diff --git a/DOCKER/Dockerfile b/DOCKER/Dockerfile
index 3b710596..08a7b267 100644
--- a/DOCKER/Dockerfile
+++ b/DOCKER/Dockerfile
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ ENV TM_SHA256SUM 697033ea0f34f8b34a8a2b74c4dd730b47dd4efcfce65e53e953bdae8eb1436
 #
 # The /tendermint/data dir is used by tendermint to store state.
 ENV DATA_ROOT /tendermint
-ENV TMROOT $DATA_ROOT
+ENV TMHOME $DATA_ROOT
 
 # Set user right away for determinism
 RUN addgroup tmuser && \
diff --git a/DOCKER/Dockerfile.develop b/DOCKER/Dockerfile.develop
index 19e101ad..82cd884a 100644
--- a/DOCKER/Dockerfile.develop
+++ b/DOCKER/Dockerfile.develop
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 FROM alpine:3.5
 
 ENV DATA_ROOT /tendermint
-ENV TMROOT $DATA_ROOT
+ENV TMHOME $DATA_ROOT
 
 RUN addgroup tmuser && \
     adduser -S -G tmuser tmuser
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index bfdaf007..3cafad38 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ GOTOOLS = \
 					github.com/Masterminds/glide
 PACKAGES=$(shell go list ./... | grep -v '/vendor/')
 BUILD_TAGS?=tendermint
-TMROOT = $${TMROOT:-$$HOME/.tendermint}
+TMHOME = $${TMHOME:-$$HOME/.tendermint}
 
 all: install test
 
@@ -61,8 +61,8 @@ update_deps: tools
 	@go get -d -u ./...
 
 revision:
-	-echo `git rev-parse --verify HEAD` > $(TMROOT)/revision
-	-echo `git rev-parse --verify HEAD` >> $(TMROOT)/revision_history
+	-echo `git rev-parse --verify HEAD` > $(TMHOME)/revision
+	-echo `git rev-parse --verify HEAD` >> $(TMHOME)/revision_history
 
 tools:
 	go get -u -v $(GOTOOLS)
diff --git a/config/tendermint/config.go b/config/tendermint/config.go
index c210d6e0..b28170ce 100644
--- a/config/tendermint/config.go
+++ b/config/tendermint/config.go
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@ import (
 
 func getTMRoot(rootDir string) string {
 	if rootDir == "" {
+		rootDir = os.Getenv("TMHOME")
+	}
+	if rootDir == "" {
+		// deprecated, use TMHOME (TODO: remove in TM 0.11.0)
 		rootDir = os.Getenv("TMROOT")
 	}
 	if rootDir == "" {
diff --git a/test/app/test.sh b/test/app/test.sh
index 8d589cd6..0b40c43e 100644
--- a/test/app/test.sh
+++ b/test/app/test.sh
@@ -8,10 +8,10 @@ set -e
 
 # TODO: install everything
 
-export TMROOT=$HOME/.tendermint_app
+export TMHOME=$HOME/.tendermint_app
 
 function dummy_over_socket(){
-	rm -rf $TMROOT
+	rm -rf $TMHOME
 	tendermint init
 	echo "Starting dummy_over_socket"
 	dummy > /dev/null &
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ function dummy_over_socket(){
 
 # start tendermint first
 function dummy_over_socket_reorder(){
-	rm -rf $TMROOT
+	rm -rf $TMHOME
 	tendermint init
 	echo "Starting dummy_over_socket_reorder (ie. start tendermint first)"
 	tendermint node > tendermint.log &
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ function dummy_over_socket_reorder(){
 
 
 function counter_over_socket() {
-	rm -rf $TMROOT
+	rm -rf $TMHOME
 	tendermint init
 	echo "Starting counter_over_socket"
 	counter --serial > /dev/null &
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ function counter_over_socket() {
 }
 
 function counter_over_grpc() {
-	rm -rf $TMROOT
+	rm -rf $TMHOME
 	tendermint init
 	echo "Starting counter_over_grpc"
 	counter --serial --abci grpc > /dev/null &
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ function counter_over_grpc() {
 }
 
