diff --git a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/ApplyToDatabases_conf.pm b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/ApplyToDatabases_conf.pm
index 4fb34737b4777b8a7a7fc56318bc7c98f666c62c..fbaf8e9680abf2f94a056087d98a254e668750dc 100644
--- a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/ApplyToDatabases_conf.pm
+++ b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/ApplyToDatabases_conf.pm
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ use base ('Bio::EnsEMBL::Hive::PipeConfig::HiveGeneric_conf');  # All Hive datab
 sub default_options {
     my ($self) = @_;
     return {
-        'ensembl_cvs_root_dir' => $ENV{'HOME'}.'/work',     # some Compara developers might prefer $ENV{'HOME'}.'/ensembl_main'
+        'ensembl_cvs_root_dir' => $ENV{'ENSEMBL_CVS_ROOT_DIR'},     # it will make sense to set this variable if you are going to use ehive frequently
 
         'pipeline_name' => 'apply_to_databases',            # name used by the beekeeper to prefix job names on the farm
 
diff --git a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/FailureTest_conf.pm b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/FailureTest_conf.pm
index c58d509956d3487819934f2aee1ef50d2979c06b..18e2753eac90ff0436de5693aa5f986cec2866c9 100644
--- a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/FailureTest_conf.pm
+++ b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/FailureTest_conf.pm
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ use base ('Bio::EnsEMBL::Hive::PipeConfig::HiveGeneric_conf');  # All Hive datab
 sub default_options {
     my ($self) = @_;
     return {
-        'ensembl_cvs_root_dir' => $ENV{'HOME'}.'/work',     # some Compara developers might prefer $ENV{'HOME'}.'/ensembl_main'
+        'ensembl_cvs_root_dir' => $ENV{'ENSEMBL_CVS_ROOT_DIR'},     # it will make sense to set this variable if you are going to use ehive frequently
 
         'pipeline_name' => 'failure_test',                  # name used by the beekeeper to prefix job names on the farm
 
diff --git a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/FileZipperUnzipper_conf.pm b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/FileZipperUnzipper_conf.pm
index 45a88c0ab915c8d41e36137053371592dc113a6e..b42904272978f4373742f5a912861d284c5cba80 100644
--- a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/FileZipperUnzipper_conf.pm
+++ b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/FileZipperUnzipper_conf.pm
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ use base ('Bio::EnsEMBL::Hive::PipeConfig::HiveGeneric_conf');  # All Hive datab
 sub default_options {
     my ($self) = @_;
     return {
-        'ensembl_cvs_root_dir' => $ENV{'HOME'}.'/work',     # some Compara developers might prefer $ENV{'HOME'}.'/ensembl_main'
+        'ensembl_cvs_root_dir' => $ENV{'ENSEMBL_CVS_ROOT_DIR'},     # it will make sense to set this variable if you are going to use ehive frequently
 
         'pipeline_name' => 'zip_unzip_files',               # name used by the beekeeper to prefix job names on the farm
 
diff --git a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/HiveGeneric_conf.pm b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/HiveGeneric_conf.pm
index fb0ee5348e4d4ab5eabeafc124d97b090c17904c..636b9eabb6c02a1bc22d78930da32fb3d93c4197 100644
--- a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/HiveGeneric_conf.pm
+++ b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/HiveGeneric_conf.pm
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ use Bio::EnsEMBL::Hive::Extensions;
 sub default_options {
     my ($self) = @_;
     return {
-        'ensembl_cvs_root_dir' => $ENV{'HOME'}.'/work',     # some Compara developers might prefer $ENV{'HOME'}.'/ensembl_main'
+        'ensembl_cvs_root_dir' => $ENV{'ENSEMBL_CVS_ROOT_DIR'},     # it will make sense to set this variable if you are going to use ehive frequently
 
         'pipeline_name' => 'hive_generic',
 
diff --git a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/SemaLongMult_conf.pm b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/SemaLongMult_conf.pm
index 740313b8b91702db30f1824e4a3c7ac8ab2a5979..b0b7818ec8f473b5bf50b9a7070c3a01ef22075d 100644
--- a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/SemaLongMult_conf.pm
+++ b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/SemaLongMult_conf.pm
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ use base ('Bio::EnsEMBL::Hive::PipeConfig::HiveGeneric_conf');  # All Hive datab
 sub default_options {
     my ($self) = @_;
     return {
-        'ensembl_cvs_root_dir' => $ENV{'HOME'}.'/work',     # some Compara developers might prefer $ENV{'HOME'}.'/ensembl_main'
+        'ensembl_cvs_root_dir' => $ENV{'ENSEMBL_CVS_ROOT_DIR'},     # it will make sense to set this variable if you are going to use ehive frequently
 
         'pipeline_name' => 'sema_long_mult',                # name used by the beekeeper to prefix job names on the farm
 
diff --git a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/TableDumperZipper_conf.pm b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/TableDumperZipper_conf.pm
index d463af556b04918596e5d435a63e9ff516bc438e..dffa04f7241123d5be4d2f12b5ab2023c34ff0f1 100644
--- a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/TableDumperZipper_conf.pm
+++ b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/PipeConfig/TableDumperZipper_conf.pm
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ use base ('Bio::EnsEMBL::Hive::PipeConfig::HiveGeneric_conf');  # All Hive datab
 sub default_options {
     my ($self) = @_;
     return {
-        'ensembl_cvs_root_dir' => $ENV{'HOME'}.'/work',     # some Compara developers might prefer $ENV{'HOME'}.'/ensembl_main'
+        'ensembl_cvs_root_dir' => $ENV{'ENSEMBL_CVS_ROOT_DIR'},     # it will make sense to set this variable if you are going to use ehive frequently
 
         'pipeline_name' => 'zip_tables',                    # name used by the beekeeper to prefix job names on the farm