diff --git a/Config_File.class.php b/Config_File.class.php
index 9205e1aa..2212f5d5 100644
--- a/Config_File.class.php
+++ b/Config_File.class.php
@@ -124,17 +124,23 @@ class Config_File {
 		}
 		
 		if (!empty($var_name)) {
-			if (empty($section_name))
-			{
+			if (empty($section_name)) {
 				return $this->_config_data[$file_name]["vars"][$var_name];
+			} else {
+				if(isset($this->_config_data[$file_name]["sections"][$section_name]["vars"][$var_name]))
+					return $this->_config_data[$file_name]["sections"][$section_name]["vars"][$var_name];
+				else
+					return array();
 			}
-			else
-				return $this->_config_data[$file_name]["sections"][$section_name]["vars"][$var_name];
 		} else {
-			if (empty($section_name))
+			if (empty($section_name)) {
 				return (array)$this->_config_data[$file_name]["vars"];
-			else
-				return (array)$this->_config_data[$file_name]["sections"][$section_name]["vars"];
+			} else {
+				if(isset($this->_config_data[$file_name]["sections"][$section_name]["vars"]))
+					return (array)$this->_config_data[$file_name]["sections"][$section_name]["vars"];
+				else
+					return array();
+			}
 		}
 	}
 	
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index eb58a63d..c1371b6e 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+    - fix Config_File class to not error when there are no
+      sections (Peter Kmet, Monte)
     - add default modifier logic (Monte)
     - updated popup_init to be xhtml compliant (Tom Oram, Monte)
     - fix filename bug with windows (Gary Loescher, Monte)
diff --git a/libs/Config_File.class.php b/libs/Config_File.class.php
index 9205e1aa..2212f5d5 100644
--- a/libs/Config_File.class.php
+++ b/libs/Config_File.class.php
@@ -124,17 +124,23 @@ class Config_File {
 		}
 		
 		if (!empty($var_name)) {
-			if (empty($section_name))
-			{
+			if (empty($section_name)) {
 				return $this->_config_data[$file_name]["vars"][$var_name];
+			} else {
+				if(isset($this->_config_data[$file_name]["sections"][$section_name]["vars"][$var_name]))
+					return $this->_config_data[$file_name]["sections"][$section_name]["vars"][$var_name];
+				else
+					return array();
 			}
-			else
-				return $this->_config_data[$file_name]["sections"][$section_name]["vars"][$var_name];
 		} else {
-			if (empty($section_name))
+			if (empty($section_name)) {
 				return (array)$this->_config_data[$file_name]["vars"];
-			else
-				return (array)$this->_config_data[$file_name]["sections"][$section_name]["vars"];
+			} else {
+				if(isset($this->_config_data[$file_name]["sections"][$section_name]["vars"]))
+					return (array)$this->_config_data[$file_name]["sections"][$section_name]["vars"];
+				else
+					return array();
+			}
 		}
 	}