diff --git a/atomstrom.conf.sample b/atomstrom.conf.sample
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..7077e6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/atomstrom.conf.sample
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+[database]
+engine = mysql
+user = atomstrom
+password = atomstrom
+hostname = localhost
+database = atomstrom
diff --git a/atomstrom.py b/atomstrom.py
index dec2940..c0aafec 100755
--- a/atomstrom.py
+++ b/atomstrom.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import sys
 import urllib
 import hn
 import html2text
+import ConfigParser
 from optparse import OptionParser
 
 Base = declarative_base()
@@ -124,15 +125,6 @@ class Entry(Base):
         self.lastfetched = datetime.datetime.now()
 
 
-engine = create_engine('mysql://atomstrom:mdRTR4b8PLDqRSA4@localhost/atomstrom')
-Base.metadata.create_all(engine)
-
-Session = sessionmaker(bind=engine)
-session = Session()
-
-#session.add(Feed('http://www.heise.de/newsticker/heise-atom.xml', 1, 0, 0, 1))
-#session.add(Feed('http://blog.schatenseite.de/feed/', 1, 0, 0, 1))
-
 def send_mail(sender, subject, body):
     print 'Sender: %s' % sender.decode('latin-1')
     print 'Subject: %s' % subject.decode('latin-1')
@@ -149,7 +141,7 @@ def get_entry_text(entry):
         text = 'no text, sorry'
     return text
 
-def mail_daily_digest():
+def mail_daily_digest(session):
     print 'mailing daily digest...'
     sender = 'atomstrom'
     body = ''
@@ -174,7 +166,7 @@ def mail_single_entry(feed, feedinfo, entry):
     body = body + 'link: [%s]\n' % entry.link
     send_mail(sender, subject, body)
 
-def mail_single_entries():
+def mail_single_entries(session):
     print 'mailing single entries...'
     for feed, feedinfo, entry in session.query(Feed, Feedinfo, Entry).filter(Feed.id==Feedinfo.feed_id).filter(Feed.id==Entry.feed_id).filter(Feed.enabled==1).filter(Feed.daily==0).all():
         mail_single_entry(feed, feedinfo, entry)
@@ -192,7 +184,7 @@ def fetch_full_page(link):
     text = html2text.html2text(html)
     return text.encode('latin-1', 'replace')
 
-def process_feed_entry(feed, entry):
+def process_feed_entry(session, feed, entry):
     #query = session.query(Entry).filter_by(feed_id=feed.id, title=entry.title.encode('latin-1', 'replace'))
     title = entry.title.encode('latin-1', 'replace')
     link = entry.link.encode('latin-1', 'replace')
@@ -219,7 +211,7 @@ def process_feed_entry(feed, entry):
         feed.entry.append(thisentry)
         return 1
 
-def fetch_single_feed(feed):
+def fetch_single_feed(session, feed):
     print 'fetching %s' % feed.url
     parser = feedparser.parse(feed.url)
     print 'processing feed info...'
@@ -236,17 +228,36 @@ def fetch_single_feed(feed):
     entries_total = 0
     for entry in parser.entries:
         entries_total = entries_total + 1
-        entries_new = entries_new + process_feed_entry(feed, entry)
+        entries_new = entries_new + process_feed_entry(session, feed, entry)
         session.commit()
     print 'updated %d of %d entries' % (entries_new, entries_total)
 
-def fetch_all_feeds():
+def fetch_all_feeds(session):
     print 'fetching all feeds...'
     for feed in session.query(Feed).filter_by(enabled=1).order_by(Feed.id):
-        fetch_single_feed(feed)
+        fetch_single_feed(session, feed)
         print
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
+    config = ConfigParser.ConfigParser()
+    config.read('atomstrom.conf')
+
+    dbconnectstring = '%s://%s:%s@%s/%s' % (
+        config.get('database', 'engine'),
+        config.get('database', 'user'),
+        config.get('database', 'password'),
+        config.get('database', 'hostname'),
+        config.get('database', 'database'),
+    )
+    engine = create_engine(dbconnectstring)
+    Base.metadata.create_all(engine)
+
+    Session = sessionmaker(bind=engine)
+    session = Session()
+
+    #session.add(Feed('http://www.heise.de/newsticker/heise-atom.xml', 1, 0, 0, 1, 1))
+    #session.add(Feed('http://blog.schatenseite.de/feed/', 1, 0, 0, 1, 1))
+
     parser = OptionParser()
     parser.add_option("-f", "--fetch", action="store_true", dest="fetch", default=False, help="fetch all feeds")
     parser.add_option("-s", "--single", action="store_true", dest="single", default=False, help="send single mails")
@@ -254,10 +265,10 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     (options, args) = parser.parse_args()
 
     if options.fetch:
-        fetch_all_feeds()
+        fetch_all_feeds(session)
     if options.single:
-        mail_single_entries()
+        mail_single_entries(session)
     if options.daily:
-        mail_daily_digest()
+        mail_daily_digest(session)
 
-session.commit()
+    session.commit()