diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5db9446..25b30d2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -15,15 +15,17 @@ Feed2twister is a simple script to post items from RSS/ATOM feeds to [Twister](h
    If you don't have git(?) you can [download the zip](https://github.com/thedod/python-bitcoinrpc/archive/unicode-fix-for-twister.zip),
    and copy the bitcoinrpc directory into this directory (overwrite whatever you have ther now. probably an empty folder).
 
- * Copy `conf-example.py` to `conf.py` and edit it to taste.
+ * Copy `feed2twister.conf.example` to `feed2twister.conf` and edit it to taste.
 
 ### Running
 
-Normally, you would run this as a cron task: `cd /path/to/this ; python feed2twister.py` [`N`]
+Normally, you would run this as a cron task: `cd /path/to/this ; python feed2twister.py` [`-n N`] [`-c CONFIGFILE`]
 
-if [optional] `N` is supplied, it's used as the maximum items to post (per feed). Default is `conf.MAX_NEW_ITEMS_PER_FEED`.
+if [optional] `N` is supplied, it's used as the maximum items to post (per feed). Default is `0`.
 
 If there are more than `N` new items in a feed, "over quota" items get marked as if they were posted
 (this can be handy when you add a new feed with a long history).
 
 Specifically, `python feed2twister.py 0` would make all feeds "catch up" without posting anything.
+
+if [optional] `CONFIGFILE` is supplied, it is used as a custom config file, instead of the first file found in the following list: ./feed2twister.conf, ~/.config/feed2twister.conf, ~/.feed2twister.conf
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/conf-example.py b/conf-example.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 4f0f73e..0000000
--- a/conf-example.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
-import logging
-logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
-#logging.basicConfig(level=logging.ERROR) # For deployment. It's on a don't wanna know basis :)
-USERNAME = 'MYTWISTERUSERNAME' # e.g 'thedod'
-RPC_URL = 'http://MYRPCUSER:MYRPCPASSWORD@127.0.0.1:28332' # change to rpcuser and rpcpassword from ~/.twister/twister.conf
-DB_FILENAME = 'items.db' # db is mainly there to keep track of "what not to post again" :) (debugging too, I guess)
-MAX_URL_LENGTH = 100 # this leaves 36 characters and a ... to get to 140. If we don't have that, we skip the item :(
-MAX_NEW_ITEMS_PER_FEED = 3 # we don't want to flood more than that in a single run.
-USE_SHORTENER = False # to enable this, you need gdshortener: https://github.com/torre76/gd_shortener/
-SHORTENER_STATS = True # tell is.gd to publicly show statistics for the shortened url
-FEEDS = [ # Use your own feeds, of course :)
-    'https://swatwt.com/favs/rss/en',
-    'https://github.com/thedod.atom'
-]
diff --git a/feed2twister.conf.example b/feed2twister.conf.example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e0db66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/feed2twister.conf.example
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+[DEFAULT]
+# For deployment. It's on a don't wanna know basis :)
+# logging_level = error
+logging_level = debug
+# e.g 'thedod'
+username = MYTWISTERUSERNAME
+# change to rpcuser and rpcpassword from ~/.twister/twister.conf
+rpc_url = http://MYRPCUSER:MYRPCPASSWORD@127.0.0.1:28332
+# db is mainly there to keep track of "what not to post again" :) (debugging too, I guess)
+db_filename = items.db
+# this leaves 36 characters and a ... to get to 140. If we don't have that, we skip the item :(
+max_url_length = 100
+# we don't want to flood more than that in a single run.
+max_new_items_per_feed = 3
+# to enable this, you need gdshortener: https://github.com/torre76/gd_shortener/
+use_shortener = False
+# tell is.gd to publicly show statistics for the shortened url
+shortener_stats = True
+# Use your own feeds, of course :)
+feeds = https://swatwt.com/favs/rss/en
+        https://github.com/thedod.atom
+        https://github.com/milouse.atom
diff --git a/feed2twister.py b/feed2twister.py
index 13eaaab..1cf63e6 100644
--- a/feed2twister.py
+++ b/feed2twister.py
@@ -1,13 +1,49 @@
-from conf import *
-import feedparser,anydbm,sys
+import os,feedparser,anydbm,argparse,ConfigParser
 from bitcoinrpc.authproxy import AuthServiceProxy
 
