diff --git a/CabalMeta.hs b/CabalMeta.hs
--- a/CabalMeta.hs
+++ b/CabalMeta.hs
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
     pLocation :: Text
   , pFlags :: [Text]
 } | GitPackage {
-    gLocation :: Text
+    gitLocation :: Text
   , pFlags :: [Text]
   , gTag :: Maybe Text
 } deriving (Show, Eq)
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@
 
 readPackages :: Bool ->  FilePath -> ShIO PackageSources
 readPackages allowCabals startDir = do
-  fullDir <- absPath startDir
+  fullDir <- canonic startDir
   chdir fullDir $ do
     cabalPresent <- if allowCabals then return False else isCabalPresent
     if cabalPresent then return mempty else do
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@
           mkdir_p vendor_dir
           chdir vendor_dir $
             forM git_pkgs $ \pkg -> do
-              let repo = gLocation pkg 
+              let repo = gitLocation pkg 
               let d = filename $ fromText repo
               e <- test_d d
               if not e
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@
               readPackages False d
 
         child_dir_pkgs <- forM (dirs psources) $ \dir -> do
-          b <- fmap (== fullDir) (absPath $ dLocation dir)
+          b <- fmap (== fullDir) (canonic $ dLocation dir)
           if b then return mempty else readPackages False (dLocation dir)
 
         let child_pkgs = child_dir_pkgs ++ child_vendor_pkgs
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@
         return $ sources { dirs = ds }
       where
         fullPath package = do
-          fp <- absPath $ dLocation package
+          fp <- canonic $ dLocation package
           return package { dLocation = fp }
 
         paritionSources :: [[Text]] -> PackageSources
diff --git a/cabal-meta.cabal b/cabal-meta.cabal
--- a/cabal-meta.cabal
+++ b/cabal-meta.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:            cabal-meta
-version:         0.2.2
+version:         0.2.3
 license:         BSD3
 license-file:    LICENSE
 author:          Greg Weber <greg@gregweber.info>
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
     else
         build-depends:   base            >= 4        && < 4.3
     build-depends: shelly >= 0.9
-                 , text, system-filepath
+                 , text, system-filepath, system-fileio
                  -- , file-location
 
     ghc-options:     -Wall
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
 
   build-depends: shelly >= 0.9
                , hspec, HUnit, unix, base, text, system-filepath
-                 -- , file-location
+               -- , file-location
   extensions: OverloadedStrings 
 
 source-repository head
diff --git a/main.hs b/main.hs
--- a/main.hs
+++ b/main.hs
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings, CPP #-}
 import CabalMeta
+import OmniConfig
 import Shelly
-import System.Environment (getArgs)
 
-import qualified Data.Text.Lazy as T
+import qualified Data.Text.Lazy as LT
 import Control.Monad (forM_)
 import Data.Maybe (isNothing)
-import Data.Text.Lazy (Text, pack)
+import Data.Text.Lazy (Text)
 
 import Filesystem.Path.CurrentOS (filename)
 import Prelude hiding (FilePath)
@@ -16,69 +16,77 @@
 headDef _ (x:_) = x
 
 help :: Text
-help = T.intercalate "\n" [
-  "cabal-meta is a cabal wrapper for packages not on hackage"
+help = LT.intercalate "\n" [
+  "cabal-meta is a cabal wrapper for installing multiple packages at once that may not be on hackage"
  ,"run with:"
  ,""
- ,"    cabal-meta [--dev] install [Cabal install arguments]"
+ ,"    cabal-meta [--[no-]dev] install [cabal install arguments]"
  ,""
  ,"       --dev means use cabal-dev instead of cabal"
+ ,""
+ ,"You can also set options through the CABAL_META_OPTS environment variable or the ~/.cabal-meta/opts file"
  ]
 
 cabal_install_ :: CabalExe -> [Text] -> ShIO ()
 cabal_install_ cabal = command_ (progName cabal) ["install"]
 
