diff --git a/kdecore/kconfigbase.cpp b/kdecore/kconfigbase.cpp
index add2d6a6d..130e35148 100644
--- a/kdecore/kconfigbase.cpp
+++ b/kdecore/kconfigbase.cpp
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 #include <tqtextstream.h>
 
 #include <kapplication.h>
+#include <kglobalsettings.h>
 #include <kglobal.h>
 #include <klocale.h>
 #include <kcharsets.h>
@@ -274,9 +275,9 @@ TQString KConfigBase::readEntry( const char *pKey,
       // check for environment variables and make necessary translations
       int nDollarPos = aValue.find( '$' );
 
-      while( nDollarPos != -1 && nDollarPos+1 < static_cast<int>(aValue.length())) {
+      while( nDollarPos != -1 && (nDollarPos + 1) < static_cast<int>(aValue.length())) {
         // there is at least one $
-        if( (aValue)[nDollarPos+1] != '$' ) {
+        if( aValue[nDollarPos+1] != '$' ) {
           uint nEndPos = nDollarPos+1;
           // the next character is no $
           TQString aVarName;
@@ -294,17 +295,42 @@ TQString KConfigBase::readEntry( const char *pKey,
                 nEndPos++;
             aVarName = aValue.mid( nDollarPos+1, nEndPos-nDollarPos-1 );
           }
-          const char* pEnv = 0;
+          const char *pEnv = 0;
           if (!aVarName.isEmpty())
                pEnv = getenv( aVarName.ascii() );
-          if( pEnv ) {
+          if (pEnv) {
 	    // !!! Sergey A. Sukiyazov <corwin@micom.don.ru> !!!
 	    // A environment variables may contain values in 8bit
 	    // locale cpecified encoding or in UTF8 encoding.
 	    aValue.replace( nDollarPos, nEndPos-nDollarPos, KStringHandler::from8Bit( pEnv ) );
-          } else
+          }
+          else if (aVarName.length() > 8 && aVarName.startsWith("XDG_") && aVarName.endsWith("_DIR")) {
+            TQString result;
+            if (aVarName == "XDG_DESKTOP_DIR") {
+              result = KGlobalSettings::desktopPath();
+            }
+            else if (aVarName == "XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR") {
+              result = KGlobalSettings::documentPath();
+            }
+            else if (aVarName == "XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR") {
+              result = KGlobalSettings::downloadPath();
+            }
+            else if (aVarName == "XDG_MUSIC_DIR") {
+              result = KGlobalSettings::musicPath();
+            }
+            else if (aVarName == "XDG_PICTURES_DIR") {
+              result = KGlobalSettings::picturesPath();
+            }
+            else if (aVarName == "XDG_VIDEOS_DIR") {
+              result = KGlobalSettings::videosPath();
+            }
+            aValue.replace( nDollarPos, nEndPos-nDollarPos, result );
+          }
+          else {
             aValue.remove( nDollarPos, nEndPos-nDollarPos );
-        } else {
+          }
+        }
+        else {
           // remove one of the dollar signs
           aValue.remove( nDollarPos, 1 );
           nDollarPos++;