diff --git a/bash/sync-view.sh b/bash/sync-view.sh
index c480b6c..7493636 100755
--- a/bash/sync-view.sh
+++ b/bash/sync-view.sh
@@ -35,13 +35,16 @@
 #          backuped machine.
 #
 #       -b, --backupdir=DIR
-#          DIR is the local mount point where the backups can be found. It can
-#          be a network mount, or the destination directory if the backup was
-#          local.
+#          DIR is the local path where the backups can be found. It can be a
+#          network mount, or the destination directory if the backup was local.
+#          This option is mandatory.
 #
 #       -c, --config
 #          A sync.sh configuration file where the script could find variables
 #          SOURCEDIR (option '-r') and BACKUPDIR (option '-b').
+#          If this option is missing, the script will try to find a .syncrc file
+#          in DIR/daily-01 directory, where DIR is the local path of backups
+#          (option -b).
 #
 #       -d, --destdir
 #          Directory which will hold links to actual files. It will be created
@@ -74,6 +77,10 @@
 #       in /mnt to handle links to actual files.
 #       $ sync-view.sh -c s.conf -b /mnt/backup -x "^(yearly|monthly-0[3-9]).*$" ~/.bashrc
 #
+#       The simplest invocation: the versions of users' .bashrc will be retrieved
+#       in backups from /mnt/backup. A /mnt/backup/daily-01/.syncrc must exist.
+#       $ sync-view.sh -b /mnt/backup ~/.bashrc
+#
 #       Links to user's .bashrc backups will be put in /tmp/test. Files are in
 #       /mnt/backup, which contains backups of /export directory. The /tmp/test
 #       directory will be created if necessary.
@@ -149,16 +156,21 @@ log() {
     return 0
 }
 
+# filetype() - get file type
+#
+# $1: the file to check
+#
+# @return: 0, output a string with file type on stdout.
 filetype() {
     local file="$1" type="unknown"
     if [[ ! -e "$file" ]]; then
         type="missing"
+    elif [[ -h "$file" ]]; then
+        type="symlink"
     elif [[ -f "$file" ]]; then
         type="file"
     elif [[ -d "$file" ]]; then
         type="directory"
-    elif [[ -h "$file" ]]; then
-        type="symlink"
     elif [[ -p "$file" ]]; then
         type="fifo"
     elif [[ -b "$file" || -c "$file" ]]; then
@@ -172,8 +184,8 @@ filetype() {
 parse_opts() {
     # short and long options
     local sopts="1ab:c:d:hmr:vx:"
-    local lopts="absolute-target,unique,backupdir:,config:,destdir:,help,man,root:,verbose,exclude:"
-    local tmp tmp_destdir="" tmp_destdir="" tmp_rootdir="" config
+    local lopts="unique,absolute-target,backupdir:,config:,destdir:,help,man,root:,verbose,exclude:"
+    local tmp tmp_destdir="" tmp_destdir="" tmp_rootdir="" tmp_config=""
 
     if ! tmp=$(getopt -o "$sopts" -l "$lopts" -n "$CMD" -- "$@"); then
         log "Use '$CMD --help' or '$CMD --man' for help."
@@ -195,14 +207,7 @@ parse_opts() {
                 shift
                 ;;
             '-c'|'--config')
-                config="$2"
-                if [[ ! -r "$config" ]]; then
-                    printf "%s: Cannot open %s file. Exiting.\n" "$CMDNAME" "$config"
-                    exit 9
-                fi
-                # shellcheck source=sync-conf-example.sh
-                source "$config"
-                [[ -n "$SOURCEDIR" ]] && ROOTDIR="$SOURCEDIR"
+                tmp_config="$2"
                 shift
                 ;;
             '-d'|'--destdir')
@@ -240,7 +245,6 @@ parse_opts() {
         esac
         shift
     done
-
     # Now check remaining arguments (configuration file and searched file).
     # The configuration file contains the variable SOURCEDIR, which will allow
     # to find the relative path of TARGET in backup tree.
@@ -251,7 +255,21 @@ parse_opts() {
         exit 1
     fi
     TARGET="$1"
-    [[ -z $RESOLVETARGET ]] || TARGET="$(realpath -L "$1")"
+    [[ -z $RESOLVETARGET ]] || TARGET="$(realpath -L "$TARGET")"
+
+    # if $config is not set, look for .syncrc in BACKUPDIR
+    tmp_config=${tmp_config:-$tmp_backupdir/daily-01/.syncrc}
+    if [[ -z "$tmp_config" ]]; then
+        printf "%s: Missing configuration file.\n" "$CMDNAME"
+        exit 10
+    elif [[ ! -r "$tmp_config" ]]; then
+        printf "%s: Cannot open %s file. Exiting.\n" "$CMDNAME" "$tmp_config"
+        exit 9
+    fi
+
+    # shellcheck source=sync-conf-example.sh
+    source "$tmp_config"
+    [[ -n "$SOURCEDIR" ]] && ROOTDIR="$SOURCEDIR"
 
