diff --git a/darkice/trunk/ChangeLog b/darkice/trunk/ChangeLog
index 4f1312a..28568b7 100644
--- a/darkice/trunk/ChangeLog
+++ b/darkice/trunk/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 DarkIce next release
 
+    o added default configuration file handling - if no configuration file
+	  is specified, /etc/darkice.cfg is used
 	o fix to enable compiling on 64 bit platforms
 	  thanks to Alexander Vlasov <zulu@galaradio.com> and
       Mariusz Mazur <mmazur@kernel.pl>
diff --git a/darkice/trunk/man/darkice.1 b/darkice/trunk/man/darkice.1
index 92dd668..6545c39 100644
--- a/darkice/trunk/man/darkice.1
+++ b/darkice/trunk/man/darkice.1
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.TH darkice 1 "January 25, 2006" "DarkIce" "DarkIce live audio streamer"
+.TH darkice 1 "January 14, 2007" "DarkIce" "DarkIce live audio streamer"
 .SH NAME
 darkice \- an icecast / shoutcast live audio streamer
 .SH SYNOPSIS
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ is run as root.
 .TP
 .BI "\-c " config.file
 Specifies what configuration file to use.
+If not specified, /etc/darkice.cfg will be used.
 
 .TP
 .BI "\-v " n
diff --git a/darkice/trunk/src/main.cpp b/darkice/trunk/src/main.cpp
index ace0328..b234b10 100644
--- a/darkice/trunk/src/main.cpp
+++ b/darkice/trunk/src/main.cpp
@@ -62,6 +62,11 @@
  *----------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
 static const char fileid[] = "$Id$";
 
+/*------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ *  Default config file name
+ *----------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
+static const char *DEFAULT_CONFIG_FILE = "/etc/darkice.cfg";
+
 
 /* ===============================================  local function prototypes */
 
@@ -91,7 +96,7 @@ main (
          << std::endl << std::endl;
 
     try {
-        const char    * configFileName = 0;
+        const char    * configFileName = DEFAULT_CONFIG_FILE;
         unsigned int    verbosity      = 1;
         int             i;
         const char      opts[] = "hc:v:";
@@ -115,12 +120,6 @@ main (
             }
         }
 
-        if ( !configFileName ) {
-            showUsage( std::cout);
-            throw Exception( __FILE__, __LINE__,
-                             "no configuration file specified");
-        }
-
         std::cout << "Using config file: " << configFileName << std::endl;
 
         std::ifstream       configFile( configFileName);
@@ -153,6 +152,8 @@ showUsage (     std::ostream      & os )
     << std::endl
     << "   -c config.file     use configuration file config.file"
     << std::endl
+    << "                      if not specified, /etc/darkice.cfg is used"
+    << std::endl
     << "   -v n               verbosity level (0 = silent, 10 = loud)"
     << std::endl
     << "   -h                 print this message and exit"