diff -Nru gimp-1.3.22.orig/libgimpbase/gimpenv.c gimp-1.3.22/libgimpbase/gimpenv.c
--- gimp-1.3.22.orig/libgimpbase/gimpenv.c	2003-10-25 21:02:18.000000000 +0200
+++ gimp-1.3.22/libgimpbase/gimpenv.c	2003-11-22 19:23:31.000000000 +0100
@@ -95,13 +95,13 @@
   static gchar *gimp_dir = NULL;
 
   const gchar  *env_gimp_dir;
-  const gchar  *home_dir;
+  const gchar  *home_dir = g_getenv("HOME_ETC");
 
   if (gimp_dir)
     return gimp_dir;
 
   env_gimp_dir = g_getenv ("GIMP2_DIRECTORY");
-  home_dir     = g_get_home_dir ();
+  if (!home_dir) home_dir     = g_get_home_dir ();
 
   if (env_gimp_dir)
     {