diff -Nru gkrellm-2.1.21.orig/src/mail.c gkrellm-2.1.21/src/mail.c
--- gkrellm-2.1.21.orig/src/mail.c	2003-10-13 06:12:17.000000000 +0200
+++ gkrellm-2.1.21/src/mail.c	2003-11-19 12:08:47.000000000 +0100
@@ -2216,7 +2216,7 @@
 	if (*(account->path) == '~')
 		{
 		account->homedir_path = account->path;
-		account->path = g_strdup_printf("%s%s", gkrellm_homedir(),
+		account->path = g_strdup_printf("%s%s", g_get_home_dir(),
 						account->homedir_path + 1);
 		}
 	if (g_file_test(account->path, G_FILE_TEST_IS_DIR))
@@ -2247,7 +2247,7 @@
 		if (*(account->path) == '~')
 			{
 			account->homedir_path = account->path;
-			account->path = g_strdup_printf("%s%s", gkrellm_homedir(),
+			account->path = g_strdup_printf("%s%s", g_get_home_dir(),
 							account->homedir_path + 1);
 			}
 		if (account->mboxtype == MBOX_MAILDIR)
diff -Nru gkrellm-2.1.21.orig/src/utils.c gkrellm-2.1.21/src/utils.c
--- gkrellm-2.1.21.orig/src/utils.c	2003-07-23 23:57:52.000000000 +0200
+++ gkrellm-2.1.21/src/utils.c	2003-11-19 12:06:56.000000000 +0100
@@ -241,9 +241,9 @@
 gchar *
 gkrellm_homedir(void)
 	{
-	gchar	*homedir;
+	gchar	*homedir = getenv("HOME_ETC");
 
-	homedir = (gchar *) g_get_home_dir();
+	if (!homedir) homedir = (gchar *) g_get_home_dir();
 	if (!homedir)
 		homedir = ".";
 	return homedir;