diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/commands.rb b/railties/lib/rails/commands.rb
index 82cdd6053b8dc5906f58bfa351c21207cf1e29e2..7f473c237c9da95fd604293afc576fb8c3623bf9 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/commands.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/commands.rb
@@ -57,8 +57,7 @@
 
 when 'dbconsole'
   require 'rails/commands/dbconsole'
-  require APP_PATH
-  Rails::DBConsole.start(Rails.application)
+  Rails::DBConsole.start
 
 when 'application', 'runner'
   require "rails/commands/#{command}"
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/commands/dbconsole.rb b/railties/lib/rails/commands/dbconsole.rb
index 25a8caeec3153caf4966aa13f30f3bd4de75a164..aaba47117f30c43b0e567ec1e343b08dbe587878 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/commands/dbconsole.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/commands/dbconsole.rb
@@ -5,15 +5,37 @@
 
 module Rails
   class DBConsole
-    attr_reader :arguments
+    attr_reader :arguments, :config
 
-    def self.start(app)
-      new(app).start
+    def self.start
+      new(config).start
     end
 
-    def initialize(app, arguments = ARGV)
-      @app = app
-      @arguments = arguments
+    def self.config
+      config = begin
+        YAML.load(ERB.new(IO.read("config/database.yml")).result)
+      rescue SyntaxError, StandardError
+        require APP_PATH
+        Rails.application.config.database_configuration
+      end
+
+      unless config[env]
+        abort "No database is configured for the environment '#{env}'"
+      end
+
+      config[env]
+    end
+
+    def self.env
+      if Rails.respond_to?(:env)
+        Rails.env
+      else
+        ENV["RAILS_ENV"] || ENV["RACK_ENV"] || "development"
+      end
+    end
+
+    def initialize(config, arguments = ARGV)
+      @config, @arguments = config, arguments
     end
 
     def start
@@ -38,10 +60,6 @@ def start
         abort opt.to_s unless (0..1).include?(arguments.size)
       end
 
-      unless config = @app.config.database_configuration[Rails.env]
-        abort "No database is configured for the environment '#{Rails.env}'"
-      end
-
 
       case config["adapter"]
       when /^mysql/
diff --git a/railties/test/commands/dbconsole_test.rb b/railties/test/commands/dbconsole_test.rb
index 0bf417c0145fa98404e9c8e6e58867d8f725765e..5ef7ceef3bff58901b88fe829ff3eb0f4729e9cf 100644
--- a/railties/test/commands/dbconsole_test.rb
+++ b/railties/test/commands/dbconsole_test.rb
@@ -3,42 +3,70 @@
 
 class Rails::DBConsoleTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
   def teardown
-    %w[PGUSER PGHOST PGPORT PGPASSWORD'].each{|key| ENV.delete(key)}
+    %w[PGUSER PGHOST PGPORT PGPASSWORD].each{|key| ENV.delete(key)}
   end
 
-  def test_no_database_configured
-    start [], false
+  def test_config
+    Rails::DBConsole.const_set(:APP_PATH, "erb")
+
+    app_config({})
+    capture_abort { Rails::DBConsole.config }
     assert aborted
     assert_match /No database is configured for the environment '\w+'/, output
+
+    app_config(development: "with_init")
+    assert_equal Rails::DBConsole.config, "with_init"
+
+    app_db_file("development:\n  without_init")
+    assert_equal Rails::DBConsole.config, "without_init"
+
+    app_db_file("development:\n  <%= Rails.something_app_specific %>")
+    assert_equal Rails::DBConsole.config, "with_init"
+
+    app_db_file("development:\n\ninvalid")
+    assert_equal Rails::DBConsole.config, "with_init"
+  end
+
+  def test_env
+    assert_equal Rails::DBConsole.env, "development"
+
+    Rails.stubs(:respond_to?).with(:env).returns(false)
+    assert_equal Rails::DBConsole.env, "development"
+
+    ENV['RACK_ENV'] = "rack_env"
+    assert_equal Rails::DBConsole.env, "rack_env"
+
+    ENV['RAILS_ENV'] = "rails_env"
+    assert_equal Rails::DBConsole.env, "rails_env"
   end
 
   def test_mysql
     dbconsole.expects(:find_cmd_and_exec).with(%w[mysql mysql5], 'db')
-    start [], {adapter: 'mysql', database: 'db'}
+    start(adapter: 'mysql', database: 'db')
     assert !aborted
   end
 
   def test_mysql_full
     dbconsole.expects(:find_cmd_and_exec).with(%w[mysql mysql5], '--host=locahost', '--port=1234', '--socket=socket', '--user=user', '--default-character-set=UTF-8', '-p', 'db')
-    start [], {adapter: 'mysql', database: 'db', host: 'locahost', port: 1234, socket: 'socket', username: 'user', password: 'qwerty', encoding: 'UTF-8'}
+    start(adapter: 'mysql', database: 'db', host: 'locahost', port: 1234, socket: 'socket', username: 'user', password: 'qwerty', encoding: 'UTF-8')
     assert !aborted
   end
 
