diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e754be8..0c9c3cd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -74,6 +74,31 @@ the following code in about anywhere and it'll work just fine:
       erb :foos
     end
 
+### Database file locations
+
+Giving a path to an SQLite database via a URL is slightly painful... far too
+many slashes are needed.  If you want to give a relative path, then you must
+use three slashes before your path name:
+
+    sqlite:///db/foo.db
+
+An absolute path has *four* slashes (an extra one to indicate "absolute
+path"):
+
+    sqlite:////home/foo/db/bar.db
+
+### Using a YAML config file
+
+If you want to store your database environment configurations in a YAML
+file, Rails-style, simply tell your app all about it:
+
+    set :database_config_yaml, "/path/to/some/file.yaml"
+
+And SAR will load the file and configure ActiveRecord appropriately.  It
+will automatically key off your pre-existing `:environment` variable to
+decide which database to connect to.
+
+
 ### NOTE about the rip-off
 
   This Code and README.md is a heavy adaption of [rtomayko's sinatra-sequel](http://github.com/rtomayko/sinatra-sequel/)
diff --git a/lib/sinatra/activerecord.rb b/lib/sinatra/activerecord.rb
index af8a4d5..baf6c41 100644
--- a/lib/sinatra/activerecord.rb
+++ b/lib/sinatra/activerecord.rb
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 require 'sinatra/base'
 require 'active_record'
 require 'logger'
+require 'yaml'
 
 module Sinatra
   module ActiveRecordHelper
@@ -20,12 +21,21 @@ def database=(url)
 
     def database
       @database ||= (
-        url = URI(database_url)
         ActiveRecord::Base.logger = activerecord_logger
-        ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection(database_options)
+        unless database_url.nil?
+          url = URI(database_url)
+          ActiveRecord::Base.configurations[environment.to_s] = database_options
+        end
+
+        ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection(environment.to_s)
         ActiveRecord::Base
       )
     end
+    
+    def database_config_yaml=(yaml)
+      ActiveRecord::Base.configurations = YAML.load_file(yaml)
+      set :database_url, nil
+    end
 
   protected
 
@@ -42,7 +52,6 @@ def database_options
       case url.scheme
       when "sqlite"
         options[:adapter] = "sqlite3"
-        options[:database] = url.host
       when "postgres"
         options[:adapter] = "postgresql"
       end
@@ -53,7 +62,6 @@ def self.registered(app)
       app.set :database_url, lambda { ENV['DATABASE_URL'] || "sqlite://#{environment}.db" }
       app.set :database_extras, Hash.new
       app.set :activerecord_logger, Logger.new(STDOUT)
-      app.database # force connection
       app.helpers ActiveRecordHelper
     end
   end
diff --git a/sinatra-activerecord.gemspec b/sinatra-activerecord.gemspec
index 1989fec..1d71450 100644
--- a/sinatra-activerecord.gemspec
+++ b/sinatra-activerecord.gemspec
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.extra_rdoc_files = %w[README.md]
   s.add_dependency 'sinatra',    '>= 0.9.4'
 
-  s.has_rdoc = true
   s.homepage = "http://github.com/rtomayko/sinatra-activerecord"
   s.rdoc_options = ["--line-numbers", "--inline-source", "--title", "Sinatra::ActiveRecord"]
   s.require_paths = %w[lib]
diff --git a/test/foo.db b/test/foo.db
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/test/sinatra_activerecord_test.rb b/test/sinatra_activerecord_test.rb
index 1bf2f26..7bc8f9c 100644
--- a/test/sinatra_activerecord_test.rb
+++ b/test/sinatra_activerecord_test.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
+require 'test/unit'
 require 'sinatra/base'
-require 'sinatra/activerecord'
+require File.expand_path('../../lib/sinatra/activerecord', __FILE__)
 
 class MockSinatraApp < Sinatra::Base
   register Sinatra::ActiveRecordExtension
@@ -32,4 +33,13 @@ def test_establishes_a_database_connection_when_set
     assert @app.database.respond_to? :table_exists?
   end
 
+  def test_db_urls_with_a_path
+    @app.database = 'sqlite:///test/foo.db'
+    assert_equal 'test/foo.db', @app.database.connection.instance_variable_get(:@config)[:database]
+  end
+  
+  def test_db_urls_with_absolute_path
+    @app.database = 'sqlite:////tmp/foo.db'
+    assert_equal '/tmp/foo.db', @app.database.connection.instance_variable_get(:@config)[:database]
+  end
 end