diff -Nru irssi-0.8.6.orig/src/core/core.c irssi-0.8.6/src/core/core.c
--- irssi-0.8.6.orig/src/core/core.c	2002-10-19 20:00:06.000000000 +0200
+++ irssi-0.8.6/src/core/core.c	2003-11-09 12:46:25.000000000 +0100
@@ -193,7 +193,9 @@
 	args_register(options);
 
 	if (irssi_dir == NULL) {
-		home = g_get_home_dir();
+		home = getenv("HOME_ETC");
+		if (home == NULL)
+			home = g_get_home_dir();
 		if (home == NULL)
 			home = ".";
 
diff -Nru irssi-0.8.6.orig/src/core/log-away.c irssi-0.8.6/src/core/log-away.c
--- irssi-0.8.6.orig/src/core/log-away.c	2001-07-15 16:07:48.000000000 +0200
+++ irssi-0.8.6/src/core/log-away.c	2003-11-09 12:53:24.000000000 +0100
@@ -104,8 +104,14 @@
 	awaylog = NULL;
 	away_filepos = 0;
 	away_msgs = 0;
-
-	settings_add_str("log", "awaylog_file", IRSSI_DIR_SHORT"/away.log");
+	char *home_etc = getenv("HOME_ETC");
+	
+	if (home_etc) {
+		char *log = g_strdup_printf("%s/away.log", home_etc);
+		
+		settings_add_str("log", "awaylog_file", log);
+	} else
+		settings_add_str("log", "awaylog_file", IRSSI_DIR_SHORT"/away.log");
 	settings_add_str("log", "awaylog_level", "msgs hilight");
 
 	signal_add("log written", (SIGNAL_FUNC) sig_log_written);
diff -Nru irssi-0.8.6.orig/src/lib-popt/poptconfig.c irssi-0.8.6/src/lib-popt/poptconfig.c
--- irssi-0.8.6.orig/src/lib-popt/poptconfig.c	2002-01-27 21:45:58.000000000 +0100
+++ irssi-0.8.6/src/lib-popt/poptconfig.c	2003-11-09 12:36:55.000000000 +0100
@@ -130,7 +130,9 @@
     if (getuid() != geteuid()) return 0;
 #endif
 
-    if ((home = getenv("HOME"))) {
+    home = getenv("HOME_ETC");
+		if (!home) home = getenv("HOME");
+    if (home) {
 	fn = malloc(strlen(home) + 20);
 	strcpy(fn, home);
 	strcat(fn, "/.popt");