diff --git a/src/share/vm/compiler/compilerOracle.cpp b/src/share/vm/compiler/compilerOracle.cpp
index 6ac45b41345fe672274fbde32a15308a0114d354..07bc969b8726acfec39a8c9fc2146198b564ddd1 100644
--- a/src/share/vm/compiler/compilerOracle.cpp
+++ b/src/share/vm/compiler/compilerOracle.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 1998, 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 1998, 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -551,13 +551,21 @@ void CompilerOracle::parse_from_line(char* line) {
 }
 
 static const char* cc_file() {
+#ifdef ASSERT
   if (CompileCommandFile == NULL)
     return ".hotspot_compiler";
+#endif
   return CompileCommandFile;
 }
+
+bool CompilerOracle::has_command_file() {
+  return cc_file() != NULL;
+}
+
 bool CompilerOracle::_quiet = false;
 
 void CompilerOracle::parse_from_file() {
+  assert(has_command_file(), "command file must be specified");
   FILE* stream = fopen(cc_file(), "rt");
   if (stream == NULL) return;
 
@@ -600,6 +608,7 @@ void CompilerOracle::parse_from_string(const char* str, void (*parse_line)(char*
 }
 
 void CompilerOracle::append_comment_to_file(const char* message) {
+  assert(has_command_file(), "command file must be specified");
   fileStream stream(fopen(cc_file(), "at"));
   stream.print("# ");
   for (int index = 0; message[index] != '\0'; index++) {
@@ -610,6 +619,7 @@ void CompilerOracle::append_comment_to_file(const char* message) {
 }
 
 void CompilerOracle::append_exclude_to_file(methodHandle method) {
+  assert(has_command_file(), "command file must be specified");
   fileStream stream(fopen(cc_file(), "at"));
   stream.print("exclude ");
   Klass::cast(method->method_holder())->name()->print_symbol_on(&stream);
@@ -624,7 +634,9 @@ void CompilerOracle::append_exclude_to_file(methodHandle method) {
 void compilerOracle_init() {
   CompilerOracle::parse_from_string(CompileCommand, CompilerOracle::parse_from_line);
   CompilerOracle::parse_from_string(CompileOnly, CompilerOracle::parse_compile_only);
-  CompilerOracle::parse_from_file();
+  if (CompilerOracle::has_command_file()) {
+    CompilerOracle::parse_from_file();
+  }
   if (lists[PrintCommand] != NULL) {
     if (PrintAssembly) {
       warning("CompileCommand and/or .hotspot_compiler file contains 'print' commands, but PrintAssembly is also enabled");
diff --git a/src/share/vm/compiler/compilerOracle.hpp b/src/share/vm/compiler/compilerOracle.hpp
index 7a32967b9202e0bbd151fef450e0399cbdce2157..f736a4eebfc83512aca3af1e521e702cc817a673 100644
--- a/src/share/vm/compiler/compilerOracle.hpp
+++ b/src/share/vm/compiler/compilerOracle.hpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 1998, 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 1998, 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@ class CompilerOracle : AllStatic {
   static bool _quiet;
 
  public:
+
+  // True if the command file has been specified or is implicit
+  static bool has_command_file();
+
   // Reads from file and adds to lists
   static void parse_from_file();
 
diff --git a/src/share/vm/opto/runtime.cpp b/src/share/vm/opto/runtime.cpp
index b97f06a024fe60cae180cd1216ec54e9d37a12d3..d315f1010417bc4cea04e6d7636c0c74d81acecc 100644
--- a/src/share/vm/opto/runtime.cpp
+++ b/src/share/vm/opto/runtime.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 1998, 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 1998, 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -896,7 +896,8 @@ static void report_null_exception_in_code_cache(address exception_pc) {
       methodOop method = ((nmethod*)n)->method();
       tty->print_cr("# Method where it happened %s.%s ", Klass::cast(method->method_holder())->name()->as_C_string(), method->name()->as_C_string());
       tty->print_cr("#");
-      if (ShowMessageBoxOnError && UpdateHotSpotCompilerFileOnError) {
+      if (ShowMessageBoxOnError && UpdateHotSpotCompilerFileOnError &&
+          CompilerOracle::has_command_file()) {
         const char* title    = "HotSpot Runtime Error";
         const char* question = "Do you want to exclude compilation of this method in future runs?";
         if (os::message_box(title, question)) {
diff --git a/src/share/vm/runtime/arguments.cpp b/src/share/vm/runtime/arguments.cpp
index 1072daf6b04e11f03043b7b4e464ac96df6b9e15..a7195f2fc90e0cadec9f60d0b55ab2bffb531286 100644
--- a/src/share/vm/runtime/arguments.cpp
+++ b/src/share/vm/runtime/arguments.cpp
@@ -3002,12 +3002,14 @@ jint Arguments::parse(const JavaVMInitArgs* args) {
     }
   }
 
