sub readConfigData {
	my $filename = shift;     # name of the config file.
	my %settings;

	open( DATAFILE, "< $filename" )
		or die "Can't Open $filename; reason: $!\n";

	while ( <DATAFILE> ) {
		next unless /\S/;	# skip lines of only whitespace
   		next if /^\s*#/;	# skip comments  

		s/^\s+|\s+$//g;		# trim whitespace in place

		my ( $cfglabel, $cfgvalue ) = split( /\s*=\s*/, $_, 2 );
		$settings{$cfglabel} = $cfgvalue;
	}
	close( DATAFILE ) 
		or die "Can't Close $filename; reason: $!\n";
        
	return %settings;
}