diff --git a/src/Composer/Cache.php b/src/Composer/Cache.php
index eb9548a17..518b63ee3 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Cache.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Cache.php
@@ -49,6 +49,11 @@ class Cache
         }
     }
 
+    public function isEnabled()
+    {
+        return $this->enabled;
+    }
+
     public function getRoot()
     {
         return $this->root;
diff --git a/src/Composer/Config.php b/src/Composer/Config.php
index 9684edab0..7220092e7 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Config.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Config.php
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ class Config
         'bin-dir' => '{$vendor-dir}/bin',
         'notify-on-install' => true,
         'github-protocols' => array('git', 'https', 'http'),
+        'cache-dir' => '{$home}/cache',
+        'cache-files-dir' => '{$cache-dir}/files',
+        'cache-repo-dir' => '{$cache-dir}/repo',
+        'cache-vcs-dir' => '{$cache-dir}/vcs',
     );
 
     public static $defaultRepositories = array(
@@ -115,6 +119,10 @@ class Config
             case 'vendor-dir':
             case 'bin-dir':
             case 'process-timeout':
+            case 'cache-dir':
+            case 'cache-files-dir':
+            case 'cache-repo-dir':
+            case 'cache-vcs-dir':
                 // convert foo-bar to COMPOSER_FOO_BAR and check if it exists since it overrides the local config
                 $env = 'COMPOSER_' . strtoupper(strtr($key, '-', '_'));
 
diff --git a/src/Composer/Factory.php b/src/Composer/Factory.php
index 48bae966d..da468f2bd 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Factory.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Factory.php
@@ -35,27 +35,44 @@ class Factory
      */
     public static function createConfig()
     {
-        // load main Composer configuration
-        if (!$home = getenv('COMPOSER_HOME')) {
+        // determine home and cache dirs
+        $home = getenv('COMPOSER_HOME');
+        $cacheDir = getenv('COMPOSER_CACHE_DIR');
+        if (!$home) {
             if (defined('PHP_WINDOWS_VERSION_MAJOR')) {
                 $home = getenv('APPDATA') . '/Composer';
             } else {
                 $home = rtrim(getenv('HOME'), '/') . '/.composer';
             }
         }
-
-        // Protect directory against web access
-        if (!file_exists($home . '/.htaccess')) {
-            if (!is_dir($home)) {
-                @mkdir($home, 0777, true);
+        if (!$cacheDir) {
+            if (defined('PHP_WINDOWS_VERSION_MAJOR')) {
+                if ($cacheDir = getenv('LOCALAPPDATA')) {
+                    $cacheDir .= '/Composer';
+                } else {
+                    $cacheDir = getenv('APPDATA') . '/Composer/cache';
+                }
+            } else {
+                $cacheDir = $home.'/cache';
+            }
+        }
+
+        // Protect directory against web access. Since HOME could be
+        // the www-data's user home and be web-accessible it is a
+        // potential security risk
+        foreach (array($home, $cacheDir) as $dir) {
+            if (!file_exists($dir . '/.htaccess')) {
+                if (!is_dir($dir)) {
+                    @mkdir($dir, 0777, true);
+                }
+                @file_put_contents($dir . '/.htaccess', 'Deny from all');
             }
-            @file_put_contents($home . '/.htaccess', 'Deny from all');
         }
 
         $config = new Config();
 
-        // add home dir to the config
-        $config->merge(array('config' => array('home' => $home)));
+        // add dirs to the config
+        $config->merge(array('config' => array('home' => $home, 'cache-dir' => $cacheDir)));
 
         $file = new JsonFile($home.'/config.json');
         if ($file->exists()) {
@@ -63,6 +80,34 @@ class Factory
         }
         $config->setConfigSource(new JsonConfigSource($file));
 
+        // move old cache dirs to the new locations
+        $legacyPaths = array(
+            'cache-repo-dir' => array('/cache' => '/http*', '/cache.svn' => '/*', '/cache.github' => '/*'),
+            'cache-vcs-dir' => array('/cache.git' => '/*', '/cache.hg' => '/*'),
+            'cache-files-dir' => array('/cache.files' => '/*'),
+        );
+        foreach ($legacyPaths as $key => $oldPaths) {
+            foreach ($oldPaths as $oldPath => $match) {
+                $dir = $config->get($key);
+                if ('/cache.github' === $oldPath) {
+                    $dir .= '/github.com';
+                }
+                $oldPath = $config->get('home').$oldPath;
+                $oldPathMatch = $oldPath . $match;
+                if (is_dir($oldPath) && $dir !== $oldPath) {
+                    if (!is_dir($dir)) {
+                        if (!@mkdir($dir, 0777, true)) {
+                            continue;
+                        }
+                    }
+                    foreach (glob($oldPathMatch) as $child) {
+                        @rename($child, $dir.'/'.basename($child));
+                    }
+                    @unlink($oldPath);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
         return $config;
     }
 