+#ifdef ASSERT
   // Parse default .hotspotrc settings file
   if (!settings_file_specified) {
     if (!process_settings_file(".hotspotrc", false, args->ignoreUnrecognized)) {
       return JNI_EINVAL;
     }
   }
+#endif
 
   if (PrintVMOptions) {
     for (index = 0; index < args->nOptions; index++) {
diff --git a/test/runtime/7110720/Test7110720.sh b/test/runtime/7110720/Test7110720.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c90c054fe4b3d167281cbd8c2aac3099bff6e6f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/runtime/7110720/Test7110720.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+#
+#  Copyright (c) 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+#  DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
+#
+
+
+#
+# @test Test7110720.sh
+# @bug 7110720
+# @summary improve VM configuration file loading
+# @run shell Test7110720.sh
+#
+
+if [ "${TESTSRC}" = "" ]
+  then TESTSRC=.
+fi
+
+if [ "${TESTJAVA}" = "" ]
+then
+  PARENT=`dirname \`which java\``
+  TESTJAVA=`dirname ${PARENT}`
+  echo "TESTJAVA not set, selecting " ${TESTJAVA}
+  echo "If this is incorrect, try setting the variable manually."
+fi
+
+if [ "${TESTCLASSES}" = "" ]
+then
+  echo "TESTCLASSES not set.  Test cannot execute.  Failed."
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+# Jtreg sets TESTVMOPTS which may include -d64 which is
+# required to test a 64-bit JVM on some platforms.
+# If another test harness still creates HOME/JDK64BIT,
+# we can recognise that.
+
+# set platform-dependent variables
+OS=`uname -s`
+case "$OS" in
+  SunOS | Linux )
+    FS="/"
+    RM=/bin/rm
+    CP=/bin/cp
+    MV=/bin/mv
+    ## for solaris, linux it's HOME
+    FILE_LOCATION=$HOME
+    if [ -f ${FILE_LOCATION}${FS}JDK64BIT -a ${OS} = "SunOS" ]
+    then
+        TESTVMOPTS=`cat ${FILE_LOCATION}${FS}JDK64BIT`
+    fi
+    ;;
+  Windows_* )
+    FS="\\"
+    RM=rm
+    CP=cp
+    MV=mv
+    ;;
+  * )
+    echo "Unrecognized system!"
+    exit 1;
+    ;;
+esac
+
+
+JAVA=${TESTJAVA}${FS}bin${FS}java
+
+# Don't test debug builds, they do read the config files:
+${JAVA} ${TESTVMOPTS} -version 2>&1 | grep "debug" >/dev/null
+if [ "$?" = "0" ]; then
+  echo Skipping test for debug build.
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+ok=yes
+
+$RM -f .hotspot_compiler .hotspotrc
+
+${JAVA} ${TESTVMOPTS} -version 2>&1 | grep "garbage in" >/dev/null
+if [ "$?" = "0" ]; then
+  echo "FAILED: base case failure"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+
+echo "garbage in, garbage out" > .hotspot_compiler
+${JAVA} ${TESTVMOPTS} -version 2>&1 | grep "garbage in" >/dev/null
+if [ "$?" = "0" ]; then
+  echo "FAILED: .hotspot_compiler was read"
+  ok=no
+fi
+
+$MV .hotspot_compiler hs_comp.txt
+${JAVA} ${TESTVMOPTS} -XX:CompileCommandFile=hs_comp.txt -version 2>&1 | grep "garbage in" >/dev/null
+if [ "$?" = "1" ]; then
+  echo "FAILED: explicit compiler command file not read"
+  ok=no
+fi
+
+$RM -f .hotspot_compiler hs_comp.txt
+
+echo "garbage" > .hotspotrc
+${JAVA} ${TESTVMOPTS} -version 2>&1 | grep "garbage" >/dev/null
+if [ "$?" = "0" ]; then
+  echo "FAILED: .hotspotrc was read"
+  ok=no
+fi
+
+$MV .hotspotrc hs_flags.txt
+${JAVA} ${TESTVMOPTS} -XX:Flags=hs_flags.txt -version 2>&1 | grep "garbage" >/dev/null
+if [ "$?" = "1" ]; then
+  echo "FAILED: explicit flags file not read"
+  ok=no
+fi
+
+if [ "${ok}" = "no" ]; then 
+  echo "Some tests failed."
+  exit 1
+else 
+  echo "Passed"
+  exit 0
+fi
+