code: protected Properties readConfigFile(String path) {
  		Properties props = new Properties();
  		// Load properties file
  		InputStream is = null;
  		try {
  			if (path.startsWith(FILE_PREFIX)) {
  				if (LOGGER.isDebugEnabled() && !checking)
  					LOGGER.debug("Using filesystem properties file location at: " + configLocation);
  				is = new FileInputStream(new File(path.substring(FILE_PREFIX.length())));
  			} else {
  				if (LOGGER.isDebugEnabled() && !checking)
  					LOGGER.debug("Reading properties from file at classpath: " + configLocation);
  				is = ClassLoaderResourceUtils.getResourceAsStream(path, this);
  			}
  			loadConfig(props, path, is);
  
  		} catch (IOException e) {
  			throw new IllegalArgumentException("jawr configuration could not be found at " + path
  					+ ". Make sure parameter is properly set " + "in web.xml. ");
  		} finally {
  			IOUtils.close(is);
  		}
  
  		return props;
  	}
docs: Reads a config file at the specified path. If the path starts with file:,
  it will be read from the filesystem. Otherwise it will be loaded from the
  classpath.
  
  @param path
  the configuration path
  @return the configuration properties