diff -Nru icewm-1.2.14pre1.orig/src/genpref.cc icewm-1.2.14pre1/src/genpref.cc
--- icewm-1.2.14pre1.orig/src/genpref.cc	2003-11-01 11:43:13.000000000 +0100
+++ icewm-1.2.14pre1/src/genpref.cc	2003-11-09 10:11:04.000000000 +0100
@@ -60,6 +60,9 @@
 int main() {
 #ifndef NO_CONFIGURE
     printf("# preferences(%s) - generated by genpref\n\n", VERSION);
+		if (getenv("HOME_ETC") != NULL)
+    printf("# This file should be copied to /etc/icewm/ or $HOME_ETC/.icewm/ directory\n");
+    else
     printf("# This file should be copied to /etc/icewm/ or $HOME/.icewm/ directory\n");
     printf("# NOTE: All settings are commented out by default, be sure to\n"
            "#       uncomment them if you change them!\n\n");
diff -Nru icewm-1.2.14pre1.orig/src/icesound.cc icewm-1.2.14pre1/src/icesound.cc
--- icewm-1.2.14pre1.orig/src/icesound.cc	2003-11-01 11:43:13.000000000 +0100
+++ icewm-1.2.14pre1/src/icesound.cc	2003-11-09 10:13:06.000000000 +0100
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@
 char * YAudioInterface::findSample(char const * basename) {
     static char const * paths[] = {
 	IceSound::samples,
-	strJoin(getenv("HOME"), "/.icewm/sounds/", NULL),
+	strJoin(getenv("HOME_ETC") != NULL ? getenv("HOME_ETC") : getenv("HOME"), "/.icewm/sounds/", NULL),
 	strJoin(CFGDIR, "/sounds/", NULL),
 	strJoin(LIBDIR, "/sounds/", NULL)
     };
diff -Nru icewm-1.2.14pre1.orig/src/themes.cc icewm-1.2.14pre1/src/themes.cc
--- icewm-1.2.14pre1.orig/src/themes.cc	2003-11-01 11:43:13.000000000 +0100
+++ icewm-1.2.14pre1/src/themes.cc	2003-11-09 10:15:47.000000000 +0100
@@ -25,11 +25,12 @@
 extern char *configArg;
 
 void setDefaultTheme(const char *theme) {
-    const char *confDir = strJoin(getenv("HOME"), "/.icewm", NULL);
+		const char *h = getenv("HOME_ETC");
+    const char *confDir = strJoin(h != NULL ? h : getenv("HOME"), "/.icewm", NULL);
     mkdir(confDir, 0777);
     delete[] confDir;
-    const char *themeConfNew = strJoin(getenv("HOME"), "/.icewm/theme.new.tmp", NULL);
-    const char *themeConf = strJoin(getenv("HOME"), "/.icewm/theme", NULL);
+    const char *themeConfNew = strJoin(h != NULL ? h : getenv("HOME"), "/.icewm/theme.new.tmp", NULL);
+    const char *themeConf = strJoin(h != NULL ? h : getenv("HOME"), "/.icewm/theme", NULL);
     int fd = open(themeConfNew, O_RDWR | O_TEXT | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC | O_EXCL, 0666);
 #warning "do proper escaping"
     const char *buf = strJoin("Theme=\"", theme, "\"\n", NULL);
diff -Nru icewm-1.2.14pre1.orig/src/yapp.cc icewm-1.2.14pre1/src/yapp.cc
--- icewm-1.2.14pre1.orig/src/yapp.cc	2003-11-01 11:43:13.000000000 +0100
+++ icewm-1.2.14pre1/src/yapp.cc	2003-11-09 10:18:51.000000000 +0100
@@ -381,7 +381,8 @@
     	const char *env = getenv("ICEWM_PRIVCFG");
 
 	if (NULL == env) {
-	    env = getenv("HOME");
+	    env = getenv("HOME_ETC");
+	    if (env == NULL) env = getenv("HOME");
 	    strcpy(cfgdir, env ? env : "");
 	    strcat(cfgdir, "/.icewm");
 	} else {