Index: xcs.c
===================================================================
--- 1/xcs/xcs.c	(revision 76)
+++ 2/xcs/xcs.c	(revision 78)
@@ -230,12 +230,30 @@
     filename = g_build_filename (g_get_home_dir(), XCS_RCPATH, "config.xml", NULL);
 
     if (g_file_test (filename, G_FILE_TEST_EXISTS))
-    {
-         configuration->private->xmlconfig =
-         xmlParseFile (filename);
-    }
-    else
-    {
+      {
+	xmlXPathObjectPtr xpathobj;
+	xmlDocPtr xmldoc;
+
+	xmldoc = xmlParseFile (filename);
+	new_configuration = FALSE;
+
+	xpathobj = xml_execute_xpath_expression (xmldoc, "/" XCS_ROOT_NODE_NAME, NULL); 
+	
+	if ((!xpathobj) || (!xpathobj->nodesetval) || (!xpathobj->nodesetval->nodeNr))
+	  {
+	    new_configuration = TRUE;
+	    xmlFreeDoc (xmldoc);
+	  }
+	else
+	  {
+	      configuration->private->xmlconfig = xmldoc;
+	  }
+
+	xmlXPathFreeObject (xpathobj);
+      }
+
+    if (new_configuration)
+      {
          configuration->private->xmlconfig = xmlNewDoc ((unsigned char*)"1.0");
 
          node = xmlNewNode (NULL, (unsigned char*)XCS_ROOT_NODE_NAME);
@@ -245,10 +263,8 @@
 
          xmlDocSetRootElement (configuration->private->
                                xmlconfig, node);
+      }
 
-	 new_configuration = TRUE;
-    }
-
     g_free (filename);
 
     g_message("running: %s", G_OBJECT_TYPE_NAME(configuration));
@@ -256,7 +272,7 @@
 
 static xmlXPathObjectPtr
 xcs_get_from_xpath (Xcs *configuration,
-                                  const gchar * xpath_expr)
+		    const gchar * xpath_expr)
 {
     xmlXPathObjectPtr xpathObj = NULL;