   def test_mysql_include_password
     dbconsole.expects(:find_cmd_and_exec).with(%w[mysql mysql5], '--user=user', '--password=qwerty', 'db')
-    start ['-p'], {adapter: 'mysql', database: 'db', username: 'user', password: 'qwerty'}
+    start({adapter: 'mysql', database: 'db', username: 'user', password: 'qwerty'}, ['-p'])
     assert !aborted
   end
 
   def test_postgresql
     dbconsole.expects(:find_cmd_and_exec).with('psql', 'db')
-    start [], {adapter: 'postgresql', database: 'db'}
+    start(adapter: 'postgresql', database: 'db')
     assert !aborted
   end
 
   def test_postgresql_full
     dbconsole.expects(:find_cmd_and_exec).with('psql', 'db')
-    start [], {adapter: 'postgresql', database: 'db', username: 'user', password: 'q1w2e3', host: 'host', port: 5432}
+    start(adapter: 'postgresql', database: 'db', username: 'user', password: 'q1w2e3', host: 'host', port: 5432)
     assert !aborted
     assert_equal 'user', ENV['PGUSER']
     assert_equal 'host', ENV['PGHOST']
@@ -48,7 +76,7 @@ def test_postgresql_full
 
   def test_postgresql_include_password
     dbconsole.expects(:find_cmd_and_exec).with('psql', 'db')
-    start ['-p'], {adapter: 'postgresql', database: 'db', username: 'user', password: 'q1w2e3'}
+    start({adapter: 'postgresql', database: 'db', username: 'user', password: 'q1w2e3'}, ['-p'])
     assert !aborted
     assert_equal 'user', ENV['PGUSER']
     assert_equal 'q1w2e3', ENV['PGPASSWORD']
@@ -56,42 +84,42 @@ def test_postgresql_include_password
 
   def test_sqlite
     dbconsole.expects(:find_cmd_and_exec).with('sqlite', 'db')
-    start [], {adapter: 'sqlite', database: 'db'}
+    start(adapter: 'sqlite', database: 'db')
     assert !aborted
   end
 
   def test_sqlite3
     dbconsole.expects(:find_cmd_and_exec).with('sqlite3', 'db')
-    start [], {adapter: 'sqlite3', database: 'db'}
+    start(adapter: 'sqlite3', database: 'db')
     assert !aborted
   end
 
   def test_sqlite3_mode
     dbconsole.expects(:find_cmd_and_exec).with('sqlite3', '-html', 'db')
-    start ['--mode', 'html'], {adapter: 'sqlite3', database: 'db'}
+    start({adapter: 'sqlite3', database: 'db'}, ['--mode', 'html'])
     assert !aborted
   end
 
   def test_sqlite3_header
     dbconsole.expects(:find_cmd_and_exec).with('sqlite3', '-header', 'db')
-    start ['--header'], {adapter: 'sqlite3', database: 'db'}
+    start({adapter: 'sqlite3', database: 'db'}, ['--header'])
     assert !aborted
   end
 
   def test_oracle
     dbconsole.expects(:find_cmd_and_exec).with('sqlplus', 'user@db')
-    start [], {adapter: 'oracle', database: 'db', username: 'user', password: 'secret'}
+    start(adapter: 'oracle', database: 'db', username: 'user', password: 'secret')
     assert !aborted
   end
 
   def test_oracle_include_password
     dbconsole.expects(:find_cmd_and_exec).with('sqlplus', 'user/secret@db')
-    start ['-p'], {adapter: 'oracle', database: 'db', username: 'user', password: 'secret'}
+    start({adapter: 'oracle', database: 'db', username: 'user', password: 'secret'}, ['-p'])
     assert !aborted
   end
 
   def test_unknown_command_line_client
-    start [], {adapter: 'unknown', database: 'db'}
+    start(adapter: 'unknown', database: 'db')
     assert aborted
     assert_match /Unknown command-line client for db/, output
   end
@@ -100,29 +128,30 @@ def test_unknown_command_line_client
   attr_reader :aborted, :output
 
   def dbconsole
-    @dbconsole ||= Rails::DBConsole.new(app)
+    @dbconsole ||= Rails::DBConsole.new(nil)
   end
 
-  def start(argv = [], database_configuration = {})
-    dbconsole.stubs(arguments: argv)
-    app.config.stubs(database_configuration: {
-      Rails.env => database_configuration ? database_configuration.stringify_keys : database_configuration
-    })
+  def start(config = {}, argv = [])
+    dbconsole.stubs(config: config.stringify_keys, arguments: argv)
+    capture_abort { dbconsole.start }
+  end
 
+  def capture_abort
     @aborted = false
     @output = capture(:stderr) do 
       begin
-        dbconsole.start
+        yield
       rescue SystemExit
         @aborted = true
       end
     end
   end
 
-  def app
-    @app ||= begin
-      config = mock("config")
-      stub("app", config: config)
-    end
+  def app_db_file(result)
+    IO.stubs(:read).with("config/database.yml").returns(result)
+  end
+
+  def app_config(result)
+    Rails.application.config.stubs(:database_configuration).returns(result.stringify_keys)
   end
 end