Index: items.scm
==================================================================
--- items.scm
+++ items.scm
@@ -137,26 +137,32 @@
 	    item #f)
 	item)))
 
 (define (items:get-items-from-config tconfig)
   (let* (;; db is always at *toppath*/db/megatest.db
-	 (items       (hash-table-ref/default tconfig "items" '()))
-	 (itemstable  (hash-table-ref/default tconfig "itemstable" '())))
+	 (items       (hash-table-ref/default tconfig "items" #f))
+	 (itemstable  (hash-table-ref/default tconfig "itemstable" #f)))
     (debug:print 5 "items: " items " itemstable: " itemstable)
-    (set! items (map (lambda (item)
-		       (if (procedure? (cadr item))
-			   (list (car item)((cadr item)))
-			   item))
-		     items))
-    (set! itemstable (map (lambda (item)
-			    (if (procedure? (cadr item))
-				(list (car item)((cadr item)))
-				item))
-			  itemstable))
+    (if items
+	(set! items (map (lambda (item)
+			   (if (procedure? (cadr item))
+			       (list (car item)((cadr item)))
+			       item))
+			 items)))
+    (if itemstable 
+	(set! itemstable (map (lambda (item)
+				(if (procedure? (cadr item))
+				    (list (car item)((cadr item)))
+				    item))
+			      itemstable)))
+    (if (and items (null? items))
+	(debug:print 0 "ERROR: You have an [items] section in your testconfig but there were no items define!"))
+    (if (and itemstable (null? itemstable))
+	(debug:print 0 "ERROR: You have an [itemstable] section in your testconfig but there were no entries defined!"))
     (if (or (not (null? items))(not (null? itemstable)))
-	(append (item-assoc->item-list items)
-		(item-table->item-list itemstable))
+	(append (if items      (item-assoc->item-list items)      '())
+		(if itemstable (item-table->item-list itemstable) '()))
 	'(()))))
 
 ;; (pp (item-assoc->item-list itemdat))