diff --git a/hrafn.py b/hrafn.py
index 55cb176..fe1eb3f 100755
--- a/hrafn.py
+++ b/hrafn.py
@@ -650,7 +650,7 @@ class Hrafn():
 ### end class Hrafn
 
 
-def _check_config(self, config, config_file):
+def _check_config(config, config_file):
     new_data = False
     if not config.has_section('global'):
         config.add_section('global')
@@ -688,12 +688,13 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     parser.add_option('-n' ,'--no-resize', dest="resize", action='store_false', default=True, help="use the default window size instead of the size from the last session")
     (options, args) = parser.parse_args()
 
+    # Read in config, and set config options to defaults,
+    # if they are not present
     config = ConfigParser.ConfigParser()
     config.read(os.path.expanduser(options.filename))
+    _check_config(config, options.filename)
 
-    # Set config options to defaults, if they are not present
-    _check_config(config, config_file)
-
+    # Set the convenient global debug flag
     debug = False
     if config.get('global', 'debug') == 1:
         debug = True