-data CabalExe = Cabal | CabalDev
+data CabalExe = Cabal | CabalDev deriving Show
 
 progName :: CabalExe -> FilePath
 progName Cabal = "cabal"
 progName CabalDev = "cabal-dev"
 
-assertCabalDevInstalled :: CabalExe -> ShIO ()
-assertCabalDevInstalled Cabal    = return ()
-assertCabalDevInstalled CabalDev = do
-  mcd <- which "cabal-dev"
+assertCabalDependencies :: CabalExe -> IO ()
+assertCabalDependencies Cabal    = shelly $ do
+  mPath <- which "cabal-src-install"
+  when (isNothing mPath) $
+    errorExit "please run: cabal install cabal-src"
+
+assertCabalDependencies CabalDev = do
+  mcd <- shelly $ which "cabal-dev"
   case mcd of
     Just _ -> return ()
     Nothing -> error "--dev requires cabal-dev to be installed"
 
+nothingToFalse :: Maybe Bool -> Bool
+nothingToFalse Nothing = False
+nothingToFalse (Just b)  = b
+
 main :: IO ()
 main = do
-  cmdArgs <- fmap (map pack) getArgs
-  shelly $ verbosely $ do
-    let isDev = elem "--dev" cmdArgs
-        noDevArgs = filter (/= "--dev") cmdArgs
-        cabal = if isDev then CabalDev else Cabal
+  allArgs <- allProgramOpts [commandLine, environment "cabal-meta", homeOptFile "cabal-meta"]
+  let (mDev, noDevArgs) = checkNegatedOpt "dev" allArgs
+  let isDev = nothingToFalse mDev
 
-    assertCabalDevInstalled cabal
-    unless (headDef "" noDevArgs == "install") $
-      errorExit help
+  let  cabal = if isDev then CabalDev else Cabal
+  assertCabalDependencies cabal
 
-    let (_:args) = noDevArgs
+  unless (headDef "" noDevArgs == "install") $ do
+    putStrLn $ LT.unpack help
+    putStrLn $ "using cabal: " ++ show cabal
+    shelly $ exit 1
 
-    packageSources <- readPackages True "."
-    ifCabal cabal $ do
-      mPath <- which "cabal-src-install"
-      when (isNothing mPath) $
-        errorExit "please run: cabal install cabal-src"
+  let (_:args) = map LT.fromStrict noDevArgs
 
+  shelly $ verbosely $ do
+    packageSources <- readPackages True "."
     let installs = packageList packageSources
     echo "Installing packages:"
-    mapM_ echo $ map (T.intercalate " ") installs
+    mapM_ echo $ map (LT.intercalate " ") installs
 
     cabal_install_ cabal $ args ++ concat installs
-    ifCabal cabal $ do
+    whenCabal cabal $ do
         forM_ (dirs packageSources) $ \pkg ->
           chdir (dLocation pkg) $ run "cabal-src-install" ["--src-only"]
         forM_ (gitPackages packageSources) $ \pkg ->
           chdir vendor_dir $ do
-            let repo = gLocation pkg 
+            let repo = gitLocation pkg 
             let d = filename $ fromText repo
             chdir d $ run "cabal-src-install" ["--src-only"]
     return ()
 
   where
-    ifCabal cabal a =
+    whenCabal cabal a =
       case cabal of
         CabalDev -> return ()
         Cabal    -> a
diff --git a/test/main.hs b/test/main.hs
--- a/test/main.hs
+++ b/test/main.hs
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@
 main = hspec $
   it "gets the packages" $ do
     (psources, wd) <- shelly $ verbosely $ do
-      ps <- readPackages True "test"
       d <- pwd
+      ps <- readPackages True "test"
       return (ps, d)
 
     let localize = (\p-> toTextIgnore $ wd </> fromText p)
-    concatMap asList (packages psources) @?= [localize "test/child", localize "test/vendor/yesod/yesod", "sphinx", "-fone-one-beta", "fake-package"]
+    concatMap asList (packages psources) @?= [localize "test/child/grandchild", "top-package", "sphinx", "-fone-one-beta", "child-package"]