diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 539eaf1..644d9da 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+Sat Jan 26 16:15:21 2002  Guillaume Morin  <gmorin@gnu.org>
+
+    * stow.in: if $ENV{'STOW_DIR'} is set, this becomes the default
+      Stow directory.
+
 Sun Jan 20 12:41:39 2002  Guillaume Morin  <gmorin@gnu.org>
 
     * stow.in: fixed a bug if the stow directory is /foo.
diff --git a/stow.8 b/stow.8
index cd05392..ad1e248 100644
--- a/stow.8
+++ b/stow.8
@@ -146,7 +146,8 @@ The target of a relative symlink is
 computed starting from the symlink's own directory. Stow only creates
 relative symlinks.
 .SH OPTIONS
-The stow directory is assumed to be the current directory, and the
+The stow directory is assumed to be the value of the 'STOW_DIR' environment 
+variable or if unset the current directory, and the
 target directory is assumed to be the parent of the current directory
 (so it is typical to execute
 .I stow
diff --git a/stow.in b/stow.in
index e61501c..43638bd 100644
--- a/stow.in
+++ b/stow.in
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ $Delete = 0;
 $NotReally = 0;
 $Verbose = 0;
 $ReportHelp = 0;
-$Stow = undef;
+$Stow = defined $ENV{'STOW_DIR'} ? $ENV{'STOW_DIR'} : undef;
 $Target = undef;
 $Restow = 0;
 $Force = 0;
diff --git a/stow.texi b/stow.texi
index 9f37d3c..1744da4 100644
--- a/stow.texi
+++ b/stow.texi
@@ -215,7 +215,8 @@ The syntax of the @code{stow} command is:
 stow @var{[options]} @var{package @dots{}}
 @end example
 
-The stow directory is assumed to be the current directory, and the
+The stow directory is assumed to be the value of the 'STOW_DIR' environment
+variable, or if unset the current directory, and the
 target directory is assumed to be the parent of the current directory
 (so it is typical to execute @code{stow} from the directory
 @file{/usr/local/stow}).  Each @var{package} is the name of a package in