diff -rupbB magento/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Config/Options.php magento-1.3.2.4/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Config/Options.php
--- magento/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Config/Options.php	2009-09-23 14:52:55.000000000 -0400
+++ magento-1.3.2.4/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Config/Options.php	2010-01-18 19:55:02.000000000 -0500
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ class Mage_Core_Model_Config_Options ext

     public function getDir($type)
     {
-        $this->_construct();
+        #$this->_construct();
         $method = 'get'.ucwords($type).'Dir';
         $dir = $this->$method();
         if (!$dir) {
diff -rupbB magento/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Config.php magento-1.3.2.4/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Config.php
--- magento/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Config.php	2009-09-23 14:52:57.000000000 -0400
+++ magento-1.3.2.4/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Config.php	2009-11-15 22:54:56.000000000 -0500
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ class Mage_Core_Model_Config extends Mag

         $localConfigLoaded  = $this->loadFile($etcDir.DS.'local.xml');

-        if (Mage::isInstalled()) {
+        if (Mage::isInstalled($options)) {
             if ($this->_canUseCacheForInit()) {
                 Varien_Profiler::start('mage::app::init::config::load_cache');
                 $loaded = $this->loadCache();
@@ -286,6 +286,9 @@ class Mage_Core_Model_Config extends Mag
     {
         $this->_allowCacheForInit = false;
         $this->_useCache = false;
+        if (!$options) {
+            $options = Mage::registry('user_options');
+        }
         return $this->init($options);
     }

diff -rupbB magento/app/code/core/Mage/Install/etc/install.xml magento-1.3.2.4/app/code/core/Mage/Install/etc/install.xml
--- magento/app/code/core/Mage/Install/etc/install.xml	2009-09-23 14:51:54.000000000 -0400
+++ magento-1.3.2.4/app/code/core/Mage/Install/etc/install.xml	2009-11-15 22:31:06.000000000 -0500
@@ -62,16 +62,19 @@
                     <path>/app/etc</path>
                     <existence>1</existence>
                     <recursive>0</recursive>
+                    <option_dir>etc</option_dir>
                 </app_etc>
                 <var>
                     <path>/var</path>
                     <existence>1</existence>
                     <recursive>1</recursive>
+                    <option_dir>var</option_dir>
                 </var>
                 <media>
                     <path>/media</path>
                     <existence>1</existence>
                     <recursive>1</recursive>
+                    <option_dir>media</option_dir>
                 </media>
             </writeable>
         </filesystem>
diff -rupbB magento/app/code/core/Mage/Install/Model/Installer/Filesystem.php magento-1.3.2.4/app/code/core/Mage/Install/Model/Installer/Filesystem.php
--- magento/app/code/core/Mage/Install/Model/Installer/Filesystem.php	2009-09-23 14:51:54.000000000 -0400
+++ magento-1.3.2.4/app/code/core/Mage/Install/Model/Installer/Filesystem.php	2009-11-15 22:51:44.000000000 -0500
@@ -66,7 +66,8 @@ class Mage_Install_Model_Installer_Files
             foreach ($config['writeable'] as $item) {
                 $recursive = isset($item['recursive']) ? $item['recursive'] : false;
                 $existence = isset($item['existence']) ? $item['existence'] : false;
-                $checkRes = $this->_checkPath($item['path'], $recursive, $existence, 'write');
+                $path = isset($item['option_dir']) ? Mage::getConfig()->getOptions()->getDir($item['option_dir']) : $item['path'];
+                $checkRes = $this->_checkPath($path, $recursive, $existence, 'write');
                 $res = $res && $checkRes;
             }
         }
@@ -85,7 +86,11 @@ class Mage_Install_Model_Installer_Files
     protected function _checkPath($path, $recursive, $existence, $mode)
     {
         $res = true;
+        if ($path[0]=='/' || $path[0]=='\\' || $path[1]==':') {
+            $fullPath = $path;
+        } else {
         $fullPath = dirname(Mage::getRoot()).$path;
+        }
         if ($mode == self::MODE_WRITE) {
             $setError = false;
             if ($existence) {
diff -rupbB magento/app/Mage.php magento-1.3.2.4/app/Mage.php
--- magento/app/Mage.php	2009-09-23 14:53:39.000000000 -0400
+++ magento-1.3.2.4/app/Mage.php	2010-01-18 19:55:28.000000000 -0500
@@ -452,6 +452,8 @@ final class Mage {
             Varien_Profiler::start('mage');

             Varien_Profiler::start('mage::app');
+
+            self::register('user_options', is_string($options) ? array('etc_dir'=>$options) : (array)$options);
             self::app($code, $type, $options);
             Varien_Profiler::stop('mage::app');

@@ -518,10 +518,13 @@ final class Mage {
             if (!empty($options['etc_dir'])) {
                 $etcDir = $options['etc_dir'];
             }
+            if ($etcDir[0]=='/' || $etcDir[0]=='\\' || $etcDir[1]==':') {
+                $localConfigFile = $etcDir . DS . 'local.xml';
+            } else {
             $localConfigFile = self::getRoot() . DS . $etcDir . DS . 'local.xml';
+            }

             $isInstalled = false;
-
             if (is_readable($localConfigFile)) {
                 $localConfig = simplexml_load_file($localConfigFile);
                 date_default_timezone_set('UTC');