diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7a1e627..c98f9c5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
 ## Version 2.0.3
 
 ### modulecmd
+* Misleading error message fix if system configuration file is not
+  readable.
+  (#1316)
 
 ### build system
 * set CC and CXX if not defined. This was a bug introduced in 2.0.2
diff --git a/Pmodules/libpmodules.bash.in b/Pmodules/libpmodules.bash.in
index 9ec252a..9e3412d 100644
--- a/Pmodules/libpmodules.bash.in
+++ b/Pmodules/libpmodules.bash.in
@@ -451,10 +451,11 @@ pm::read_config(){
 	if [[ -v PMODULES_CONFIG_FILE && -n "${PMODULES_CONFIG_FILE}" ]]; then
 		sys_config_file="${PMODULES_HOME%%/Tools*}/config/${PMODULES_CONFIG_FILE}"
 	fi
+	sys_config_file=$(readlink "${sys_config_file}")
 	test -r "${sys_config_file}" || \
 		std::die 3 \
 			 "%s %s -- %s" \
-			 "base overlay definition file" \
+			 "Configuration file " \
 			 "does not exist or is not readable" \
 			 "$_"
 	DefaultGroups="${DefaultPmodulesConfig['default_groups']}"