diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 506d561..44e30f3 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -2,4 +2,8 @@
 cache.properties
 /build
 /db
+/.classpath
+/.project
+/.settings
+/.springBeans
 
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 73a7c60..88da5df 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -43,16 +43,13 @@
         <groupId>org.mortbay.jetty</groupId>
         <artifactId>maven-jetty-plugin</artifactId>
         <version>6.1.14</version>
-        <configuration>
-          <webAppSourceDirectory>${basedir}/webapp</webAppSourceDirectory>
-        </configuration>
       </plugin>
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
         <artifactId>maven-eclipse-plugin</artifactId>
         <configuration>
           <wtpversion>1.5</wtpversion>
-          <wtpContextName>album</wtpContextName>
+          <wtpContextName>photo</wtpContextName>
           <wtpdefaultserver>J2EE Preview</wtpdefaultserver>
           <additionalProjectnatures>
             <projectnature>org.springframework.ide.eclipse.core.springnature</projectnature>
diff --git a/project.properties b/project.properties
deleted file mode 100644
index 1449d94..0000000
--- a/project.properties
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-
-# point to our own maven repository
-maven.repo.remote=http://www.forkalsrud.org/maven-proxy/repository
-
-# warn about use of deprecated classes/methods
-maven.compile.deprecation=true
-
-# WAR plugin
-#maven.war.final.name=ROOT.war
-maven.war.src=webapp
-
-# PMD plugin
-maven.pmd.cpd.enable=true
-
-#maven.jblanket.enable=true
diff --git a/project.xml b/project.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index a445914..0000000
--- a/project.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,134 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<project>
-    <pomVersion>1</pomVersion>
-    <artifactId>album</artifactId>
-    <name>album</name>
-    <groupId>forkalsrud</groupId>
-    <currentVersion>2</currentVersion>
-    <organization>
-        <name>forkalsrud.org</name>
-        <url>http://www.forkalsrud.org/</url>
-    </organization>
-    <inceptionYear>2008</inceptionYear>
-    <package>org.forkalsrud.album</package>
-    <shortDescription>Photo Album</shortDescription>
-    <siteAddress>http://www.forkalsrud.org/album/</siteAddress>
-    <repository>
-        <connection>scm:pserver:forkalsrud.org:/home/cvsroot</connection>
-    </repository>
-    <developers>
-        <developer>
-            <name>Knut Forkalsrud</name>
-            <id>1</id>
-            <email>knut@forkalsrud.org</email>
-            <url>http://www.forkalsrud.org/~knut/</url>
-            <timezone>PST</timezone>
-        </developer>
-        <developer>
-            <name>Erik Forkalsrud</name>
-            <id>2</id>
-            <email>erik@forkalsrud.org</email>
-            <url>http://www.forkalsrud.org/~erik/</url>
-            <timezone>PST</timezone>
-        </developer>
-    </developers>
-    <dependencies>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
-            <artifactId>spring</artifactId>
-            <version>2.0.6</version>
-            <type>jar</type>
-            <properties>
-                <war.bundle>true</war.bundle>
-            </properties>
-        </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
-            <artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
-            <version>1.0.4</version>
-            <type>jar</type>
-            <properties>
-                <war.bundle>true</war.bundle>
-            </properties>
-        </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>commons-digester</groupId>
-            <artifactId>commons-digester</artifactId>
-            <version>1.7</version>
-            <type>jar</type>
-            <properties>
-                <war.bundle>true</war.bundle>
-            </properties>
-        </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>commons-collections</groupId>
-            <artifactId>commons-collections</artifactId>
-            <version>3.1</version>
-            <type>jar</type>
-            <properties>
-                <war.bundle>true</war.bundle>
-            </properties>
-        </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>commons-lang</groupId>
-            <artifactId>commons-lang</artifactId>
-            <version>2.0</version>
-            <type>jar</type>
-            <properties>
-                <war.bundle>true</war.bundle>
-            </properties>
-        </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>velocity</groupId>
-            <artifactId>velocity</artifactId>
-            <version>1.5</version>
-            <type>jar</type>
-            <properties>
-                <war.bundle>true</war.bundle>
-            </properties>
-        </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>velocity-tools</groupId>
-            <artifactId>velocity-tools-view</artifactId>
-            <version>1.2</version>
-            <type>jar</type>
-            <properties>
-                <war.bundle>true</war.bundle>
-            </properties>
-        </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>com.drew</groupId>
-            <artifactId>metadata-extractor</artifactId>
-            <version>2.3.1</version>
-            <type>jar</type>
-            <properties>
-                <war.bundle>true</war.bundle>
-            </properties>
-        </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>com.drew</groupId>
-            <artifactId>metadata-extractor-source</artifactId>
-            <type>source</type>
-            <jar>metadata-extractor-2.3.1-src.jar</jar>
-            <properties>
-                <war.bundle>false</war.bundle>
-            </properties>
-        </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>servletapi</groupId>
-            <artifactId>servletapi</artifactId>
-            <version>2.4</version>
-            <type>jar</type>
-        </dependency>
-    </dependencies>
-    <build>
-        <sourceDirectory>src</sourceDirectory>
-    </build>
-    <reports>
-        <report>maven-junit-report-plugin</report>
-        <report>maven-jcoverage-plugin</report>
-        <report>maven-pmd-plugin</report>
-        <report>maven-javadoc-plugin</report>
-        <report>maven-jdepend-plugin</report>
-    </reports>
-</project>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/forkalsrud/album/web/AlbumServlet.java b/src/main/java/org/forkalsrud/album/web/AlbumServlet.java
index 979c931..744ae7b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/forkalsrud/album/web/AlbumServlet.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/forkalsrud/album/web/AlbumServlet.java
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package org.forkalsrud.album.web;
 
