, "%s/%s", hpath, RCNAME);
+		}
 
 		g_snprintf(syscfg, sizeof syscfg, PATH_CFG G_DIR_SEPARATOR_S "%s", RCNAME + 1);
 		g_snprintf(whine, sizeof whine, _("Couldn't find any configuration file; checked\n"