 function counter_over_grpc_grpc() {
-	rm -rf $TMROOT
+	rm -rf $TMHOME
 	tendermint init
 	echo "Starting counter_over_grpc_grpc (ie. with grpc broadcast_tx)"
 	counter --serial --abci grpc > /dev/null &
diff --git a/test/p2p/README.md b/test/p2p/README.md
index 5cd314d3..5836fc61 100644
--- a/test/p2p/README.md
+++ b/test/p2p/README.md
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ for i in $(seq 1 4); do
 	  --ip="172.57.0.$((100 + $i))" \
 	  --name local_testnet_$i \
 	  --entrypoint tendermint \
-	  -e TMROOT=/go/src/github.com/tendermint/tendermint/test/p2p/data/mach$i/core \
+	  -e TMHOME=/go/src/github.com/tendermint/tendermint/test/p2p/data/mach$i/core \
 	  tendermint_tester node --seeds 172.57.0.101:46656,172.57.0.102:46656,172.57.0.103:46656,172.57.0.104:46656 --proxy_app=dummy
 done
 ```
diff --git a/test/p2p/peer.sh b/test/p2p/peer.sh
index 5299a3c6..283228f7 100644
--- a/test/p2p/peer.sh
+++ b/test/p2p/peer.sh
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ if [[ "$CIRCLECI" == true ]]; then
 	  --ip=$(test/p2p/ip.sh $ID) \
 	  --name "local_testnet_$ID" \
 	  --entrypoint tendermint \
-	  -e TMROOT="/go/src/github.com/tendermint/tendermint/test/p2p/data/mach$ID/core" \
+	  -e TMHOME="/go/src/github.com/tendermint/tendermint/test/p2p/data/mach$ID/core" \
 		--log-driver=syslog \
 		--log-opt syslog-address=udp://127.0.0.1:5514 \
 		--log-opt syslog-facility=daemon \
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ else
 	  --ip=$(test/p2p/ip.sh $ID) \
 	  --name "local_testnet_$ID" \
 	  --entrypoint tendermint \
-	  -e TMROOT="/go/src/github.com/tendermint/tendermint/test/p2p/data/mach$ID/core" \
+	  -e TMHOME="/go/src/github.com/tendermint/tendermint/test/p2p/data/mach$ID/core" \
   	  "$DOCKER_IMAGE" node $NODE_FLAGS --log_level=info --proxy_app="$APP_PROXY"
 fi
+
diff --git a/test/persist/test_failure_indices.sh b/test/persist/test_failure_indices.sh
index 8a708e50..bca8b8ae 100644
--- a/test/persist/test_failure_indices.sh
+++ b/test/persist/test_failure_indices.sh
@@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
 #! /bin/bash
 
-export TMROOT=$HOME/.tendermint_persist
+export TMHOME=$HOME/.tendermint_persist
 
-rm -rf "$TMROOT"
+rm -rf "$TMHOME"
 tendermint init
 
 # use a unix socket so we can remove it
 RPC_ADDR="$(pwd)/rpc.sock"
 
 TM_CMD="tendermint node --log_level=debug --rpc_laddr=unix://$RPC_ADDR" # &> tendermint_${name}.log"
-DUMMY_CMD="dummy --persist $TMROOT/dummy" # &> dummy_${name}.log"
+DUMMY_CMD="dummy --persist $TMHOME/dummy" # &> dummy_${name}.log"
 
 
 function start_procs(){
diff --git a/test/persist/test_simple.sh b/test/persist/test_simple.sh
index a483145b..59bc3845 100644
--- a/test/persist/test_simple.sh
+++ b/test/persist/test_simple.sh
@@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
 #! /bin/bash
 
 
-export TMROOT=$HOME/.tendermint_persist
+export TMHOME=$HOME/.tendermint_persist
 
-rm -rf $TMROOT
+rm -rf $TMHOME
 tendermint init
 
 function start_procs(){
 	name=$1
 	echo "Starting persistent dummy and tendermint"
-	dummy --persist $TMROOT/dummy &> "dummy_${name}.log" &
+	dummy --persist $TMHOME/dummy &> "dummy_${name}.log" &
 	PID_DUMMY=$!
 	tendermint node &> tendermint_${name}.log &
 	PID_TENDERMINT=$!