diff --git a/src/slurmd/slurmd/slurmd.c b/src/slurmd/slurmd/slurmd.c
index f05f5d4156750197f1759128b66ccb88376ba802..52802ce3d4c8e605cd6e5c848156ff74c3abea44 100644
--- a/src/slurmd/slurmd/slurmd.c
+++ b/src/slurmd/slurmd/slurmd.c
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
  *  src/slurmd/slurmd/slurmd.c - main slurm node server daemon
  *  $Id$
  *****************************************************************************
- *  Copyright (C) 2002 The Regents of the University of California.
+ *  Copyright (C) 2002-2006 The Regents of the University of California.
  *  Produced at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (cf, DISCLAIMER).
  *  Written by Mark Grondona <mgrondona@llnl.gov>.
  *  UCRL-CODE-217948.
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@
 
 /* global, copied to STDERR_FILENO in tasks before the exec */
 int devnull = -1;
+slurmd_conf_t * conf;
 
 /*
  * count of active threads
diff --git a/src/slurmd/slurmd/slurmd.h b/src/slurmd/slurmd/slurmd.h
index 4b95aab47ef1d994e5fa8578381cad649687e897..fa0470a7d923ca45c18274107c7d8e6bb0de9cf7 100644
--- a/src/slurmd/slurmd/slurmd.h
+++ b/src/slurmd/slurmd/slurmd.h
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
  * src/slurmd/slurmd/slurmd.h - header for slurmd
  * $Id$
  *****************************************************************************
- *  Copyright (C) 2002 The Regents of the University of California.
+ *  Copyright (C) 2002-2006 The Regents of the University of California.
  *  Produced at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (cf, DISCLAIMER).
  *  Written by Mark Grondona <mgrondona@llnl.gov>.
  *  UCRL-CODE-217948.
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ typedef struct slurmd_config {
 	uint16_t        fast_schedule;	/* use config from file/slurmctld  */
 } slurmd_conf_t;
 
-slurmd_conf_t * conf;
+extern slurmd_conf_t * conf;
 
 /* Send node registration message with status to controller
  * IN status - same values slurm error codes (for node shutdown)
diff --git a/src/slurmd/slurmstepd/slurmstepd.c b/src/slurmd/slurmstepd/slurmstepd.c
index 3030536242d2ef874d03d12a89e4efec2ae1b42a..2a28531a5328b3d440ce04c29e1689bc8bae60e9 100644
--- a/src/slurmd/slurmstepd/slurmstepd.c
+++ b/src/slurmd/slurmstepd/slurmstepd.c
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
  *  src/slurmd/slurmstepd/slurmstepd.c - SLURM job-step manager.
  *  $Id$
  *****************************************************************************
- *  Copyright (C) 2002 The Regents of the University of California.
+ *  Copyright (C) 2002-2006 The Regents of the University of California.
  *  Produced at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (cf, DISCLAIMER).
  *  Written by Danny Auble <da@llnl.gov> 
  *  and Christopher Morrone <morrone2@llnl.gov>.
@@ -74,6 +74,9 @@ int slurmstepd_blocked_signals[] = {
 	SIGPIPE, 0
 };
 
+/* global variable */
+slurmd_conf_t * conf;
+
 int 
 main (int argc, char *argv[])
 {