diff --git a/Shorewall-core/install.sh b/Shorewall-core/install.sh
index 1b3ee963f..b04548868 100755
--- a/Shorewall-core/install.sh
+++ b/Shorewall-core/install.sh
@@ -315,8 +315,8 @@ chmod 644 ${DESTDIR}${SHAREDIR}/shorewall/coreversion
 
 cp $file ${DESTDIR}${SHAREDIR}/shorewall/shorewallrc
 
-if [ -z "${DESTDIR}" ]; then
-    [ -f ~/.shorewallrc ] || cp $file ~/.shorewallrc
+if [ -z "${DESTDIR}" -n ${HOME} ]; then
+    [ -f ${HOME}/.shorewallrc ] || cp $file ${HOME}/.shorewallrc
 fi
 #
 #  Report Success
diff --git a/Shorewall-core/lib.base b/Shorewall-core/lib.base
index 2ec014c1d..76aeeb94f 100644
--- a/Shorewall-core/lib.base
+++ b/Shorewall-core/lib.base
@@ -33,8 +33,17 @@ SHOREWALL_CAPVERSION=40502
 [ -n "${g_program:=shorewall}" ]
 
 if [ -z "$g_readrc" ]; then
-    if [ -f ~/.shorewallrc ]; then
+  
+    if [ -f ./.shorewallrc ]; then
 	. ~/.shorewallrc || exit 1
+    elif [ -r /root/.shorewallrc ]; then
+	. /root/.shorewallrc || exit 1
+    elif [ -r /.shorewallrc ]; then
+	. /root/.shorewallrc || exit 1
+    elif [ -f ~/.shorewallrc ]; then
+	. ~/.shorewallrc || exit 1
+    elif - -f ${SHOREAWLLRC_HOME}/.shorewallrc; then
+	. ${SHOREAWLLRC_HOME}/.shorewallrc || exit 1
     else
 	SHAREDIR=/usr/share
 	CONFDIR=/etc
@@ -471,14 +480,14 @@ mktempfile() {
     else
 	case "$MKTEMP" in
 	    BSD)
-		mktemp /tmp/shorewall.XXXXXX
+		mktemp ${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/shorewall.XXXXXX
 		;;
 	    STD)
 		mktemp -t shorewall.XXXXXX
 		;;
 	    None)
-		rm -f /tmp/shorewall-$$
-		> /tmp/shorewall-$$ && echo /tmp/shorewall-$$
+		rm -f ${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/shorewall-$$
+		> ${TMPDIR:-}/shorewall-$$ && echo ${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/shorewall-$$
 		;;
 	    *)
 		error_message "ERROR:Internal error in mktempfile"
diff --git a/Shorewall-core/lib.cli b/Shorewall-core/lib.cli
index f532716ee..d44cf111b 100644
--- a/Shorewall-core/lib.cli
+++ b/Shorewall-core/lib.cli
@@ -25,8 +25,16 @@
 #
 
