@@ -451,11 +451,11 @@
   ;; have chicken/egg scenario. need to read megatest.config then read it again. Going to 
   ;; pass on that idea for now
   ;; special case
   (if (or force (not (hash-table? *configdat*)))  ;; no need to re-open on every call
       (begin
-	(set! *configinfo* (or (if (get-environment-variable "MT_CMDINFO") ;; we are inside a test - do not reprocess configs
+	(set! *configinfo* (or (if (get-environment-variable "MT_MDINFO") ;; we are inside a test - do not reprocess configs
 				   (let ((alistconfig (conc (get-environment-variable "MT_LINKTREE") "/"
 							    (get-environment-variable "MT_TARGET")   "/"
 							    (get-environment-variable "MT_RUNNAME")  "/"
 							    ".megatest.cfg")))
 				     (if (file-exists? alistconfig)
@@ -530,13 +530,16 @@
 	      (if (not (file-exists? fulldir))
 		  (create-directory fulldir #t)) ;; need to protect with exception handler 
 	      (if (and target
 		       runname
 		       (file-exists? fulldir))
-		  (begin
+		  (let ((tmpfile  (conc fulldir "/.megatest.cfg." (current-seconds)))
+			(targfile (conc fulldir "/.megatest.cfg")))
 		    (debug:print-info 0 "Caching megatest.config in " fulldir "/.megatest.cfg")
-		    (configf:write-alist *configdat* (conc fulldir "/.megatest.cfg")))))))))
+		    (configf:write-alist *configdat* tmpfile)
+		    (system (conc "ln -sf " tmpfile " " targfile))
+		    )))))))
 
 
 (define (get-best-disk confdat)
   (let* ((disks    (hash-table-ref/default confdat "disks" #f))
 	 (best     #f)
@@ -692,11 +695,14 @@
 	  ;; (rmt:general-call 'test-set-rundir run-id lnkpath testname "") ;; toptest-path)
 	  (if (or (not curr-test-path)
 		  (not (directory-exists? toptest-path)))
 	      (begin
 		(debug:print-info 2 "Creating " toptest-path " and link " lnkpath)
-		(create-directory toptest-path #t)
+		(handle-exceptions
+		 exn
+		 #f ;; don't care to catch and deal with errors here for now.
+		 (create-directory toptest-path #t))
 		(hash-table-set! *toptest-paths* testname toptest-path)))))
 
     ;; The toptest path has been created, the link to the test in the linktree has
     ;; been created. Now, if this is an iterated test the real test dir must be created
     (if (not not-iterated) ;; this is an iterated test