diff --git a/src/lib/Hydra/Helper/Nix.pm b/src/lib/Hydra/Helper/Nix.pm
index d3198a07..d514a7d2 100644
--- a/src/lib/Hydra/Helper/Nix.pm
+++ b/src/lib/Hydra/Helper/Nix.pm
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ use Hydra::Helper::CatalystUtils;
 our @ISA = qw(Exporter);
 our @EXPORT = qw(
     isValidPath
-    getHydraPath getHydraDBPath openHydraDB txn_do
+    getHydraPath getHydraDBPath openHydraDB getHydraConf txn_do
     registerRoot getGCRootsDir gcRootFor
     getPrimaryBuildsForView 
     getPrimaryBuildTotal
@@ -25,10 +25,16 @@ sub isValidPath {
 
 sub getHydraPath {
     my $dir = $ENV{"HYDRA_DATA"} || "/var/lib/hydra";
-    die "The HYDRA_DATA directory does not exist!\n" unless -d $dir;
+    die "The HYDRA_DATA directory ($dir) does not exist!\n" unless -d $dir;
     return $dir;
 }
 
+sub getHydraConf {
+    my $conf = $ENV{"HYDRA_CONF"} || (getHydraPath . "/hydra.conf");
+    die "The HYDRA_CONF file ($conf) does not exist!\n" unless -f $conf;
+    return $conf;
+}
+
 
 sub getHydraDBPath {
     my $db = $ENV{"HYDRA_DBI"};
diff --git a/src/script/hydra_build.pl.in b/src/script/hydra_build.pl.in
index 26cc7f83..9c0509eb 100755
--- a/src/script/hydra_build.pl.in
+++ b/src/script/hydra_build.pl.in
@@ -23,8 +23,7 @@ STDOUT->autoflush();
 my $db = openHydraDB;
 
 
-my %config = new Config::General($ENV{"HYDRA_CONFIG"})->getall;
-
+my %config = new Config::General(getHydraConf)->getall;
 
 sub sendTwitterNotification {
     my ($build) = @_;
diff --git a/src/script/hydra_evaluator.pl.in b/src/script/hydra_evaluator.pl.in
index 2491bf3b..a04677d9 100755
--- a/src/script/hydra_evaluator.pl.in
+++ b/src/script/hydra_evaluator.pl.in
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ use Data::Dump qw(dump);
 STDOUT->autoflush();
 
 my $db = openHydraDB;
-my %config = new Config::General($ENV{"HYDRA_CONFIG"})->getall;
+my %config = new Config::General(getHydraConf)->getall;
 
 
 sub fetchInputs {