diff --git a/src/server/distrend.c b/src/server/distrend.c
--- a/src/server/distrend.c
+++ b/src/server/distrend.c
@@ -858,7 +858,6 @@ int update_xml_joblist(struct general_in
   struct distrenjob *job;
   xmlTextWriterPtr writer;
   char *tmp;
-  char *tmp2;
   int counter;
 
   /**
@@ -868,7 +867,11 @@ int update_xml_joblist(struct general_in
   if(geninfo->timestamp > 65530)
     geninfo->timestamp = 0;
 
-  writer = xmlNewTextWriterFilename("job_list.xml", 0);
+  _distren_asprintf(&tmp, "%s/job_list.xml",
+		    geninfo->config->datadir);
+  writer = xmlNewTextWriterFilename(tmp, 0);
+  free(tmp);
+
   xmlTextWriterStartDocument(writer, NULL, "utf-8", NULL);
 
   /**
@@ -884,10 +887,8 @@ int update_xml_joblist(struct general_in
   counter = 0;
   for(job = geninfo->head.next; job; job = job->next)
     {
-      _distren_asprintf(&tmp, "jobnum%d", counter);
-      _distren_asprintf(&tmp2, "%d", job->jobnum);
-      xmlTextWriterWriteElement(writer, (xmlChar*)tmp, (xmlChar*)tmp2);
-      free(tmp2);
+      _distren_asprintf(&tmp, "%d", job->jobnum);
+      xmlTextWriterWriteElement(writer, (xmlChar*)"jobnum", (xmlChar*)tmp);
       free(tmp);
 
       /**
@@ -900,6 +901,8 @@ int update_xml_joblist(struct general_in
       counter++;
     }
 
+  xmlTextWriterEndElement(writer);
+
   /**
      close elements and end document
   */
@@ -924,15 +927,23 @@ int createQueueFromXML(struct general_in
   xmlDocPtr doc;
   xmlNodePtr cur;
 
+  char *xmllist_path;
+
   /**
      load xml document
   */
-  doc = xmlParseFile("job_list.xml");
+
+  _distren_asprintf(&xmllist_path, "%s/job_list.xml", geninfo->config->datadir);
+  doc = xmlParseFile(xmllist_path);
   if(doc == NULL)
     {
-      fprintf(stderr, "createQueueFromXML: document not found\n");
+      fprintf(stderr, "createQueueFromXML: ``%s'' could not be not loaded\n",
+	      xmllist_path);
+
+      free(xmllist_path);
       return 1;
     }
+  free(xmllist_path);
 
   /**
      have cur point to the root element of the xml document pointed to by doc
@@ -948,6 +959,8 @@ int createQueueFromXML(struct general_in
     {
       fprintf(stderr, "createQueueFromXML: incorrect root element (%s)", (char*)cur->name);
     }
+  else
+    fprintf(stderr, "USING %s\n", cur->name);
 
   /**
      moves into the children elements of job_list