diff --git a/base/path.jl b/base/path.jl
index cb1c4121b895df..07c23c676a7661 100644
--- a/base/path.jl
+++ b/base/path.jl
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ if is_unix()
     const path_ext_splitter = r"^((?:.*/)?(?:\.|[^/\.])[^/]*?)(\.[^/\.]*|)$"
 
     splitdrive(path::String) = ("",path)
-    homedir() = ENV["HOME"]
 elseif is_windows()
     const path_separator    = "\\"
     const path_separator_re = r"[/\\]+"
@@ -38,7 +37,6 @@ elseif is_windows()
         m = match(r"^(\w+:|\\\\\w+\\\w+|\\\\\?\\UNC\\\w+\\\w+|\\\\\?\\\w+:|)(.*)$", path)
         String(m.captures[1]), String(m.captures[2])
     end
-    homedir() = get(ENV,"HOME",string(ENV["HOMEDRIVE"],ENV["HOMEPATH"]))
 else
     error("path primitives for this OS need to be defined")
 end
@@ -57,7 +55,14 @@ splitdrive(path::AbstractString)
 
 Return the current user's home directory.
 """
-homedir()
+function homedir()
+    buf = Vector{Cchar}(1024)
+    sz = Ref{Csize_t}(sizeof(buf))
+    rc = ccall(:uv_os_homedir, Cint, (Ptr{Cchar}, Ptr{Csize_t}), buf, sz)
+    rc == 0 || error("unable to retrieve home directory")
+    nbytes = Int(sz[])
+    return unsafe_string(pointer(buf[1:nbytes]))
+end
 
 
 """