diff -burN abook-0.5.4.orig/abook.c abook-0.5.4/abook.c
--- abook-0.5.4.orig/abook.c	2005-09-05 09:05:10.903458032 +0200
+++ abook-0.5.4/abook.c	2005-09-05 09:17:13.733571152 +0200
@@ -70,13 +70,15 @@
 {
 	struct stat s;
 	char *dir;
+	char *home;
 
 	assert(!is_ui_initialized());
 
 	if(alternative_datafile)
 		return;
 
-	dir = strconcat(getenv("HOME"), "/" DIR_IN_HOME, NULL);
+	home = getenv("HOME_ETC") ? getenv("HOME_ETC") : getenv("HOME");
+	dir = strconcat(home, "/" DIR_IN_HOME, NULL);
 	assert(dir != NULL);
 
 	if(stat(dir, &s) == -1) {
@@ -207,18 +209,21 @@
 set_filenames()
 {
 	struct stat s;
+	char * home;
 
 	if( (stat(getenv("HOME"), &s)) == -1 || ! S_ISDIR(s.st_mode) ) {
 		fprintf(stderr,_("%s is not a valid HOME directory\n"), getenv("HOME") );
 		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 	}
 
+	home = getenv("HOME_ETC") ? getenv("HOME_ETC") : getenv("HOME");
+
 	if(!datafile)
-		datafile = strconcat(getenv("HOME"), "/" DIR_IN_HOME "/"
+		datafile = strconcat(home, "/" DIR_IN_HOME "/"
 				DATAFILE, NULL);
 
 	if(!rcfile)
-		rcfile = strconcat(getenv("HOME"), "/" DIR_IN_HOME "/"
+		rcfile = strconcat(home, "/" DIR_IN_HOME "/"
 				RCFILE, NULL);
 
 	atexit(free_filenames);