diff --git a/actions/finishopenidlogin.php b/actions/finishopenidlogin.php
index 6d92cb9aae..52d9be29c1 100644
--- a/actions/finishopenidlogin.php
+++ b/actions/finishopenidlogin.php
@@ -62,9 +62,8 @@ class FinishopenidloginAction extends Action
         if ($this->error) {
             $this->element('div', array('class' => 'error'), $this->error);
         } else {
-            global $config;
             $this->element('div', 'instructions',
-                           sprintf(_('This is the first time you\'ve logged into %s so we must connect your OpenID to a local account. You can either create a new account, or connect with your existing account, if you have one.'), $config['site']['name']));
+                           sprintf(_('This is the first time you\'ve logged into %s so we must connect your OpenID to a local account. You can either create a new account, or connect with your existing account, if you have one.'), common_config('site', 'name')));
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/actions/noticesearchrss.php b/actions/noticesearchrss.php
index 7172977ee7..0f98ed04bb 100644
--- a/actions/noticesearchrss.php
+++ b/actions/noticesearchrss.php
@@ -82,10 +82,9 @@ class NoticesearchrssAction extends Rss10Action
 
     function getChannel()
     {
-        global $config;
         $q = $this->trimmed('q');
         $c = array('url' => common_local_url('noticesearchrss', array('q' => $q)),
-                   'title' => $config['site']['name'] . sprintf(_(' Search Stream for "%s"'), $q),
+                   'title' => common_config('site', 'name') . sprintf(_(' Search Stream for "%s"'), $q),
                    'link' => common_local_url('noticesearch', array('q' => $q)),
                    'description' => sprintf(_('All updates matching search term "%s"'), $q));
         return $c;
diff --git a/actions/publicrss.php b/actions/publicrss.php
index c358779971..77e26e0f4c 100644
--- a/actions/publicrss.php
+++ b/actions/publicrss.php
@@ -84,12 +84,11 @@ class PublicrssAction extends Rss10Action
      */
     function getChannel()
     {
-        global $config;
         $c = array(
               'url' => common_local_url('publicrss')
-            , 'title' => sprintf(_('%s Public Stream'), $config['site']['name'])
+            , 'title' => sprintf(_('%s Public Stream'), common_config('site', 'name'))
             , 'link' => common_local_url('public')
-            , 'description' => sprintf(_('All updates for %s'), $config['site']['name']));
+            , 'description' => sprintf(_('All updates for %s'), common_config('site', 'name')));
         return $c;
     }
 
diff --git a/actions/remotesubscribe.php b/actions/remotesubscribe.php
index a2e01bd3ae..af130f4258 100644
--- a/actions/remotesubscribe.php
+++ b/actions/remotesubscribe.php
@@ -333,8 +333,6 @@ class RemotesubscribeAction extends Action
 
     function requestAuthorization($user, $omb, $token, $secret)
     {
-        global $config; # for license URL
-
         $con = omb_oauth_consumer();
         $tok = new OAuthToken($token, $secret);
 
@@ -358,7 +356,7 @@ class RemotesubscribeAction extends Action
         $req->set_parameter('omb_listenee', $user->uri);
         $req->set_parameter('omb_listenee_profile', common_profile_url($user->nickname));
         $req->set_parameter('omb_listenee_nickname', $user->nickname);
-        $req->set_parameter('omb_listenee_license', $config['license']['url']);
+        $req->set_parameter('omb_listenee_license', common_config('license', 'url'));
 
         $profile = $user->getProfile();
         if (!$profile) {
diff --git a/lib/mail.php b/lib/mail.php
index 9fa86de5cc..dde7571ebe 100644
--- a/lib/mail.php
+++ b/lib/mail.php
@@ -50,10 +50,9 @@ function mail_backend()
     static $backend = null;
 
     if (!$backend) {
-        global $config;
-        $backend = Mail::factory($config['mail']['backend'],
-                                 ($config['mail']['params']) ?
-                                 $config['mail']['params'] :
+        $backend = Mail::factory(common_config('mail', 'backend'),
+                                 (common_config('mail', 'params')) ?
+                                 common_config('mail', 'params') :
                                  array());
         if (PEAR::isError($backend)) {
             common_server_error($backend->getMessage(), 500);
diff --git a/lib/omb.php b/lib/omb.php
index c302a7b649..878c735dae 100644
--- a/lib/omb.php
+++ b/lib/omb.php
@@ -251,7 +251,6 @@ function omb_broadcast_profile($profile)
 
 function omb_update_profile($profile, $remote_profile, $subscription)
 {
-    global $config; # for license URL
     $user = User::staticGet($profile->id);
     $con = omb_oauth_consumer();
     $token = new OAuthToken($subscription->token, $subscription->secret);
diff --git a/lib/searchaction.php b/lib/searchaction.php
index df68764459..c762db16f0 100644
--- a/lib/searchaction.php
+++ b/lib/searchaction.php
@@ -110,8 +110,6 @@ class SearchAction extends Action
 
     function showForm($error=null)
     {
-        global $config;
-
         $q = $this->trimmed('q');
         $page = $this->trimmed('page', 1);
         $this->elementStart('form', array('method' => 'get',
@@ -122,7 +120,7 @@ class SearchAction extends Action
         $this->element('legend', null, _('Search site'));
         $this->elementStart('ul', 'form_data');
         $this->elementStart('li');
-        if (!isset($config['site']['fancy']) || !$config['site']['fancy']) {
+        if (!common_config('site', 'fancy')) {
             $this->hidden('action', $this->trimmed('action'));
         }
         $this->input('q', 'Keyword(s)', $q);
diff --git a/lib/twitter.php b/lib/twitter.php
index deb6fd276b..a3929524ba 100644
--- a/lib/twitter.php
+++ b/lib/twitter.php
@@ -224,7 +224,6 @@ function is_twitter_bound($notice, $flink) {
 
 function broadcast_twitter($notice)
 {
-    global $config;
     $success = true;
 
     $flink = Foreign_link::getByUserID($notice->profile_id, 
@@ -248,7 +247,7 @@ function broadcast_twitter($notice)
             CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS     => 
                 array(
                         'status' => $statustxt,
-                        'source' => $config['integration']['source']
+                        'source' => common_config('integration', 'source')
                      ),
             CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
             CURLOPT_FAILONERROR    => true,
diff --git a/lib/util.php b/lib/util.php
index ca9006d64e..6341438cae 100644
--- a/lib/util.php
+++ b/lib/util.php
@@ -72,8 +72,7 @@ function common_timezone()
         }
     }
 
-    global $config;
-    return $config['site']['timezone'];
+    return common_config('site', 'timezone');
 }
 
 function common_language()
@@ -737,9 +736,8 @@ function common_local_url($action, $args=null, $params=null, $fragment=null)
 
 function common_path($relative)
 {
-    global $config;
-    $pathpart = ($config['site']['path']) ? $config['site']['path']."/" : '';
-    return "http://".$config['site']['server'].'/'.$pathpart.$relative;
+    $pathpart = (common_config('site', 'path')) ? common_config('site', 'path')."/" : '';
+    return "http://".common_config('site', 'server').'/'.$pathpart.$relative;
 }
 
 function common_date_string($dt)
@@ -992,8 +990,7 @@ function common_ensure_syslog()
 {
     static $initialized = false;
     if (!$initialized) {
-        global $config;
-        openlog($config['syslog']['appname'], 0, LOG_USER);
+        openlog(common_config('syslog', 'appname'), 0, LOG_USER);
         $initialized = true;
     }
 }