diff --git a/Util.pm b/Util.pm
index c292a1a1e87797b1333f3db474f489088630cc1d..6edee152446ae2eadd822bd9ce6098b25e3b6459 100644
--- a/Util.pm
+++ b/Util.pm
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ use Crypt::CBC;
 use Digest::HMAC_SHA1 qw(hmac_sha1_hex);
 
 my $blocksize = 8; # A blowfish block is 8 bytes
-my $configfile = "/etc/userdir-ldap/userdir-ldap.conf";
+my $configfile = $ENV{USERDIR_LDAP_CONF} // "/etc/userdir-ldap/userdir-ldap.conf";
 #my $configfile = "/home/randolph/html/debian/perl/userdir-ldap.conf";
 
 my %config = &ReadConfigFile;
@@ -391,11 +391,22 @@ sub LDAPUpdate {
 ###################
 # Config file stuff
 sub ReadConfigFile {
+  our %config = { };
+  &ReadSomeConfigFile($configfile, \%config);
+  return %config;
+}
+
+sub ReadSomeConfigFile {
   # reads a config file and results a hashref with the results
-  my (%config, $attr, $setting);
-  open (F, "<$configfile") || &HTMLError("Cannot open $configfile: $!");
-  while (<F>) {
+  my ($file, $config) = @_;
+  my ($attr, $setting);
+  my $fh = new IO::File $file, '<' || &HTMLError("Cannot open config file $file: $!");
+  while (<$fh>) {
     chomp;
+    if (s{^include\s+(?!=)}{}) {
+      &ReadSomeConfigFile($_, $config);
+      next;
+    }
     if ((!/^\s*#/) && ($_ ne "")) {
       # Chop off any trailing comments
       s/#.*//;
@@ -405,11 +416,10 @@ sub ReadConfigFile {
       $setting =~ s/;$//;
       $attr =~ s/^\s+//; $attr =~ s/\s+$//;
       $setting =~ s/^\s+//; $setting =~ s/\s+$//;      
-      $config{$attr} = $setting;
+      $config->{$attr} = $setting;
     }
   }
-  close F;
-  return %config;
+  close $fh;
 }
 
 sub UpgradeConnection($) {
diff --git a/html/hostinfo.wml b/html/hostinfo.wml
index 796df4b8fbcaed5371c87f004d848fffa121f405..7031f3ad9d7ff6a8f5b950d56a579c3e671bc478 100644
--- a/html/hostinfo.wml
+++ b/html/hostinfo.wml
@@ -6,8 +6,18 @@
 <option value="_summary_">Summary
 ~hostlist~
 </select>
+<select name=purpose_search>
+<option value="">Regardless of purpose
+~purposelist~
+</select>
 <input type=submit value="Go">
 </form>
+<b>Show only:</b>
+<form method="post" action="machines.cgi">
+<input type=hidden name="sortby" value="architecture">
+<input type=hidden name="sortorder" value="asc">
+~purposes_conveniencebuttons~
+</form>
 <hr>
 ~hostdetails~
 <br>
diff --git a/machines.cgi b/machines.cgi
index ce18f0f52104491c14e7321842fed153a0d6a375..474da862f2ea194f9256a8e5e1d6b2c49fd73173 100755
--- a/machines.cgi
+++ b/machines.cgi
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ my (%attrs, @attrorder, %summaryattrs, @summaryorder, %summarylistitems);
 	        disk bandwidth status notes sshrsahostkey sshrsahostfprint
 		description purpose);
 
+our @purposes_conveniencebuttons = qw(porterbox buildd);
+
 # ditto for summary
 %summaryattrs = ('hostname' => 'Host name',
 		 'host'     => 'just for a link',
@@ -108,7 +110,7 @@ my $query = new CGI;
 my $host = lc($query->param('host'));
 my $sortby = lc($query->param('sortby')) || "host";
 my $sortorder = lc($query->param('sortorder')) || "asc";
-
+my $purpose_search = lc($query->param('purpose_search') || '');
 
