diff -urNp -x '*.orig' irssi-1.2.2.org/src/core/core.c irssi-1.2.2/src/core/core.c
--- irssi-1.2.2.org/src/core/core.c	2019-08-29 15:48:46.000000000 +0200
+++ irssi-1.2.2/src/core/core.c	2021-05-04 21:22:39.960299530 +0200
@@ -193,7 +193,9 @@ void core_preinit(const char *path)
 	int len;
 
 	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 -urNp -x '*.orig' irssi-1.2.2.org/src/core/log-away.c irssi-1.2.2/src/core/log-away.c
--- irssi-1.2.2.org/src/core/log-away.c	2019-08-29 15:48:46.000000000 +0200
+++ irssi-1.2.2/src/core/log-away.c	2021-05-04 21:22:39.960299530 +0200
@@ -112,7 +112,12 @@ void log_away_init(void)
 	away_msgs = 0;
 
 	awaylog_file = g_strconcat(get_irssi_dir(), "/away.log", NULL);
-	settings_add_str("log", "awaylog_file", awaylog_file);
+	char *home_etc = getenv("HOME_ETC");
+	if (home_etc) {
+		char *log = g_strdup_printf("%s/.irssi/away.log", home_etc);
+		settings_add_str("log", "awaylog_file", log);
+	} else
+		settings_add_str("log", "awaylog_file", awaylog_file);
 	g_free(awaylog_file);
 	settings_add_level("log", "awaylog_level", "msgs hilight");