diff --git a/docs/changelog/6.x.x.txt b/docs/changelog/6.x.x.txt
index 05372d4c1..d6b81c1ed 100644
--- a/docs/changelog/6.x.x.txt
+++ b/docs/changelog/6.x.x.txt
@@ -57,6 +57,11 @@
    performance gain while in admin mode.
  - Changed the group and user management interfaces to work and scale better 
    with thousands of users and groups.
+ - Changed the config loader to preload the WebGUI config files into memory at
+   a cost of ~70k (mem) per site for a 2000% performance gain. It is a huge
+   gain, but it was already really fast, so relatively users aren't likely to
+   notice the difference. However, this change helps in the overall
+   scalability of WebGUI under load.
 
 
 6.0.3
diff --git a/docs/gotcha.txt b/docs/gotcha.txt
index 075a2db6c..d238ed451 100644
--- a/docs/gotcha.txt
+++ b/docs/gotcha.txt
@@ -29,6 +29,13 @@ save you many hours of grief.
  * Each user's language has been reset to the default language for
 	the site as specified in the profile settings.
 
+ * We removed a bunch of the cryptic-hack code that was allowing
+	backward compatibility all the way back to some 2.x, 3.x, and
+	4.x stuff. To be sure that your site will still work, copy
+	the gateway script (index.pl) over your old one. Also make
+	sure you have extrasPath and extrasURL defined in your config
+	file.
+
 
 6.0.2
 --------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/Config.pm b/lib/WebGUI/Config.pm
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..65e92740b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/Config.pm
@@ -0,0 +1,156 @@
+package WebGUI::Config;
+
+=head1 LEGAL
+
+ -------------------------------------------------------------------
+  WebGUI is Copyright 2001-2004 Plain Black LLC.
+ -------------------------------------------------------------------
+  Please read the legal notices (docs/legal.txt) and the license
+  (docs/license.txt) that came with this distribution before using
+  this software.
+ -------------------------------------------------------------------
+  http://www.plainblack.com                     info@plainblack.com
+ -------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+=cut
+
+use strict;
+use Parse::PlainConfig;
+
+our %config;
+
+=head1 NAME
+
+Package WebGUI::Config
+
+=head1 DESCRIPTION
+
+This package parses the WebGUI config file.
+
+=head1 SYNOPSIS
+
+ use WebGUI::Config;
+
+ $hashRef = WebGUI::Config::getConfig($webguiRoot, $configFile);
+ $hashRef = WebGUI::Config::readConfig($webguiRoot, $configFile);
+
+ WebGUI::Config::loadAllConfigs($webguiRoot);
+
+=head1 METHODS
+
+These subroutines are available from this package:
+
+=cut
+
+
+
+#-------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+=head2 getConfig ( webguiRoot , configFile )
+
+Returns a hash reference containing the configuration data. It tries to get the data out of the memory cache first, but reads the config file directly if necessary.
+
+=over
+
+=item webguiRoot
+
+The path to the WebGUI installation.
+
+=item configFile
+
+The filename of the config file to read.
+
+=back
+
+=cut
+
+sub getConfig {
+	my $webguiPath = shift;
+	my $filename = shift;
+	if (exists $config{$filename}) {
+		return $config{$filename};
+	} else {
+		return readConfig($webguiPath,$filename);
+	}
+}
+
+
+#-------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+=head2 loadAllConfigs ( webguiRoot )
+
+Reads all the config file data for all defined sites into an in-memory cache.
+
+=over
+
+=item webguiRoot
+
+The path to the WebGUI installation.
+
+=back
+
+=cut
+
+sub laodAllConfigs {
+	my $webguiPath = shift;
+	opendir(DIR,$webguiPath."/etc");
+	my @files = readdir(DIR);
+	closedir(DIR);
+	foreach my $file (@files) {
+		if ($file =~ /\.conf$/) {
+			print "\tLoading ".$file."\n";	
+			$config{$file} = readConfig($webguiPath,$file);
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+
+#-------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+=head2 readConfig ( webguiRoot , configFile )
+
+Returns a hash reference containing the configuration data. It reads the config data directly from the file.
+
+=over
+
+=item webguiRoot
+
+The path to the WebGUI installation.
+
+=item configFile
+
+The filename of the config file to read.
+
+=back
+
+=cut
+
+sub readConfig {
+	my $webguiPath = shift;
+	my $filename = shift;
+	my $config = Parse::PlainConfig->new('DELIM' => '=', 
+                'FILE' => $webguiPath.'/etc/'.$filename,
+                'PURGE' => 1);
+	my %data;
+        foreach my $key ($config->directives) {
+                $data{$key} = $config->get($key);
+        }
+        if (ref $data{authMethods} ne "ARRAY") {
+                $data{authMethods} = [$data{authMethods}];
+        }
+        if( defined( $data{scripturl} ) ) {
+                # get rid of leading "/" if present.
+                $data{scripturl} =~ s/^\///;
+        }
+        if (ref $data{sitename} eq "ARRAY") {
+                $data{defaultSitename} = $data{sitename}[0];
+        } else {
+                $data{defaultSitename} = $data{sitename};
+        }
+	return \%data;
+}
+
+
+
+1;
+
diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/Macro/Slash_gatewayUrl.pm b/lib/WebGUI/Macro/Slash_gatewayUrl.pm
index e9ef225dc..fbd04a6fd 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI/Macro/Slash_gatewayUrl.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/Macro/Slash_gatewayUrl.pm
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ use WebGUI::Session;
 
