diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 9bfa6313..e1845cba 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -10,3 +10,7 @@
 /wwctl
 /bash_completion
 /man_page
+
+# other created files
+/usr/share/man/man1/
+/etc/bash_completion.d/
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 3903dab4..fb0fe542 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ SRC ?= main
 # auto installed tooling
 TOOLS_DIR := .tools
 TOOLS_BIN := $(TOOLS_DIR)/bin
+CONFIG := $(shell pwd)
 
 # tools
 GO_TOOLS_BIN := $(addprefix $(TOOLS_BIN)/, $(notdir $(GO_TOOLS)))
@@ -124,12 +125,16 @@ install_wwclient: wwclient
 	$(foreach overlay, ${overlays}, install -D -m 0755 wwclient ${overlay}warewulf/bin/wwclient;)
 
 bash_completion:
-	cd cmd/bash_completion && go build -mod vendor -tags "$(WW_BUILD_GO_BUILD_TAGS)" -o ../../bash_completion
+	cd cmd/bash_completion && go build -ldflags="-X 'github.com/hpcng/warewulf/internal/pkg/warewulfconf.ConfigFile=$(CONFIG)/etc/warewulf.conf'\
+	 -X 'github.com/hpcng/warewulf/internal/pkg/node.ConfigFile=$(CONFIG)/etc/nodes.conf'"\
+	 -mod vendor -tags "$(WW_BUILD_GO_BUILD_TAGS)" -o ../../bash_completion
 	install -d -m 0755 ./etc/bash_completion.d/
 	./bash_completion  ./etc/bash_completion.d/warewulf
 
 man_page:
-	cd cmd/man_page && go build -mod vendor -tags "$(WW_BUILD_GO_BUILD_TAGS)" -o ../../man_page
+	cd cmd/man_page && go build -ldflags="-X 'github.com/hpcng/warewulf/internal/pkg/warewulfconf.ConfigFile=$(CONFIG)/etc/warewulf.conf'\
+	 -X 'github.com/hpcng/warewulf/internal/pkg/node.ConfigFile=$(CONFIG)/etc/nodes.conf'"\
+	 -mod vendor -tags "$(WW_BUILD_GO_BUILD_TAGS)" -o ../../man_page
 	install -d -m 0755 ./usr/share/man/man1
 	./man_page ./usr/share/man/man1
 	gzip --force ./usr/share/man/man1/wwctl*1
diff --git a/internal/pkg/node/constructors.go b/internal/pkg/node/constructors.go
index 27007dec..92c18107 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/node/constructors.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/node/constructors.go
@@ -3,14 +3,15 @@ package node
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"github.com/hpcng/warewulf/internal/pkg/wwlog"
-	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/hpcng/warewulf/internal/pkg/wwlog"
+	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
 )
 
-const ConfigFile = "/etc/warewulf/nodes.conf"
+var ConfigFile = "/etc/warewulf/nodes.conf"
 
 func New() (nodeYaml, error) {
 	var ret nodeYaml
diff --git a/internal/pkg/warewulfconf/datastructure.go b/internal/pkg/warewulfconf/datastructure.go
index 8315ddd6..d47670ec 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/warewulfconf/datastructure.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/warewulfconf/datastructure.go
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/hpcng/warewulf/internal/pkg/wwlog"
 )
 
-const ConfigFile = "/etc/warewulf/warewulf.conf"
+var ConfigFile = "/etc/warewulf/warewulf.conf"
 
 type ControllerConf struct {
 	Comment  string        `yaml:"comment"`