diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/Session.pm b/lib/WebGUI/Session.pm
index c44162137..b97eb3947 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI/Session.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/Session.pm
@@ -236,10 +236,30 @@ sub open {
 	### config variables
 	$session{config}{webguiRoot} = $_[0];
 	$session{config}{configFile} = $_[1] || "WebGUI.conf";
-	$config = new Data::Config $session{config}{webguiRoot}.'/etc/'.$session{config}{configFile};
-	foreach ($config->param) {
-		$session{config}{$_} = $config->param($_);
-	}
+
+	# Below is a patch which allow you to configure WebGUI with
+	# environmentvariables in stead of using WebGUI.conf. To enable this
+	# set a env var called wgConfigureByEnvironment to 'YES'. The var
+	# names are those of WebGUI.conf prepended with 'wg'. 
+	# 
+	# NOTE: This is an undocumented an experimental feature. It seems to
+	# work with apache/linux on multiple virtual hosts. For things like
+	# runHourly.pm you STILL need WebGUI.conf!
+
+        if ($ENV{wgConfigureByEnvironment} eq 'YES') {
+                foreach (keys(%ENV)) {
+                        if ($_ =~ /^wg(.+)$/) {
+                                $session{config}{$1} = $ENV{'wg'.$1};
+                        }
+                }
+        } else {
+                $config = new Data::Config
+		$session{config}{webguiRoot}.'/etc/'.$session{config}{configFile};
+                foreach ($config->param) {
+                        $session{config}{$_} = $config->param($_);
+                }
+        }
+
 	if( defined( $session{config}{scripturl} ) ) {
 		# get rid of leading "/" if present.
 		$session{config}{scripturl} =~ s/^\///;