diff --git a/common.php b/common.php
index 7b266ff3..add3e45b 100644
--- a/common.php
+++ b/common.php
@@ -19,6 +19,17 @@
 
 define('POSTFIXADMIN', 1); # checked in included files
 
+function incorrect_setup() {
+    global $incpath;
+    # we ask the user to delete setup.php, which makes a blind redirect a bad idea
+    if(!is_file("$incpath/setup.php")) {
+        die ("config.inc.php does not exist or is not configured correctly. Please re-install setup.php and create/fix your config.");
+    } else {
+        header("Location: setup.php");    
+        exit(0);
+    }
+}
+
 $incpath = dirname(__FILE__);
 (ini_get('magic_quotes_gpc') ? ini_set('magic_quotes_runtime', '0') : '1');
 (ini_get('magic_quotes_gpc') ? ini_set('magic_quotes_sybase', '0') : '1');
@@ -27,16 +38,15 @@ if(ini_get('register_globals')) {
     die("Please turn off register_globals; edit your php.ini");
 }
 require_once("$incpath/variables.inc.php");
+
 if(!is_file("$incpath/config.inc.php")) {
     // incorrectly setup...
-    header("Location: setup.php");    
-    exit(0);
+    incorrect_setup();
 }
 require_once("$incpath/config.inc.php");
 if(isset($CONF['configured'])) {
     if($CONF['configured'] == FALSE) {
-        header("Location: setup.php");
-        exit(0);
+        incorrect_setup();
     }
 }
 require_once("$incpath/languages/language.php");
@@ -44,3 +54,5 @@ require_once("$incpath/functions.inc.php");
 require_once("$incpath/languages/" . check_language () . ".lang");
 
 session_start();
+
+/* vim: set expandtab softtabstop=4 tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4: */