diff --git a/src/App/Application.cpp b/src/App/Application.cpp
index c42d186de0..a0cd6a77cf 100644
--- a/src/App/Application.cpp
+++ b/src/App/Application.cpp
@@ -1060,6 +1060,11 @@ std::string Application::getTempFileName(const char* FileName)
     return Base::FileInfo::getTempFileName(FileName, getTempPath().c_str());
 }
 
+std::string Application::getUserConfigDir()
+{
+    return mConfig["UserConfigPath"];
+}
+
 std::string Application::getUserAppDataDir()
 {
     return mConfig["UserAppData"];
@@ -2724,9 +2729,9 @@ void Application::LoadParameters(void)
     // Init parameter sets ===========================================================
     //
     if (mConfig.find("UserParameter") == mConfig.end())
-        mConfig["UserParameter"]   = mConfig["UserAppData"] + "user.cfg";
+        mConfig["UserParameter"]   = mConfig["UserConfigPath"] + "user.cfg";
     if (mConfig.find("SystemParameter") == mConfig.end())
-        mConfig["SystemParameter"] = mConfig["UserAppData"] + "system.cfg";
+        mConfig["SystemParameter"] = mConfig["UserConfigPath"] + "system.cfg";
 
     // create standard parameter sets
     _pcSysParamMngr = new ParameterManager();
@@ -3096,6 +3101,11 @@ void Application::ExtractUserPath()
     mConfig["UserAppData"] = pathToString(appData) + PATHSEP;
 
 
+    // User config path (for now equal to UserAppData but will be changed to be XDG compliant)
+    //
+    mConfig["UserConfigPath"] = mConfig["UserAppData"];
+
+
     // Set application tmp. directory
     //
     boost::filesystem::path cache = findCachePath(mConfig, cacheHome, userTemp);
diff --git a/src/App/Application.h b/src/App/Application.h
index 54872ecec7..265ea8a746 100644
--- a/src/App/Application.h
+++ b/src/App/Application.h
@@ -403,6 +403,7 @@ public:
      */
     static std::string getTempPath();
     static std::string getTempFileName(const char* FileName=0);
+    static std::string getUserConfigDir();
     static std::string getUserAppDataDir();
     static std::string getUserMacroDir();
     static std::string getResourceDir();
@@ -513,6 +514,7 @@ private:
     static PyObject* sChangeExportModule(PyObject *self,PyObject *args);
     static PyObject* sGetExportType     (PyObject *self,PyObject *args);
     static PyObject* sGetResourceDir    (PyObject *self,PyObject *args);
+    static PyObject* sGetUserConfigDir  (PyObject *self,PyObject *args);
     static PyObject* sGetUserAppDataDir (PyObject *self,PyObject *args);
     static PyObject* sGetUserMacroDir   (PyObject *self,PyObject *args);
     static PyObject* sGetHelpDir        (PyObject *self,PyObject *args);
diff --git a/src/App/ApplicationPy.cpp b/src/App/ApplicationPy.cpp
index de213ff32e..18fcbc88e9 100644
--- a/src/App/ApplicationPy.cpp
+++ b/src/App/ApplicationPy.cpp
@@ -88,8 +88,10 @@ PyMethodDef Application::Methods[] = {
      "Get the name of the module that can export the filetype"},
     {"getResourceDir", (PyCFunction) Application::sGetResourceDir, METH_VARARGS,
      "Get the root directory of all resources"},
+    {"getUserConfigDir", (PyCFunction) Application::sGetUserConfigDir, METH_VARARGS,
+     "Get the root directory of user config files"},
     {"getUserAppDataDir", (PyCFunction) Application::sGetUserAppDataDir, METH_VARARGS,
-     "Get the root directory of user settings"},
+     "Get the root directory of application data"},
     {"getUserMacroDir", (PyCFunction) Application::sGetUserMacroDir, METH_VARARGS,
      "getUserMacroDir(bool=False) -> string"
      "Get the directory of the user's macro directory\n"
@@ -651,6 +653,15 @@ PyObject* Application::sGetResourceDir(PyObject * /*self*/, PyObject *args)
     return Py::new_reference_to(datadir);
 }
 
+PyObject* Application::sGetUserConfigDir(PyObject * /*self*/, PyObject *args)
+{
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, ""))
+        return nullptr;
+
+    Py::String datadir(Application::getUserConfigDir(),"utf-8");
+    return Py::new_reference_to(datadir);
+}
+
 PyObject* Application::sGetUserAppDataDir(PyObject * /*self*/, PyObject *args)
 {
     if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, ""))     // convert args: Python->C