. fixing what I did earlier. Not sure how that happend.

includes/common.inc

@@ -765,19 +765,18 @@ function page_footer() {
   }
 }
 
-// Load configuration variables, overriding values set in conf.php
-$conf = variable_init(isset($conf) ? $conf : array());
-
 unset($conf);
 
+$config = conf_init();
+
 include_once "includes/$config.php";
 include_once "includes/database.inc";
 include_once "includes/xmlrpc.inc";
 include_once "includes/module.inc";
 include_once "includes/theme.inc";
 
-// initialize configuration variables:
-$conf = variable_init($conf);
+// initialize configuration variables, using values from conf.php if available:
+$conf = variable_init(isset($conf) ? $conf : array());
 
 // initialize installed modules:
 module_init();