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------
 sub process {
-	return $session{config}{scripturl}.'/';
+	return ($session{config}{scripturl} || $session{env}{SCRIPT_NAME})."/";
 }
 
 
diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/Session.pm b/lib/WebGUI/Session.pm
index 8b994aee9..c4ea24723 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI/Session.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/Session.pm
@@ -19,9 +19,9 @@ use CGI;
 use Date::Calc;
 use DBI;
 use Exporter;
-use Parse::PlainConfig;
 use strict;
 use Tie::CPHash;
+use WebGUI::Config;
 use WebGUI::ErrorHandler;
 use WebGUI::SQL;
 use WebGUI::Utility;
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ sub _setupPageInfo {
 		}
 	}
 	%page = WebGUI::SQL->quickHash("select * from page where pageId='".$pageId."'");
-	$page{url} = $session{config}{scripturl}."/".$page{urlizedTitle};
+	$page{url} = ($session{config}{scripturl} || $session{env}{SCRIPT_NAME})."/".$page{urlizedTitle};
 	$session{page} = \%page;
 }
 
@@ -291,7 +291,9 @@ The filename of the config file that WebGUI should operate from.
 =cut
 
 sub open {
-	my ($key, $config);
+	my $webguiRoot = shift;
+	my $configFile = shift;
+	my ($key);
 	###----------------------------
 	### operating system specific things
 	$session{os}{name} = $^O;
@@ -304,32 +306,7 @@ sub open {
 	}
 	###----------------------------
 	### config variables
-	$session{config}{webguiRoot} = $_[0];
-	$session{config}{configFile} = $_[1] || "WebGUI.conf";
-	$config = Parse::PlainConfig->new('DELIM' => '=', 
-		'FILE' => $session{config}{webguiRoot}.'/etc/'.$session{config}{configFile}, 
-		'PURGE' => 1);
-        foreach ($config->directives) {
-                $session{config}{$_} = $config->get($_);
-        }
-	if (ref $session{config}{authMethods} ne "ARRAY") {
-		$session{config}{authMethods} = [$session{config}{authMethods}];
-	}
-	if( defined( $session{config}{scripturl} ) ) {
-		# get rid of leading "/" if present.
-		$session{config}{scripturl} =~ s/^\///;
-	} else {
-		# default to the "real" path to script.
-		$session{config}{scripturl} = $ENV{SCRIPT_NAME};
-	}
-	$session{config}{extrasURL} = $session{config}{extrasURL} || $session{config}{extras} || "/extras";
-	$session{config}{extras} = $session{config}{extras} || $session{config}{extrasURL}; # for backward compatibility
-	$session{config}{extrasPath} = $session{config}{extrasPath} || "/data/WebGUI/www/extras";
-	if (ref $session{config}{sitename} eq "ARRAY") {
-                $session{config}{defaultSitename} = $session{config}{sitename}[0];
-        } else {
-                $session{config}{defaultSitename} = $session{config}{sitename};
-        }
+	$session{config} = WebGUI::Config::getConfig($webguiRoot,$configFile);
 	###----------------------------
 	### default database handler object
 	$session{dbh} = DBI->connect($session{config}{dsn},$session{config}{dbuser},$session{config}{dbpass},{ RaiseError=>0,AutoCommit=>1 });
diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/URL.pm b/lib/WebGUI/URL.pm
index ea45eff13..1989fd2f4 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI/URL.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/URL.pm
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ Name value pairs to add to the URL in the form of:
 =cut
 
 sub gateway {
-        my $url = _getSiteURL().$session{config}{scripturl}.'/'.$_[0];
+        my $url = _getSiteURL().($session{config}{scripturl} || $session{env}{SCRIPT_NAME}).'/'.$_[0];
 	if ($_[1]) {
 		$url = append($url,$_[1]);
 	}
diff --git a/sbin/preload.perl b/sbin/preload.perl
index 5bf7b5f8a..c48ca3ea5 100644
--- a/sbin/preload.perl
+++ b/sbin/preload.perl
@@ -1,10 +1,16 @@
 #!/usr/bin/perl
 use strict;
 
-use lib "/data/WebGUI/lib";  # Edit to match your WebGUI installation directory.
+my $webguiRoot;
 
+BEGIN {
+        $webguiRoot = "/data/WebGUI"; # Edit to match your WebGUI installation directory.
+        unshift (@INC, $webguiRoot."/lib");
+}
 
-print "Starting WebGUI ".$WebGUI::VERSION."\t\t";
+$|=1;
+
+print "\nStarting WebGUI ".$WebGUI::VERSION."\n";
 $ENV{GATEWAY_INTERFACE} =~ /^CGI-Perl/ or die "GATEWAY_INTERFACE not Perl!";
 
 #----------------------------------------
@@ -14,6 +20,7 @@ $ENV{GATEWAY_INTERFACE} =~ /^CGI-Perl/ or die "GATEWAY_INTERFACE not Perl!";
 use ModPerl::Registry (); # Uncomment this for use with mod_perl 2.0
 
 
+
 #----------------------------------------
 # System controlled Perl modules.
 #----------------------------------------
@@ -63,6 +70,7 @@ use WebGUI::Auth ();
 use WebGUI::Cache ();
 use WebGUI::Collateral ();
 use WebGUI::CollateralFolder ();
+use WebGUI::Config ();
 use WebGUI::DatabaseLink ();
 use WebGUI::DateTime ();
 use WebGUI::ErrorHandler ();
@@ -198,7 +206,16 @@ use WebGUI::Auth::WebGUI ();
 use WebGUI::Macro::AdminBar ();
 use WebGUI::Macro::Navigation ();
 
-print "[  OK  ]\n";
+
+
+#----------------------------------------
+# Preload all site configs.
+#----------------------------------------
+WebGUI::Config::laodAllConfigs($webguiRoot);
+
+
+
+print "WebGUI Started!\n";
 
 
 1;