 if [ -z "$g_readrc" ]; then
-    if [ -f ~/.shorewallrc ]; then
+    if [ -f ./.shorewallrc ]; then
+	. ./.shorewallrc || exit 1
+    elif [ -f ~/.shorewallrc ]; then
 	. ~/.shorewallrc || exit 1
+    elif [ -r /root/.shorewallrc ]; then
+	. /root/.shorewallrc || exit 1
+    elif [ -r /.shorewallrc ]; then
+	. /root/.shorewallrc || exit 1
+    elif - -f ${SHOREAWLLRC_HOME}/.shorewallrc; then
+	. ${SHOREAWLLRC_HOME}/.shorewallrc || exit 1
     else
 	SHAREDIR=/usr/share
 	CONFDIR=${CONFDIR}
diff --git a/Shorewall-init/shorewall-init b/Shorewall-init/shorewall-init
index f34de5ee0..4a190899c 100644
--- a/Shorewall-init/shorewall-init
+++ b/Shorewall-init/shorewall-init
@@ -23,10 +23,20 @@
 #       Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
 #
 #########################################################################################
-if [ -f ~/.shorewallrc ]; then
+if [ -f ./.shorewallrc ]; then
+    . ./.shorewallrc || exit 1
+elif [ -f ~/.shorewallrc ]; then
     . ~/.shorewallrc || exit 1
+elif [ -r /root/.shorewallrc ]; then
+    . /root/.shorewallrc || exit 1
+elif [ -r /.shorewallrc ]; then
+    . /root/.shorewallrc || exit 1
+elif - -f ${SHOREAWLLRC_HOME}/.shorewallrc; then
+    . ${SHOREAWLLRC_HOME}/.shorewallrc || exit 1
 else
-    echo "ERROR: ./.shorewallrc not found" >&2
+    VARDIR=/var/lib
+    LIBEXECDIR=/usr/share
+    SYSCONFDIR=/etc/sysconfig
 fi
 
 # check if shorewall-init is configured or not
@@ -48,8 +58,6 @@ shorewall_start () {
 
   echo -n "Initializing \"Shorewall-based firewalls\": "
   for PRODUCT in $PRODUCTS; do
-      VARDIR=/var/lib/$PRODUCT
-      [ -f /etc/$PRODUCT/vardir ] && . /etc/$PRODUCT/vardir 
       if [ -x ${VARDIR}/firewall ]; then
 	  if ! /sbin/$PRODUCT status > /dev/null 2>&1; then
 	      ${VARDIR}/firewall stop || exit 1
diff --git a/Shorewall-lite/shorewall-lite b/Shorewall-lite/shorewall-lite
index 698e698bd..bbad1fbde 100755
--- a/Shorewall-lite/shorewall-lite
+++ b/Shorewall-lite/shorewall-lite
@@ -27,8 +27,16 @@
 ################################################################################################
 g_program=shorewall-lite
 
-if [ -f ~/.shorewallrc ]; then
+if [ -f ./.shorewallrc ]; then
+    . ./.shorewallrc || exit 1
+elif [ -f ~/.shorewallrc ]; then
     . ~/.shorewallrc || exit 1
+elif [ -r /root/.shorewallrc ]; then
+    . /root/.shorewallrc || exit 1
+elif [ -r /.shorewallrc ]; then
+    . /root/.shorewallrc || exit 1
+elif - -f ${SHOREAWLLRC_HOME}/.shorewallrc; then
+    . ${SHOREAWLLRC_HOME}/.shorewallrc || exit 1
 else
     SHAREDIR=/usr/share
     CONFDIR=${CONFDIR}
diff --git a/Shorewall/shorewall b/Shorewall/shorewall
index 7cbca8e00..5bcc979bc 100755
--- a/Shorewall/shorewall
+++ b/Shorewall/shorewall
@@ -27,8 +27,16 @@
 ################################################################################################
 g_program=shorewall
 
-if [ -f ~/.shorewallrc ]; then
+if [ -f ./.shorewallrc ]; then
+    . ./.shorewallrc || exit 1
+elif [ -f ~/.shorewallrc ]; then
     . ~/.shorewallrc || exit 1
+elif [ -r /root/.shorewallrc ]; then
+    . /root/.shorewallrc || exit 1
+elif [ -r /.shorewallrc ]; then
+    . /root/.shorewallrc || exit 1
+elif - -f ${SHOREAWLLRC_HOME}/.shorewallrc; then
+    . ${SHOREAWLLRC_HOME}/.shorewallrc || exit 1
 else
     SHAREDIR=/usr/share
     CONFDIR=${CONFDIR}
@@ -36,7 +44,6 @@ else
     VARDIR=/var/lib
     LIBEXECDIR=/usr/share
     PERLLIBDIR=/usr/share/shorewall
-
 fi
 
 g_libexec="$LIBEXECDIR"