diff --git a/Shorewall-perl/Shorewall/Config.pm b/Shorewall-perl/Shorewall/Config.pm
index e65f2d249..2aaaef232 100644
--- a/Shorewall-perl/Shorewall/Config.pm
+++ b/Shorewall-perl/Shorewall/Config.pm
@@ -339,13 +339,6 @@ sub fatal_error	{
     die "   ERROR: @_$lineinfo\n";
 }
 
-#
-# Set $shorewall_dir
-#
-sub set_shorewall_dir( $ ) {
-    $shorewall_dir = shift;
-}
-
 #
 # Set $globals{CONFIG_PATH}
 #
@@ -951,6 +944,14 @@ sub ensure_config_path() {
     }
 }
 
+#
+# Set $shorewall_dir
+#
+sub set_shorewall_dir( $ ) {
+    $shorewall_dir = shift;
+    ensure_config_path;
+}
+
 #
 # Small functions called by get_configuration. We separate them so profiling is more useful
 #
diff --git a/Shorewall-perl/buildports.pl b/Shorewall-perl/buildports.pl
index 8d9609443..c3fcde185 100755
--- a/Shorewall-perl/buildports.pl
+++ b/Shorewall-perl/buildports.pl
@@ -70,8 +70,6 @@ set_config_path( '/etc/shorewall:/usr/share/shorewall' );
 
 set_shorewall_dir($ARGV[0] || '/etc');
 
-ensure_config_path;
-
 our $date = localtime;
 
 print <<"EOF";