diff --git a/src/Gitolite/Easy.pm b/src/Gitolite/Easy.pm
index 81ff02f..fb749f0 100644
--- a/src/Gitolite/Easy.pm
+++ b/src/Gitolite/Easy.pm
@@ -10,10 +10,13 @@ package Gitolite::Easy;
   is_admin
   is_super_admin
   in_group
+
   owns
   can_read
   can_write
 
+  config
+
   %rc
   say
   say2
@@ -52,9 +55,9 @@ sub is_super_admin {
 #   if gitolite list-memberships $GL_USER | grep -x $GROUPNAME >/dev/null; then ...
 sub in_group {
     valid_user();
-    my $g = shift;
+    my $g = "@" . +shift;
 
-    return grep { $_ eq $g } @{ list_memberships($user) };
+    return grep { $_ eq $g } @{ Gitolite::Conf::Load::list_memberships($user) };
 }
 
 # shell equivalent
@@ -85,6 +88,18 @@ sub can_write {
     return not( access( $r, $user, 'W', 'any' ) =~ /DENIED/ );
 }
 
+# shell equivalent
+#   foo=$(gitolite git-config -r $REPONAME foo\\.bar)
+sub config {
+    my $repo = shift;
+    my $key = shift;
+
+    return () if repo_missing($repo);
+
+    my $ret = git_config($repo, $key);
+    return %$ret;
+}
+
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 sub valid_user {
diff --git a/t/easy.t b/t/easy.t
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..d8ca753
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/easy.t
@@ -0,0 +1,173 @@
+#!/usr/bin/perl
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+
+# this is hardcoded; change it if needed
+use lib "src";
+use Gitolite::Easy;
+use Gitolite::Test;
+# put this after ::Easy because it chdirs away from where you were and the
+# 'use lib "src"', not being absolute, fails
+
+# smoke tests for Easy.pm
+# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+# for a change these are actual perl tests, so not much call for tsh here,
+# although I still need the basic infrastructure for setting up the repos and
+# I still can't intermix this with perl's Test.pm or Test::More etc
+sub ok { (+shift) ? print "ok\n" : print "not ok\n"; }
+sub nok { (+shift) ? print "not ok\n" : print "ok\n"; }
+sub msg { return unless $ENV{D}; print STDERR "#" . +shift . "\n"; }
+
+try "plan 88";
+
+try "
+    cat $ENV{HOME}/.gitolite.rc
+    perl s/GIT_CONFIG_KEYS.*/GIT_CONFIG_KEYS => '.*',/
+    put $ENV{HOME}/.gitolite.rc
+";
+
+# basic push admin repo
+confreset;confadd '
+    repo gitolite-admin
+        RW+     VREF/NAME/      =   admin
+        RW+     VREF/NAME/u5/   =   u5
+
+    repo aa
+        RW+     =   u1
+        RW      =   u2
+        R       =   u4
+
+        config for.aa   =   1
+
+    repo cc/..*
+        C       =   u4
+        RW+     =   CREATOR u5
+        R       =   u6
+
+        config for.cc   =   1
+
+    @oddguys = u1 u3 u5
+    @evensout = u2 u4 u6
+
+    # TODO
+    repo cc/sub/..*
+        config sub.cc   =   1
+';
+
+try "ADMIN_PUSH set1; !/FATAL/" or die text();
+
+# valid_user() -- an internal function but still worth testing by itself first
+eval { Gitolite::Easy::valid_user(); };
+ok($@ =~ /FATAL.*GL_USER not set/);
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u2";
+eval { Gitolite::Easy::valid_user(); };
+nok($@ =~ /FATAL.*GL_USER not set/);
+
+# is_admin
+msg('is_admin');
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "admin"; ok(is_admin());
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u5"; ok(is_admin());
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u2"; nok(is_admin());
+
+# is_super_admin -- not sure how useful it is right now
+msg('is_super_admin');
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "admin"; ok( is_super_admin() );
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u5";    nok( is_super_admin() );
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u2";    nok( is_super_admin() );
+
+# in_group
+msg('in_group');
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u1"; ok( in_group('oddguys') );  nok( in_group('evensout') );
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u3"; ok( in_group('oddguys') );  nok( in_group('evensout') );
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u4"; nok( in_group('oddguys') ); ok( in_group('evensout') );
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u2"; nok( in_group('oddguys') ); ok( in_group('evensout') );
+
+# owns
+msg('owns');
+try("glt ls-remote u4 cc/u4; /Initialized empty.*cc/u4/");
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u3"; nok( owns("cc/u3") ); nok( owns("cc/u4") );
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u4"; nok( owns("cc/u3") ); ok( owns("cc/u4") );
