diff -urN john-1.6.orig/src/config.c john-1.6/src/config.c
--- john-1.6.orig/src/config.c	Thu Dec  3 01:29:50 1998
+++ john-1.6/src/config.c	Wed Dec  9 13:08:02 1998
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <ctype.h>
+#include <pwd.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
 
 #include "misc.h"
 #include "params.h"
@@ -117,11 +120,18 @@
 	FILE *file;
 	char line[LINE_BUFFER_SIZE];
 	int number;
+	char name2[100];
+	struct passwd *haslo;
 
+	haslo = getpwuid(getuid());
+	sprintf(name2, "%s/.john.ini", haslo->pw_dir);
 	if (cfg_database) return;
-
-	if (!(file = fopen(path_expand(name), "r")))
-		pexit("fopen: %s", path_expand(name));
+	
+	if (!(file = fopen(name2, "r")))
+	{
+		if (!(file = fopen(path_expand(name), "r")))
+		pexit("fopen: ~/.john.ini or %s", path_expand(name));
+	}
 
 	number = 0;
 	while (fgetl(line, sizeof(line), file))