diff -u -r ratpoison/src/main.c ratpoison-getpwuid/src/main.c
--- ratpoison/src/main.c	Mon Jun 11 03:27:49 2001
+++ ratpoison-getpwuid/src/main.c	Sat Jun 23 04:26:11 2001
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <getopt.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <pwd.h>
 
 #include "ratpoison.h"
 
@@ -135,7 +136,7 @@
   char error_msg[100];
 
   if (e->request_code == X_ChangeWindowAttributes && e->error_code == BadAccess) {
-    fprintf(stderr, "ratpoison: There can be only ONE.\n");
+    fprintf(stderr, "ratpoison: There can be only ONE. (Another WM seems to be running)\n");
     exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
   }  
 
@@ -257,19 +258,24 @@
 static void
 read_startup_files ()
 {
-  char *homedir;
+  struct passwd *passwd;
   FILE *fileptr;
 
-  /* first check $HOME/.ratpoisonrc and if that does not exist then try
+  /* first check ~/.ratpoisonrc and if that does not exist then try
      /etc/ratpoisonrc */
 
-  homedir = getenv ("HOME");
-  if (!homedir)
+  /* isn't this a better solution than checking $HOME? */
+  
+  passwd = getpwuid(getuid());
+
+  if ((!passwd)||(!(passwd->pw_dir))) /* Can one be sure that !passwd gets checked before passwd->dir? segfaults here would be ugly */
     {
-      PRINT_ERROR ("ratpoison: $HOME not set!?\n");
+      PRINT_ERROR ("ratpoison: Could not understand where you're home is.\n");
     }
   else
     {
+      char *homedir = passwd->pw_dir;
+
       char *filename = (char*)xmalloc (strlen (homedir) + strlen ("/.ratpoisonrc") + 1);
       sprintf (filename, "%s/.ratpoisonrc", homedir);