diff --git a/lib/ulib/deploy b/lib/ulib/deploy
index 868151a..275f496 100644
--- a/lib/ulib/deploy
+++ b/lib/ulib/deploy
@@ -19,8 +19,7 @@ function deploy_query() {
         ;;
     esac
     if [ -n "$ltype" ]; then deploy_is_link "$ltype" || return 4; fi
-    deploy_is_profile "$profile" || return 5
-    [ -n "$term" ] || return 6
+    [ -n "$term" ] || return 5
 
     case "$qtype" in
     DEST)
@@ -56,20 +55,24 @@ function deploy_query() {
 }
 
 function deploy_setconf() {
-    local confname="$1" confdir="${2:-$scriptdir}"
+    local confname="$1" confdir="$(abspath "${2:-$scriptdir}")"
     IFILE="$confdir/init.conf"
-    if [ -f "$confname" ]; then
-        CONFNAME="$confname"
-        SFILE="$CONFNAME"
-        DFILE="${CONFNAME%.conf}.vars"
-    else
-        CONFNAME="${confname:-deploy}"
-        SFILE="$confdir/$CONFNAME.conf"
-        if is_root; then
-            DFILE="/var/local/deploy/$CONFNAME.vars"
-        else
-            DFILE="$HOME/etc/deploy/$CONFNAME.vars"
+    if [[ "$confname" == */* ]] || [[ "$confname" == *.* ]]; then
+        local d="$(abspath "$(dirname -- "$confname")")"
+        if [ "$d" != "$confdir" ]; then
+            CONFNAME="$confname"
+            SFILE="$CONFNAME"
+            DFILE="${CONFNAME%.conf}.vars"
+            return
         fi
+        confname="$(basename -- "$confname" .conf)"
+    fi
+    CONFNAME="${confname:-deploy}"
+    SFILE="$confdir/$CONFNAME.conf"
+    if is_root; then
+        DFILE="/var/local/deploy/$CONFNAME.vars"
+    else
+        DFILE="$HOME/etc/deploy/$CONFNAME.vars"
     fi
 }
 
@@ -80,7 +83,7 @@ function deploy_loadconf() {
         [ -n "$DEPLOY_SRCDIR" ] || DEPLOY_SRCDIR=~/wop/deploy
         [ -x "$DEPLOY_SRCDIR/query" ] && "$DEPLOY_SRCDIR/query" --nop -c "$CONFNAME"
     ); fi
-    [ -f "$DFILE" ] && source "$DFILE"
+    [ -f "$DFILE" ] && source "$DFILE" || return 1
 }
 
 function deploy_search_artifact() {