diff --git a/lib/coffee-script/repl.js b/lib/coffee-script/repl.js
index 0f50b4ca..1827d55c 100644
--- a/lib/coffee-script/repl.js
+++ b/lib/coffee-script/repl.js
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 
   replDefaults = {
     prompt: 'coffee> ',
-    historyFile: path.join(process.env.HOME, '.coffee_history'),
+    historyFile: process.env.HOME ? path.join(process.env.HOME, '.coffee_history') : void 0,
     historyMaxInputSize: 10240,
     "eval": function(input, context, filename, cb) {
       var Assign, Block, Literal, Value, ast, err, js, _ref1;
diff --git a/src/repl.coffee b/src/repl.coffee
index be7182ab..ab9c2de7 100644
--- a/src/repl.coffee
+++ b/src/repl.coffee
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ CoffeeScript = require './coffee-script'
 
 replDefaults =
   prompt: 'coffee> ',
-  historyFile: path.join(process.env.HOME, '.coffee_history')
+  historyFile: path.join process.env.HOME, '.coffee_history' if process.env.HOME
   historyMaxInputSize: 10240
   eval: (input, context, filename, cb) ->
     # XXX: multiline hack.