diff --git a/src/sdcv.cpp b/src/sdcv.cpp
index 50fc22e..7fa8761 100644
--- a/src/sdcv.cpp
+++ b/src/sdcv.cpp
@@ -157,7 +157,11 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 
 	strlist_t dicts_dir_list;
 
-	dicts_dir_list.push_back(std::string(g_get_home_dir())+G_DIR_SEPARATOR+
+	const char *homedir = g_getenv ("HOME");
+	if (!homedir)
+		homedir = g_get_home_dir ();
+
+	dicts_dir_list.push_back(std::string(homedir)+G_DIR_SEPARATOR+
 				 ".stardict"+G_DIR_SEPARATOR+"dic");
 	dicts_dir_list.push_back(data_dir);