diff --git a/examples/lib/simple/main.c b/examples/lib/simple/main.c
index 0e728e9732..f9c09fb0f5 100644
--- a/examples/lib/simple/main.c
+++ b/examples/lib/simple/main.c
@@ -40,6 +40,13 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
             exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
 
+    /* Load configuration file, could be done earlier but must be done
+     * before SuricataInit, but even then its still optional as you
+     * may be programmatically configuration Suricata. */
+    if (SCLoadYamlConfig() != TM_ECODE_OK) {
+        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+    }
+
     SuricataInit();
     SuricataPostInit();
 
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index 714efda118..f9fcbf5e2c 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -44,7 +44,13 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
             exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
 
-    /* Initialization tasks: Loading config, setup logging */
+    /* Load yaml configuration file if provided. */
+    if (SCLoadYamlConfig() != TM_ECODE_OK) {
+        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+    }
+
+    /* Initialization tasks: apply configuration, drop privileges,
+     * etc. */
     SuricataInit();
 
     /* Post-initialization tasks: wait on thread start/running and get ready for the main loop. */
diff --git a/src/suricata.c b/src/suricata.c
index 3bc86f446a..d59e0b8601 100644
--- a/src/suricata.c
+++ b/src/suricata.c
@@ -955,10 +955,12 @@ void RegisterAllModules(void)
     TmModuleDecodeDPDKRegister();
 }
 
-static TmEcode LoadYamlConfig(SCInstance *suri)
+TmEcode SCLoadYamlConfig(void)
 {
     SCEnter();
 
+    SCInstance *suri = &suricata;
+
     if (suri->conf_filename == NULL)
         suri->conf_filename = DEFAULT_CONF_FILE;
 
@@ -2904,11 +2906,6 @@ void SuricataInit(void)
     /* Initializations for global vars, queues, etc (memsets, mutex init..) */
     GlobalsInitPreConfig();
 
-    /* Load yaml configuration file if provided. */
-    if (LoadYamlConfig(&suricata) != TM_ECODE_OK) {
-        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
-    }
-
     if (suricata.run_mode == RUNMODE_DUMP_CONFIG) {
         ConfDump();
         exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
diff --git a/src/suricata.h b/src/suricata.h
index 9ec80ddc83..f2ca5e574e 100644
--- a/src/suricata.h
+++ b/src/suricata.h
@@ -203,6 +203,7 @@ void PostConfLoadedDetectSetup(SCInstance *suri);
 int SCFinalizeRunMode(void);
 TmEcode SCParseCommandLine(int argc, char **argv);
 int SCStartInternalRunMode(int argc, char **argv);
+TmEcode SCLoadYamlConfig(void);
 
 void PreRunInit(const int runmode);
 void PreRunPostPrivsDropInit(const int runmode);