diff --git a/GPy/core/gp_base.py b/GPy/core/gp_base.py
index cb968520..548e2924 100644
--- a/GPy/core/gp_base.py
+++ b/GPy/core/gp_base.py
@@ -14,8 +14,11 @@ class GPBase(Model):
     Here we define some functions that are use
     """
     def __init__(self, X, likelihood, kernel, normalize_X=False):
+        if len(X.shape)==1:
+            X = X.reshape(-1,1)
+            warning.warn("One dimension output (N,) being reshaped to (N,1)")
         self.X = X
-        assert len(self.X.shape) == 2
+        assert len(self.X.shape) == 2, "too many dimensions for X input"
         self.num_data, self.input_dim = self.X.shape
         assert isinstance(kernel, kern.kern)
         self.kern = kernel
diff --git a/GPy/util/config.py b/GPy/util/config.py
index d2ed7543..02796e0b 100644
--- a/GPy/util/config.py
+++ b/GPy/util/config.py
@@ -5,13 +5,18 @@ import ConfigParser
 import os
 config = ConfigParser.ConfigParser()
 
-user_file = os.path.join(os.getenv('HOME'),'.gpy_config.cfg')
-default_file = os.path.join('..','gpy_config.cfg')
+home = os.getenv('HOME') or os.getenv('USERPROFILE')
+user_file = os.path.join(home,'.gpy_config.cfg')
+default_file = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname( __file__ ), '..', 'gpy_config.cfg'))
+print user_file, os.path.isfile(user_file)
+print default_file, os.path.isfile(default_file)
 
 # 1. check if the user has a ~/.gpy_config.cfg
 if os.path.isfile(user_file):
     config.read(user_file)
-else:
+elif os.path.isfile(default_file):
     # 2. if not, use the default one
-    path = os.path.dirname(__file__)
-    config.read(os.path.join(path,default_file))
+    config.read(default_file)
+else:
+    #3. panic
+    raise ValueError, "no configuration file found"
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index c89284cd..8d5b2304 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -2,3 +2,5 @@ include *.txt
 recursive-include doc *.txt
 include *.md
 recursive-include doc *.md
+include *.cfg
+recursive-include doc *.cfg