diff --git a/pelican/settings.py b/pelican/settings.py
index 59dc5922..dcc52460 100644
--- a/pelican/settings.py
+++ b/pelican/settings.py
@@ -68,26 +68,45 @@ _DEFAULT_CONFIG = {'PATH': None,
 
 
 def read_settings(filename=None):
+    if filename:
+        local_settings = get_settings_from_file(filename)
+    else:
+        local_settings = _DEFAULT_CONFIG
+    configured_settings = configure_settings(local_settings, None, filename)
+    return configured_settings
+
+
+def get_settings_from_file(filename, default_settings=None):
     """Load a Python file into a dictionary.
     """
-    context = _DEFAULT_CONFIG.copy()
+    if default_settings == None:
+        default_settings = _DEFAULT_CONFIG
+    context = default_settings.copy()
     if filename:
         tempdict = {}
         execfile(filename, tempdict)
         for key in tempdict:
             if key.isupper():
                 context[key] = tempdict[key]
+    return context
 
-        # Make the paths relative to the settings file
+
+def configure_settings(settings, default_settings=None, filename=None):
+    """Provide optimizations, error checking, and warnings for loaded settings"""
+    if default_settings is None:
+        default_settings = _DEFAULT_CONFIG
+
+    # Make the paths relative to the settings file
+    if filename:
         for path in ['PATH', 'OUTPUT_PATH']:
-            if path in context:
-                if context[path] is not None and not isabs(context[path]):
-                    context[path] = os.path.abspath(os.path.normpath(
-                        os.path.join(os.path.dirname(filename), context[path]))
+            if path in settings:
+                if settings[path] is not None and not isabs(settings[path]):
+                    settings[path] = os.path.abspath(os.path.normpath(
+                        os.path.join(os.path.dirname(filename), settings[path]))
                     )
 
     # if locales is not a list, make it one
-    locales = context['LOCALE']
+    locales = settings['LOCALE']
 
     if isinstance(locales, basestring):
         locales = [locales]
@@ -105,11 +124,20 @@ def read_settings(filename=None):
     else:
         log.warn("LOCALE option doesn't contain a correct value")
 
-    if not 'TIMEZONE' in context:
+    # If SITEURL is defined but FEED_DOMAIN isn't, set FEED_DOMAIN = SITEURL
+    if ('SITEURL' in settings) and (not 'FEED_DOMAIN' in settings):
+        settings['FEED_DOMAIN'] = settings['SITEURL']
+
+    # Warn if feeds are generated with both SITEURL & FEED_DOMAIN undefined
+    if (('FEED' in settings) or ('FEED_RSS' in settings)) and (not 'FEED_DOMAIN' in settings):
+        log.warn("Since feed URLs should always be absolute, you should specify "
+                 "FEED_DOMAIN in your settings. (e.g., 'FEED_DOMAIN = "
+                 "http://www.example.com')")
+
+    if not 'TIMEZONE' in settings:
         log.warn("No timezone information specified in the settings. Assuming"
                  " your timezone is UTC for feed generation. Check "
                  "http://docs.notmyidea.org/alexis/pelican/settings.html#timezone "
                  "for more information")
 
-    # set the locale
-    return context
+    return settings
diff --git a/samples/pelican.conf.py b/samples/pelican.conf.py
index de52cd8a..bffe57f6 100755
--- a/samples/pelican.conf.py
+++ b/samples/pelican.conf.py
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ REVERSE_CATEGORY_ORDER = True
 LOCALE = ""
 DEFAULT_PAGINATION = 4
 
-FEED_DOMAIN = SITEURL
 FEED_RSS = 'feeds/all.rss.xml'
 CATEGORY_FEED_RSS = 'feeds/%s.rss.xml'
 
@@ -30,7 +29,7 @@ SOCIAL = (('twitter', 'http://twitter.com/ametaireau'),
 DEFAULT_METADATA = (('yeah', 'it is'),)
 
 # static paths will be copied under the same name
-STATIC_PATHS = ["pictures",]
+STATIC_PATHS = ["pictures", ]
 
 # A list of files to copy from the source to the destination
 FILES_TO_COPY = (('extra/robots.txt', 'robots.txt'),)
@@ -38,4 +37,3 @@ FILES_TO_COPY = (('extra/robots.txt', 'robots.txt'),)
 # foobar will not be used, because it's not in caps. All configuration keys
 # have to be in caps
 foobar = "barbaz"
-
diff --git a/tests/test_settings.py b/tests/test_settings.py
index 571f66a1..489c624a 100644
--- a/tests/test_settings.py
+++ b/tests/test_settings.py
@@ -5,12 +5,13 @@ except ImportError, e:
 
 from os.path import dirname, abspath, join
 
-from pelican.settings import read_settings, _DEFAULT_CONFIG
+from pelican.settings import read_settings, configure_settings, _DEFAULT_CONFIG
 
 
-class TestSettingsFromFile(unittest2.TestCase):
-    """Providing a file, it should read it, replace the default values and
-    append new values to the settings, if any
+class TestSettingsConfiguration(unittest2.TestCase):
+    """Provided a file, it should read it, replace the default values,
+    append new values to the settings (if any), and apply basic settings
+    optimizations.
     """
     def setUp(self):
         self.PATH = abspath(dirname(__file__))
@@ -35,3 +36,15 @@ class TestSettingsFromFile(unittest2.TestCase):
         """providing no file should return the default values."""
         settings = read_settings(None)
         self.assertDictEqual(settings, _DEFAULT_CONFIG)
+
+    def test_configure_settings(self):
+        """Manipulations to settings should be applied correctly."""
+
+        # FEED_DOMAIN, if undefined, should default to SITEURL
+        settings = {'SITEURL': 'http://blog.notmyidea.org', 'LOCALE': ''}
+        configure_settings(settings)
+        self.assertEqual(settings['FEED_DOMAIN'], 'http://blog.notmyidea.org')
+
+        settings = {'FEED_DOMAIN': 'http://feeds.example.com', 'LOCALE': ''}
+        configure_settings(settings)
+        self.assertEqual(settings['FEED_DOMAIN'], 'http://feeds.example.com')