 &Util::HTMLSendHeader;
 $ldap = Net::LDAP->new($config{ldaphost}) || &Util::HTMLError($!);
@@ -120,6 +122,8 @@ $mesg = $ldap->search(base  => $config{hostbasedn}, filter => 'host=*');
 $mesg->code && &Util::HTMLError($mesg->error);
 $entries = $mesg->as_struct;
 
+our %purposes;
+
 foreach $dn (sort {$entries->{$a}->{host}->[0] cmp $entries->{$b}->{host}->[0]} keys(%$entries)) {
   $data = $entries->{$dn};
 
@@ -166,7 +170,12 @@ foreach $dn (sort {$entries->{$a}->{host}->[0] cmp $entries->{$b}->{host}->[0]}
     $selected = " selected ";
   }
 
-  $hostlist .= "<option value=\"$thishost\"$selected>$thishost\n" unless ($data->{status}->[0] =~ /^unlisted/);
+  unless ($data->{status}->[0] =~ /^unlisted/) {
+    $hostlist .= "<option value=\"$thishost\"$selected>$thishost\n";
+    $purposes{$_} = 1 foreach @{ $data->{purpose} };
+  }
+
+  next if length($purpose_search) && !grep { $purpose_search eq $_ } @{ $data->{purpose} };
 
   # collect summary info
   foreach $key (keys(%summaryattrs)) {
@@ -185,6 +194,21 @@ foreach $dn (sort {$entries->{$a}->{host}->[0] cmp $entries->{$b}->{host}->[0]}
 }
 $ldap->unbind;
 
+our $purposelist;
+foreach my $p (sort keys %purposes) {
+  next if $p =~ m{[^-+_() 0-9a-z]}i;
+  my $selected = ($purpose_search eq $p) && ' selected';
+  # ^ This adhoc rule serves to suppress purposes that are discursive and shouldn't appear in the dropdown
+  #   They could still be searched for by sending the string precisely.  Note tyhat if this regexp is
+  #   significantly relaxed, html/url quoting would have to be considered!
+  $purposelist .= "<option value=\"$p\"$selected>$p\n";
+}
+
+our $purposes_conveniencebuttons;
+foreach my $p (@purposes_conveniencebuttons) {
+  $purposes_conveniencebuttons .= "<input type=\"submit\" name=\"purpose_search\" value=\"$p\">";
+}
+
 if ($output{havehostdata}) {
   $hostdetails = "<h1>Information about $output{hostname}</h1>\n";
   $hostdetails .= "<ul>\n";
@@ -233,6 +257,8 @@ open (F, "<$config{hosthtml}") || &Util::HTMLError("Cannot open host template");
 while (<F>) {
   s/~hostlist~/$hostlist/;
   s/~hostdetails~/$hostdetails/;
+  s/~purposelist~/$purposelist/;
+  s/~purposes_conveniencebuttons~/$purposes_conveniencebuttons/;
   print;
 }
 close F;
diff --git a/test-debian.conf b/test-debian.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..5a871b96732f32f05b716b705f5eada81dee72a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test-debian.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# Testing config file for ldap scripts
+
+# For testing in a chroot on (say) a porterbox,
+#    apt-get install libcgi-pm-perl libdate-manip-perl libnet-ldap-perl
+#                    libcrypt-cbc-perllibdigest-hmac-perl w3m
+# Copy
+#     master.debian.org:/etc/userdir-ldap/userdir-ldap.conf
+# into your "..".
+#
+# Then
+#    USERDIR_LDAP_CONF=test-debian.conf REQUEST_METHOD=GET \
+#    QUERY_STRING='host=amdahl' ./machines.cgi >t.html && w3m ./t.html
+
+include ../userdir-ldap.conf
+
+templatesdir = "html";
+hosthtml = "html/hostinfo.wml";