diff --git a/src/conf.c b/src/conf.c
index c74216d..c9a499e 100644
--- a/src/conf.c
+++ b/src/conf.c
@@ -287,7 +287,6 @@ free_added_headers (vector_t add_headers)
 
 static void free_config (struct config_s *conf)
 {
-        safefree (conf->config_file);
         safefree (conf->logf_name);
         safefree (conf->stathost);
         safefree (conf->user);
@@ -446,11 +445,6 @@ void initialize_config_defaults (struct config_s *conf)
 {
         memset (conf, 0, sizeof(*conf));
 
-        conf->config_file = safestrdup (SYSCONFDIR "/tinyproxy.conf");
-        if (!conf->config_file) {
-                fprintf (stderr, PACKAGE ": Could not allocate memory.\n");
-                exit (EX_SOFTWARE);
-        }
         /*
          * Make sure the HTML error pages array is NULL to begin with.
          * (FIXME: Should have a better API for all this)
@@ -470,10 +464,6 @@ static void initialize_with_defaults (struct config_s *conf,
                 conf->logf_name = safestrdup (defaults->logf_name);
         }
 
-        if (defaults->config_file) {
-                conf->config_file = safestrdup (defaults->config_file);
-        }
-
         conf->syslog = defaults->syslog;
         conf->port = defaults->port;
 
diff --git a/src/conf.h b/src/conf.h
index 02fb699..9e10898 100644
--- a/src/conf.h
+++ b/src/conf.h
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@ typedef struct {
 struct config_s {
         vector_t basicauth_list;
         char *logf_name;
-        char *config_file;
         unsigned int syslog;    /* boolean */
         unsigned int port;
         char *stathost;
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index 8b2167d..b4a5e53 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@
  */
 struct config_s config;
 struct config_s config_defaults;
+static const char* config_file;
 unsigned int received_sighup = FALSE;   /* boolean */
 
 /*
@@ -248,7 +249,7 @@ int reload_config (void)
 
         shutdown_logging ();
 
-        ret = reload_config_file (config_defaults.config_file, &config,
+        ret = reload_config_file (config_file, &config,
                                   &config_defaults);
         if (ret != 0) {
                 goto done;
@@ -278,7 +279,7 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
                 exit (EX_SOFTWARE);
         }
 
-        initialize_config_defaults (&config_defaults);
+        config_file = SYSCONFDIR "/tinyproxy.conf";
 
         while ((opt = getopt (argc, argv, "c:vdh")) != EOF) {
                 switch (opt) {
@@ -291,16 +292,7 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
                         break;
 
                 case 'c':
-                        if ((&config_defaults)->config_file != NULL) {
-                                safefree ((&config_defaults)->config_file);
-                        }
-                        (&config_defaults)->config_file = safestrdup (optarg);
-                        if (!(&config_defaults)->config_file) {
-                                fprintf (stderr,
-                                         "%s: Could not allocate memory.\n",
-                                         argv[0]);
-                                exit (EX_SOFTWARE);
-                        }
+                        config_file = optarg;
                         break;
 
                 case 'h':
@@ -313,7 +305,9 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
                 }
         }
 
-        if (reload_config_file (config_defaults.config_file,
+        initialize_config_defaults (&config_defaults);
+
+        if (reload_config_file (config_file,
                                 &config,
                                 &config_defaults)) {
                 exit (EX_SOFTWARE);