-if USE_SHORTENER:
+SCRIPT_PATH = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
+
+arg_parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Feed2twister is a simple script to post items from RSS/ATOM feeds to Twister.')
+arg_parser.add_argument('--config', '-c', help='Alternate config file. Default is {0}.'.format(os.path.join(SCRIPT_PATH, 'feed2twister.conf')))
+arg_parser.add_argument('--maxitems', '-n', type=int, metavar='N',
+                        help="""Maximum items to post (per feed). Default is 0.
+If there are more than N new items in a feed, "over quota" items get marked as if they were posted (this can be handy when you add a new feed with a long history). Specifically, %(prog)s 0 would make all feeds "catch up" without posting anything.""")
+args = arg_parser.parse_args()
+
+from xdg.BaseDirectory import xdg_config_home
+main_config_file = ConfigParser.ConfigParser()
+if args.config:
+    main_config_file.read([os.path.expanduser(args.config)])
+else:
+    main_config_file.read([os.path.join(SCRIPT_PATH, 'feed2twister.conf'), os.path.join(xdg_config_home, 'feed2twister.conf'), os.path.expanduser('~/.feed2twister.conf')])
+main_config = main_config_file.defaults()
+
+def get_bool_conf_option(option):
+    if main_config[option]:
+        v = main_config[option]
+        return str(v).lower() in ('yes', 'true', 't', '1')
+    return False
+
+def get_array_conf_option(option):
+    if main_config[option]:
+        return main_config[option].split("\n")
+    return []
+
+import logging
+log_level = logging.ERROR
+if main_config['logging_level']:
+    log_level = main_config['logging_level']
+    log_level = getattr(logging, log_level.upper())
+
+logging.basicConfig(level=log_level)
+
+if get_bool_conf_option('use_shortener'):
     try:
         import gdshortener
     except ImportError:
         USE_SHORTENER = False
 
+
 ### truncated_utf8() is based on http://stackoverflow.com/a/13738452
 def _is_utf8_lead_byte(b):
     '''A UTF-8 intermediate byte starts with the bits 10xxxxxx.'''
@@ -31,53 +67,64 @@ def get_next_k(twister,username):
         return 0
 
 def main(max_items):
-    db = anydbm.open(DB_FILENAME,'c')
-    twister = AuthServiceProxy(RPC_URL)
-    for feed_url in FEEDS:
+    db = anydbm.open(main_config['db_filename'],'c')
+    twister = AuthServiceProxy(main_config['rpc_url'])
+
+    for feed_url in get_array_conf_option('feeds'):
         logging.info(feed_url)
         feed = feedparser.parse(feed_url)
         n_items = 0
+
         for e in feed.entries:
             eid = '{0}|{1}'.format(feed_url,e.id)
+
             if db.has_key(eid): # been there, done that (or not - for a reason)
                 logging.debug('Skipping duplicate {0}'.format(eid))
+
             else: # format as a <=140 character string
                 # Construct the link, possibly with shortener
-                entry_url = gdshortener.ISGDShortener().shorten(url=e.link, log_stat=SHORTENER_STATS)[0] if USE_SHORTENER else e.link
-                if len(entry_url)<=MAX_URL_LENGTH:
+                entry_url = gdshortener.ISGDShortener().shorten(url=e.link, log_stat=get_bool_conf_option('shortener_stats'))[0] if get_bool_conf_option('use_shortener') else e.link
+
+                if len(entry_url) <= int(main_config['max_url_length']):
                     msg = u'{0} {1}'.format(entry_url,e.title)
+
                     if len(msg)>140: # Truncate (and hope it's still meaningful)
                         msg = msg[:137]+u'...'
+
                 else: # Link too long. Not enough space left for text :(
                     msg = ''
+
+
                 utfmsg = truncated_utf8(msg,140)# limit is 140 utf-8 bytes (not chars)
                 msg = unicode(utfmsg,'utf-8') # AuthServiceProxy needs unicode [we just needed to know where to truncate, and that's utf-8]
                 db[eid] = utfmsg # anydbm, on the other hand, can't handle unicode, so it's a good thing we've also kept the utf-8 :)
                 if not msg: # We've marked it as "posted", but no sense really posting it.
                     logging.warn(u'Link too long at {0}'.format(eid))
                     continue
-                if n_items>=max_items: # Avoid accidental flooding
+
+                if n_items >= max_items: # Avoid accidental flooding
                     logging.warn(u'Skipping "over quota" item: {0}'.format(msg))
                     continue
+
                 logging.info(u'posting {0}'.format(msg))
+
                 try:
-                    twister.newpostmsg(USERNAME,get_next_k(twister,USERNAME),msg)
+                    twister.newpostmsg(main_config['username'],
+                                       get_next_k(twister,
+                                                  main_config['username']),
+                                       msg)
                 except Exception,e:
                     logging.error(`e`) # usually not very informative :(
+
                 n_items+=1
 
+
+
 if __name__=='__main__':
-    if len(sys.argv)>1:
-        if len(sys.argv)>2 or not sys.argv[1].isdigit():
-            sys.stderr.write("""Usage: {cmd} [N]
-if [optional] N is supplied, it's used as the maximum items to post (per feed). Default is {n}.
-If there are more than N new items in a feed, "over quota" items get marked as if they were posted
-(this can be handy when you add a new feed with a long history).
-Specifically, {cmd} 0 would make all feeds "catch up" without posting anything.
-""".format(cmd=sys.argv[0],n=MAX_NEW_ITEMS_PER_FEED))
-            sys.exit(-1)
-        else:
-            n = int(sys.argv[1])
+    if args.maxitems:
+        n = args.maxitems
+    elif main_config['max_new_items_per_feed']:
+        n = int(main_config['max_new_items_per_feed'])
     else:
-        n = MAX_NEW_ITEMS_PER_FEED
+        n = 0
     main(n)