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u5"; nok( owns("cc/u3") ); nok( owns("cc/u4") );
+
+# can_read
+msg('can_read');
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u1"; ok(can_read("aa"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u2"; ok(can_read("aa"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u3"; nok(can_read("aa"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u4"; ok(can_read("aa"));
+
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u1"; nok(can_read("bb"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u2"; nok(can_read("bb"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u3"; nok(can_read("bb"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u4"; nok(can_read("bb"));
+
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u3"; nok(can_read("cc/u3"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u4"; nok(can_read("cc/u3"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u5"; nok(can_read("cc/u3"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u6"; nok(can_read("cc/u3"));
+
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u3"; nok(can_read("cc/u4"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u4"; ok(can_read("cc/u4"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u5"; ok(can_read("cc/u4"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u6"; ok(can_read("cc/u4"));
+
+# can_write
+msg('can_write');
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u1"; ok(can_write("aa"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u2"; ok(can_write("aa"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u3"; nok(can_write("aa"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u4"; nok(can_write("aa"));
+
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u1"; nok(can_write("bb"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u2"; nok(can_write("bb"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u3"; nok(can_write("bb"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u4"; nok(can_write("bb"));
+
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u3"; nok(can_write("cc/u3"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u4"; nok(can_write("cc/u3"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u5"; nok(can_write("cc/u3"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u6"; nok(can_write("cc/u3"));
+
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u3"; nok(can_write("cc/u4"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u4"; ok(can_write("cc/u4"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u5"; ok(can_write("cc/u4"));
+$ENV{GL_USER} = "u6"; nok(can_write("cc/u4"));
+
+# config
+try("glt ls-remote u4 cc/sub/one; /Initialized empty.*cc/sub/one/");
+try("glt ls-remote u4 cc/two; /Initialized empty.*cc/two/");
+ok(1);
+my @a;
+@a = config("aa", "fo..aa");   ok($a[0] eq 'for.aa' and $a[1] eq '1');
+@a = config("aa", "for.aa");   ok($a[0] eq 'for.aa' and $a[1] eq '1');
+@a = config("aa", "fo\\..aa"); ok(scalar(@a) == 0);
+
+@a = config("aa", "fo..cc");   ok(scalar(@a) == 0);
+@a = config("aa", "for.cc");   ok(scalar(@a) == 0);
+@a = config("aa", "fo\\..cc"); ok(scalar(@a) == 0);
+
+@a = config("bb", "fo..aa");   ok(scalar(@a) == 0);
+@a = config("bb", "for.aa");   ok(scalar(@a) == 0);
+@a = config("bb", "fo\\..aa"); ok(scalar(@a) == 0);
+
+@a = config("cc/u4", "fo..aa");   ok(scalar(@a) == 0);
+@a = config("cc/u4", "for.aa");   ok(scalar(@a) == 0);
+@a = config("cc/u4", "fo\\..aa"); ok(scalar(@a) == 0);
+
+@a = config("cc/u4", "fo..cc");   ok($a[0] eq 'for.cc' and $a[1] eq '1');
+@a = config("cc/u4", "for.cc");   ok($a[0] eq 'for.cc' and $a[1] eq '1');
+@a = config("cc/u4", "fo\\..cc"); ok(scalar(@a) == 0);
+
+@a = config("cc/two", "fo..cc");   ok($a[0] eq 'for.cc' and $a[1] eq '1');
+@a = config("cc/two", "for.cc");   ok($a[0] eq 'for.cc' and $a[1] eq '1');
+@a = config("cc/two", "fo\\..cc"); ok(scalar(@a) == 0);
+
+@a = config("cc/sub/one", "fo..cc");   ok($a[0] eq 'for.cc' and $a[1] eq '1');
+@a = config("cc/sub/one", "for.cc");   ok($a[0] eq 'for.cc' and $a[1] eq '1');
+@a = config("cc/sub/one", "fo\\..cc"); ok(scalar(@a) == 0);
+
+# TODO
+# @a = config("cc/sub/one", "su..cc");   ok($a[0] eq 'sub.cc' and $a[1] eq '1');
+# @a = config("cc/sub/one", "sub.cc");   ok($a[0] eq 'sub.cc' and $a[1] eq '1');
+@a = config("cc/sub/one", "su\\..cc"); ok(scalar(@a) == 0);
+