# set up the @conf array
my(@conf);
if(defined($opt{config_file})){
   
   my($buf);
   $buf = `cat $opt{config_file}`;
   
   # slurp
   if (eval($buf)){
      print STDOUT "$me: Read config from $opt{config_file}\n" if $opt{verbose};
      }
   else{
      die "$me: Error reading config from $opt{config_file} (fix it!)\n\n";
      }
   }
else{
   @conf = @default_conf;
   }