@@ -242,7 +287,7 @@ class Factory
     {
         $cache = null;
         if ($config->get('cache-files-ttl') > 0) {
-            $cache = new Cache($io, $config->get('home').'/cache.files/', 'a-z0-9_./');
+            $cache = new Cache($io, $config->get('cache-files-dir'), 'a-z0-9_./');
         }
 
         $dm = new Downloader\DownloadManager();
diff --git a/src/Composer/Repository/ComposerRepository.php b/src/Composer/Repository/ComposerRepository.php
index 85f438db8..557c45393 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Repository/ComposerRepository.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Repository/ComposerRepository.php
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ class ComposerRepository extends ArrayRepository implements NotifiableRepository
         $this->url = $repoConfig['url'];
         $this->baseUrl = rtrim(preg_replace('{^(.*)(?:/packages.json)?(?:[?#].*)?$}', '$1', $this->url), '/');
         $this->io = $io;
-        $this->cache = new Cache($io, $config->get('home').'/cache/'.preg_replace('{[^a-z0-9.]}i', '-', $this->url));
+        $this->cache = new Cache($io, $config->get('cache-repo-dir').'/'.preg_replace('{[^a-z0-9.]}i', '-', $this->url));
         $this->loader = new ArrayLoader();
     }
 
diff --git a/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitDriver.php b/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitDriver.php
index b5abbd9c4..8a6d8e42a 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitDriver.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitDriver.php
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ class GitDriver extends VcsDriver
         if (static::isLocalUrl($this->url)) {
             $this->repoDir = str_replace('file://', '', $this->url);
         } else {
-            $this->repoDir = $this->config->get('home') . '/cache.git/' . preg_replace('{[^a-z0-9.]}i', '-', $this->url) . '/';
+            $this->repoDir = $this->config->get('cache-vcs-dir') . '/' . preg_replace('{[^a-z0-9.]}i', '-', $this->url) . '/';
 
             $fs = new Filesystem();
             $fs->ensureDirectoryExists(dirname($this->repoDir));
diff --git a/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitHubDriver.php b/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitHubDriver.php
index 1546b7852..5fc1df471 100755
--- a/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitHubDriver.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/GitHubDriver.php
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ class GitHubDriver extends VcsDriver
         $this->owner = $match[1];
         $this->repository = $match[2];
         $this->originUrl = 'github.com';
-        $this->cache = new Cache($this->io, $this->config->get('home').'/cache.github/'.$this->owner.'/'.$this->repository);
+        $this->cache = new Cache($this->io, $this->config->get('cache-repo-dir').'/'.$this->originUrl.'/'.$this->owner.'/'.$this->repository);
 
         $this->fetchRootIdentifier();
     }
diff --git a/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/HgDriver.php b/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/HgDriver.php
index 4c09eca35..ec590b927 100755
--- a/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/HgDriver.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/HgDriver.php
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ class HgDriver extends VcsDriver
         if (static::isLocalUrl($this->url)) {
             $this->repoDir = str_replace('file://', '', $this->url);
         } else {
-            $cacheDir = $this->config->get('home') . '/cache.hg';
+            $cacheDir = $this->config->get('cache-vcs-dir');
             $this->repoDir = $cacheDir . '/' . preg_replace('{[^a-z0-9]}i', '-', $this->url) . '/';
 
             $fs = new Filesystem();
diff --git a/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/SvnDriver.php b/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/SvnDriver.php
index a3b2b37e2..7b3cae73f 100755
--- a/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/SvnDriver.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/SvnDriver.php
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ class SvnDriver extends VcsDriver
             $this->baseUrl = substr($this->url, 0, $pos);
         }
 
-        $this->cache = new Cache($this->io, $this->config->get('home').'/cache.svn/'.preg_replace('{[^a-z0-9.]}i', '-', $this->baseUrl));
+        $this->cache = new Cache($this->io, $this->config->get('cache-repo-dir').'/'.preg_replace('{[^a-z0-9.]}i', '-', $this->baseUrl));
 
         $this->getBranches();
         $this->getTags();