diff --git a/src/basic/vx_config/Makefile.am b/src/basic/vx_config/Makefile.am
index b4d2d52ce6..3bbde1ca86 100644
--- a/src/basic/vx_config/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/basic/vx_config/Makefile.am
@@ -9,8 +9,10 @@ MAINTAINERCLEANFILES	= Makefile.in
 include ${top_srcdir}/Make-include
 
 # Yacc/lex flags
+# Initialize yystate to 8 to allow for empty configuartion files
 
-AM_YFLAGS	= --defines=config.tab.h -p config
+AM_YFLAGS	= --defines=config.tab.h -p config ; \
+                  sed -i 's/yystate = 0;/yystate = 8;/g' config.tab.cc
 
 # The library
 
diff --git a/src/basic/vx_config/Makefile.in b/src/basic/vx_config/Makefile.in
index 4c152e5961..c1481df8e1 100644
--- a/src/basic/vx_config/Makefile.in
+++ b/src/basic/vx_config/Makefile.in
@@ -400,7 +400,10 @@ top_srcdir = @top_srcdir@
 MAINTAINERCLEANFILES = Makefile.in
 
 # Yacc/lex flags
-AM_YFLAGS = --defines=config.tab.h -p config
+# Initialize yystate to 8 to allow for empty configuartion files
+AM_YFLAGS = --defines=config.tab.h -p config ; \
+                  sed -i 's/yystate = 0;/yystate = 8;/g' config.tab.cc
+
 
 # The library
 noinst_LIBRARIES = libvx_config.a