my $HELM_CONFIGURATION_DIR = $ENV{"HELM_CONFIGURATION_DIR"};
my $DEFAULT_HELM_CONFIGURATION_DIR = "@HELM_ETC_DIR@";
# this should be the only fixed constant
-if (defined ($HELM_CONFIGURATION_DIR) {
+if (defined ($HELM_CONFIGURATION_DIR)) {
$configuration_file = $HELM_CONFIGURATION_DIR."/configuration.xml";
} else {
$configuration_file = $DEFAULT_HELM_CONFIGURATION_DIR."/configuration.xml";