     [[ -n "$tmp_backupdir" ]] && BACKUPDIR="$tmp_backupdir"
     [[ -n "$tmp_destdir" ]] && TARGETDIR="$tmp_destdir"
@@ -345,7 +363,7 @@ for file in "${DIRS[@]}"; do
 done
 
 if [[ -n "$(ls -A .)" ]]; then
-    printf "type|modified|inode|size|perms|backup|backup date|path\n"
+    printf "backup date      (backup)|last changed|inode|size|perms|type|path\n"
     # for file in {dai,week,month,year}ly-[0-9][0-9]; do
     for symlink in *; do
         file=$(readlink "$symlink")
@@ -357,14 +375,13 @@ if [[ -n "$(ls -A .)" ]]; then
         backup_date=$(date --date="@${INODES[backup-$inode]}" "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M")
         size=$(stat --printf="%s" "$file")
         perms=$(stat --printf="%A" "$file")
-        printf "%s|" "$type"
+        printf "%s (%s)|" "$backup_date" "$symlink"
         printf "%s|" "$date"
         #printf "%s|" "$links"
         printf "%s|" "$inode"
         printf "%s|" "$size"
         printf "%s|" "$perms"
-        printf "%s|" "$symlink"
-        printf "%s|" "$backup_date"
+        printf "%s|" "$type"
         printf "%s\n" "$file"
         # ls -lrt "$TARGETDIR"
     done | sort -r
diff --git a/bash/sync.sh b/bash/sync.sh
index d41b4ce..6715bff 100755
--- a/bash/sync.sh
+++ b/bash/sync.sh
@@ -16,12 +16,13 @@
 #       sync.sh - a backup utility using ssh/rsync facilities.
 #
 # SYNOPSIS
-#       sync.sh [OPTIONS] CONFIG
+#       sync.sh [OPTIONS] [SOURCE_DIR]
 #
 # DESCRIPTION
 #       Perform a backup to a local or remote destination, keeping different
 #       versions (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly). All options can be set in
-#       CONFIG file, which is mandatory.
+#       a mandatory configuration file, which is either SOURCE_DIR/.syncrc,
+#       either set with the '-c' option. See option '-c' below.
 #       The synchronization is make with rsync(1), and only files changed or
 #       modified are actually copied; files which are identical with previous
 #       backup are hard-linked to previous one.
@@ -42,6 +43,10 @@
 #          depending on the current day or date: daily backup every day,
 #          weekly every sunday, monthly every first day of month, and yearly
 #          every Jan 1st.
+#       -c CONFIG
+#          Use CONFIG as configuration file. See sync-conf-example.sh.
+#          If this option is used, the script will ignore SOURCE_DIR/.syncrc
+#          file.
 #       -D
 #          By default, this script re-routes all outputs (stdout and stderr)
 #          to a temporary file after basic initialization (mainly options
@@ -221,7 +226,8 @@ man() {
 }
 
 usage() {
-    printf "usage: %s [-a PERIOD][-DflmnruvzZ] config-file\n" "$CMDNAME"
+    printf "usage: %s [-a PERIOD][-c CONFIG][-DflmnruvzZ] [backup_directory]\n" \
+           "$CMDNAME"
     exit 8
 }
 
@@ -417,9 +423,11 @@ exit_handler() {
 ###############################################################################
 # command-line parsing / configuration file read.
 parse_opts() {
+    local _config="" _backup_dir=""
+
     OPTIND=0
     shopt -s extglob                # to parse "-a" option
-    while getopts a:DflmnruvzZ todo; do
+    while getopts a:c:DflmnruvzZ todo; do
         case "$todo" in
             a)
                 # we use US (Unit Separator, 0x1F, control-_) as separator
@@ -437,6 +445,13 @@ parse_opts() {
                     esac
                 done
                 ;;
+            c)
+                _config="$OPTARG"
+                if [[ ! -f "$_config" ]]; then
+                    printf "%s: invalid %s configuration file\n" "$CMDNAME" "$_config"
+                    usage
+                fi
+                ;;
             f)
                 FILTERLNK=y
                 ;;
@@ -470,20 +485,34 @@ parse_opts() {
                 ;;
         esac
     done
-    # Now check remaining argument (configuration file), which should be unique,
-    # and read the file.
+    # Now check remaining argument (backup directory)
     shift $((OPTIND - 1))
-    (( $# != 1 )) && usage
-    CONFIG="$1"
 
-    if [[ ! -r "$CONFIG" ]]; then
-        printf "%s: Cannot open $CONFIG file. Exiting.\n" "$CMDNAME"
+    (( $# > 1 )) && usage
+    if (( $# == 1 )); then
+        _backup_dir="$1"
+        if [[ ! -d $_backup_dir ]]; then
+            printf "%s: %s: not a directory\n" "$CMDNAME" "$_backup_dir"
+            usage
+        fi
+        [[ -f "$_backup_dir/.syncrc" ]] && _config=${_config:-"$_backup_dir/.syncrc"}
+    fi
+
+    # see https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/406216
+    CONFIG=$(realpath -sm "$_config")
+    if [[ -z "$CONFIG" ]]; then
+        printf "%s: Missing configuration file\n" "$CMDNAME"
+        exit 9
+    elif [[ ! -r "$CONFIG" ]]; then
+        printf "%s: Cannot open %s file\n" "$CMDNAME" "$CONFIG"
         exit 9
     fi
     # shellcheck source=sync-conf-example.sh
     source "$CONFIG"
-
     LOCKDIR="/tmp/$CMDNAME-$HOSTNAME-${CONFIG##*/}.lock"
+
+    # _backup_dir takes precedence on SOURCEDIR (useless ?)
+    SOURCEDIR=${_backup_dir:-$SOURCEDIR}
 }
 
 parse_opts "$@"