sub load_config {
  my @args = qw/root_dir data_dir images_dir button_color alternatecolor_first alternatecolor_second marked_color/;

  open(CONF, "<depot_conf.conf") or die("Can't open depot_conf.conf: $!");
    for (<CONF>) {
      next if ( (/^#/) || (/^\W/) ); #ignore comments
      chomp;
      my @parts = split(/=/, $_);
      my ($var, $value) = @parts;
      
      for my $option ($#args) {       
        if ($var eq "$option") {
          __GUI__ $config{$var} = $value;
          last;
        }     
          print "$var:" . __PACKAGE__ . "$config{$var}\n";  
      }
    }
  close CONF;
}