diff --git a/src/server/ocsigen_config.ml b/src/server/ocsigen_config.ml
index 78b2ddf7e..ffbc54071 100644
--- a/src/server/ocsigen_config.ml
+++ b/src/server/ocsigen_config.ml
@@ -198,3 +198,6 @@ let display_version () =
   print_string version_number;
   print_newline ();
   exit 0
+
+let has_config_file = ref false
+let has_configuration_file () = !has_config_file
diff --git a/src/server/ocsigen_config.mli b/src/server/ocsigen_config.mli
index cea067453..6c1f96e9b 100644
--- a/src/server/ocsigen_config.mli
+++ b/src/server/ocsigen_config.mli
@@ -101,6 +101,9 @@ val get_max_number_of_connections : unit -> int
 val get_client_timeout : unit -> int
 val get_server_timeout : unit -> int
 
+val has_configuration_file : unit -> bool
+(** returns true if Ocsigen Server is running with a configuration file, *)
+
 (*val get_keepalive_timeout : unit -> int
   val get_keepopen_timeout : unit -> int*)
 val get_filebuffersize : unit -> int
@@ -138,3 +141,4 @@ val get_uploaddir : unit -> string option
 (* Same thing for upload size *)
 val set_maxuploadfilesize : int64 option -> unit
 val get_maxuploadfilesize : unit -> int64 option
+val has_config_file : bool ref
diff --git a/src/server/ocsigen_server.ml b/src/server/ocsigen_server.ml
index 05428050b..4f2f75c38 100644
--- a/src/server/ocsigen_server.ml
+++ b/src/server/ocsigen_server.ml
@@ -399,7 +399,9 @@ let main config =
     Ocsigen_messages.errlog msg;
     exit errno
 
-let exec = function
+let exec config =
+  Ocsigen_config.has_config_file := true;
+  match config with
   | [] -> ()
   | [h] ->
       (try Ocsigen_parseconfig.first_pass h