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileReader;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Calendar;
@@ -83,17 +84,30 @@ public class AlbumServlet
     public void init()
         throws ServletException
     {
+        Properties props = new Properties();
+
+        File forkalsrudOrg = new File(System.getProperty("user.home"), "forkalsrud.org");
+        if (! forkalsrudOrg.exists()) {
+            forkalsrudOrg.mkdirs();
+        }
+        File photoConf = new File(forkalsrudOrg, "photo.properties");
+        if (photoConf.exists()) {
+            try {
+                props.load(new FileReader(photoConf));
+            } catch (Exception e) {
+                throw new ServletException("unable to load settings from " + photoConf.getPath(), e);
+            }
+        }
+
         log4jInit("/log4j.properties");
         System.out.println("in init of Album");
-        base = new File(getServletConfig().getInitParameter("base")).getAbsoluteFile();
+        base = new File(props.getProperty("base", "photos")).getAbsoluteFile();
         basePrefix = "/" + base.getName();
 
-        String dbDirName = getServletConfig().getInitParameter("dbdir");
+        String dbDirName = props.getProperty("dbdir");
         File dbDir = dbDirName != null ? new File(dbDirName) : new File(System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir"), "album");
-        dbDir.mkdir();
+        dbDir.mkdirs();
         db.init(dbDir);
-//        cacheManager = CacheManager.create();
-//        imageCache = cacheManager.getCache("imageCache");
         pictureScaler = new PictureScaler();
         lastCacheFlushTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
     }
diff --git a/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml b/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml
index 01424c2..ea59366 100644
--- a/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml
+++ b/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml
@@ -4,10 +4,10 @@
   xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
   xmlns:web="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd"
   xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd"
-  id="WebApp_ID"
+  id="photo"
   version="2.5">
 
-    <display-name>album</display-name>
+    <display-name>photo</display-name>
     <welcome-file-list>
       <welcome-file>index.html</welcome-file>
     </welcome-file-list>
@@ -15,14 +15,7 @@
 	<servlet>
 		<servlet-name>album</servlet-name>
 		<servlet-class>org.forkalsrud.album.web.AlbumServlet</servlet-class>
-		<init-param>
-			<param-name>base</param-name>
-			<param-value>photos</param-value>
-		</init-param>
-        <init-param>
-            <param-name>dbdir</param-name>
-            <param-value>db</param-value>
-        </init-param>
+		<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
 	</servlet>
 
     <servlet>