diff --git a/userspace/falco/app_actions/init_outputs.cpp b/userspace/falco/app_actions/init_outputs.cpp
index 459499da..3af5aeab 100644
--- a/userspace/falco/app_actions/init_outputs.cpp
+++ b/userspace/falco/app_actions/init_outputs.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,11 @@ using namespace falco::app;
 
 application::run_result application::init_outputs()
 {
+	if (m_state->config->m_outputs.empty())
+	{
+		return run_result::fatal("No outputs configured. Please configure at least one output file output enabled but no filename in configuration block");
+	}
+
 	// read hostname
 	std::string hostname;
 	char* env_hostname = getenv("FALCO_HOSTNAME");
diff --git a/userspace/falco/app_actions/load_config.cpp b/userspace/falco/app_actions/load_config.cpp
index 0982e8cb..2517cfb0 100644
--- a/userspace/falco/app_actions/load_config.cpp
+++ b/userspace/falco/app_actions/load_config.cpp
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ application::run_result application::load_config()
 {
 	if (!m_options.conf_filename.empty())
 	{
+		m_state->config = std::make_shared<falco_configuration>();
 		m_state->config->init(m_options.conf_filename, m_options.cmdline_config_options);
 		falco_logger::set_time_format_iso_8601(m_state->config->m_time_format_iso_8601);
 
diff --git a/userspace/falco/application.cpp b/userspace/falco/application.cpp
index e20f9e62..4e9fe17d 100644
--- a/userspace/falco/application.cpp
+++ b/userspace/falco/application.cpp
@@ -159,6 +159,8 @@ bool application::init(int argc, char **argv, std::string &errstr)
 		m_state->cmdline += *arg;
 	}
 
+	// initialize default config with cmdline overrides (-o option)
+	m_state->config->init(m_options.cmdline_config_options);
 	m_initialized = true;
 	return true;
 }