diff --git a/DOCKER/Dockerfile b/DOCKER/Dockerfile
index 62467f4c5c40718087fe92c8efda22f55947fec1..661c0577f50578ccc525cca1cbfb2a1279715067 100644
--- a/DOCKER/Dockerfile
+++ b/DOCKER/Dockerfile
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ ENV ECM_PATH /usr/local/lib/ecm/
 RUN mkdir -p $ECM_PATH
 COPY DOCKER/chain_* $ECM_PATH
 COPY DOCKER/config.toml $ECM_PATH
+COPY DOCKER/version.sh $ECM_PATH
 RUN chown -R eris $ECM_PATH
 
 
diff --git a/DOCKER/chain_new.sh b/DOCKER/chain_new.sh
index 7761ceee9e2caf5bbb831db7a33f0fc506535960..ba21008e7dbe8b8eafd7cb58c0dd3f221cfdf03e 100755
--- a/DOCKER/chain_new.sh
+++ b/DOCKER/chain_new.sh
@@ -16,7 +16,14 @@ else
 	cp genesis.json $CHAIN_DIR/genesis.json
 fi
 
-mintconfig $CONFIG_OPTS > $CHAIN_DIR/config.toml
+# if no config was given, lay one with the given options
+if [ ! -f $CHAIN_DIR/config.toml ]; then
+	echo "running mintconfig $CONFIG_OPTS"
+	mintconfig $CONFIG_OPTS > $CHAIN_DIR/config.toml
+else
+	echo "found config file:"
+	cat $CHAIN_DIR/config.toml
+fi
 
 if [ "$RUN" = "true" ]; then
 	tendermint node
diff --git a/DOCKER/start.sh b/DOCKER/start.sh
index dba42aabdbf75c705bbf5943bd9d71b2c48d56e7..2db7481ea86c849134c9c88046f847b6f1906a0e 100755
--- a/DOCKER/start.sh
+++ b/DOCKER/start.sh
@@ -51,6 +51,9 @@ export NODE_HOST
 export ECM_PATH  # set by Dockerfile
 
 
+# print the version
+bash $ECM_PATH/version.sh
+
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 # either we are fetching a chain for the first time,
 # creating one from scratch, or running one we already have
diff --git a/DOCKER/version.sh b/DOCKER/version.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a375c1c1e5fbb26e6f593d0fd458edf26ce9a574
--- /dev/null
+++ b/DOCKER/version.sh
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+echo "ecm version 0.0.2"