diff --git a/buildnumber.dat b/buildnumber.dat
index 573541ac97..d00491fd7e 100644
--- a/buildnumber.dat
+++ b/buildnumber.dat
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0
+1
diff --git a/cmd/diagcfg/telemetry.go b/cmd/diagcfg/telemetry.go
index a54289e268..c7df1bc83c 100644
--- a/cmd/diagcfg/telemetry.go
+++ b/cmd/diagcfg/telemetry.go
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ func maybeUpdateDataDirFromEnv() {
 
 func readTelemetryConfigOrExit() logging.TelemetryConfig {
 	maybeUpdateDataDirFromEnv()
-	cfg, err := logging.ReadTelemetryConfigOrDefault(&dataDir, "")
+	cfg, err := logging.ReadTelemetryConfigOrDefault(dataDir, "")
 	if err != nil {
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, telemetryConfigReadError, err)
 		os.Exit(1)
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ var telemetryStatusCmd = &cobra.Command{
 	Long:  `Print the node's telemetry status`,
 	Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 		maybeUpdateDataDirFromEnv()
-		cfg, err := logging.ReadTelemetryConfigOrDefault(&dataDir, "")
+		cfg, err := logging.ReadTelemetryConfigOrDefault(dataDir, "")
 
 		// If error loading config, can't disable / no need to disable
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/logging/telemetry.go b/logging/telemetry.go
index 50be5a0ca8..7258b9ca61 100644
--- a/logging/telemetry.go
+++ b/logging/telemetry.go
@@ -90,13 +90,14 @@ func makeTelemetryState(cfg TelemetryConfig, hookFactory hookFactory) (*telemetr
 }
 
 // ReadTelemetryConfigOrDefault reads telemetry config from file or defaults if no config file found.
-func ReadTelemetryConfigOrDefault(dataDir *string, genesisID string) (cfg TelemetryConfig, err error) {
+func ReadTelemetryConfigOrDefault(dataDir string, genesisID string) (cfg TelemetryConfig, err error) {
 	err = nil
-	if dataDir != nil && *dataDir != "" {
-		configPath := filepath.Join(*dataDir, TelemetryConfigFilename)
+	dataDirProvided := dataDir != ""
+	if dataDirProvided {
+		configPath := filepath.Join(dataDir, TelemetryConfigFilename)
 		cfg, err = LoadTelemetryConfig(configPath)
 	}
-	if err != nil && os.IsNotExist(err) {
+	if (err != nil && os.IsNotExist(err)) || !dataDirProvided {
 		var configPath string
 		configPath, err = config.GetConfigFilePath(TelemetryConfigFilename)
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/logging/telemetryConfig.go b/logging/telemetryConfig.go
index 7fa2254261..0e3818c444 100644
--- a/logging/telemetryConfig.go
+++ b/logging/telemetryConfig.go
@@ -133,8 +133,9 @@ func loadTelemetryConfig(path string) (TelemetryConfig, error) {
 		return createTelemetryConfig(), err
 	}
 	defer f.Close()
-	cfg := createTelemetryConfig()
+	var cfg TelemetryConfig
 	var marshaledConfig MarshalingTelemetryConfig
+	marshaledConfig.TelemetryConfig = createTelemetryConfig()
 	dec := json.NewDecoder(f)
 	err = dec.Decode(&marshaledConfig)
 	cfg = marshaledConfig.TelemetryConfig
diff --git a/logging/telemetryConfig_test.go b/logging/telemetryConfig_test.go
index 65ee74261b..362ecd6577 100644
--- a/logging/telemetryConfig_test.go
+++ b/logging/telemetryConfig_test.go
@@ -107,3 +107,15 @@ func Test_SanitizeTelemetryString(t *testing.T) {
 		require.Equal(t, test.expected, SanitizeTelemetryString(test.input, test.parts))
 	}
 }
+
+func TestLoadTelemetryConfig(t *testing.T) {
+	testLoggingConfigFileName := "../test/testdata/configs/logging/logging.config.test1"
+	tc, err := loadTelemetryConfig(testLoggingConfigFileName)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, true, tc.Enable)
+	// make sure the user name was loaded from the specified file
+	require.Equal(t, "test-user-name", tc.UserName)
+	// ensure we know how to default correctly if some of the fields in the configuration field aren't specified.
+	require.Equal(t, createTelemetryConfig().Password, tc.Password)
+
+}
diff --git a/logging/telemetry_test.go b/logging/telemetry_test.go
index dbfa04c0fc..fce2e6d9e1 100644
--- a/logging/telemetry_test.go
+++ b/logging/telemetry_test.go
@@ -18,13 +18,16 @@ package logging
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
-	"github.com/algorand/go-deadlock"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 
+	"github.com/algorand/go-deadlock"
+
+	"github.com/algorand/go-algorand/config"
 	"github.com/algorand/go-algorand/logging/telemetryspec"
 )
 
@@ -315,3 +318,21 @@ func TestLogHistoryLevels(t *testing.T) {
 	a.Nil(data[5]["log"])    // Panic - this is stack trace
 	a.NotNil(data[6]["log"]) // Panic
 }
+
+func TestReadTelemetryConfigOrDefaultNoDataDir(t *testing.T) {
+	a := require.New(t)
+	tempDir := os.TempDir()
+	originalGlobalConfigFileRoot, _ := config.GetGlobalConfigFileRoot()
+	config.SetGlobalConfigFileRoot(tempDir)
+
+	cfg, err := ReadTelemetryConfigOrDefault("", "")
+	defaultCfgSettings := createTelemetryConfig()
+	config.SetGlobalConfigFileRoot(originalGlobalConfigFileRoot)
+
+	a.Nil(err)
+	a.NotNil(cfg)
+	a.NotEqual(TelemetryConfig{}, cfg)
+	a.Equal(defaultCfgSettings.UserName, cfg.UserName)
+	a.Equal(defaultCfgSettings.Password, cfg.Password)
+	a.Equal(len(defaultCfgSettings.GUID), len(cfg.GUID))
+}
diff --git a/scripts/travis/deploy_packages.sh b/scripts/travis/deploy_packages.sh
index d4dbccc48c..c98b957304 100755
--- a/scripts/travis/deploy_packages.sh
+++ b/scripts/travis/deploy_packages.sh
@@ -12,10 +12,6 @@ set -e
 
 SCRIPTPATH="$( cd "$(dirname "$0")" ; pwd -P )"
 
-if ! "${SCRIPTPATH}/../check_golang_version.sh"
-then
-    exit 1
-fi
 # Get the go build version.
 GOLANG_VERSION=$("${SCRIPTPATH}/../get_golang_version.sh")
 
@@ -23,6 +19,11 @@ curl -sL -o ~/gimme https://raw.githubusercontent.com/travis-ci/gimme/master/gim
 chmod +x ~/gimme
 eval "$(~/gimme "${GOLANG_VERSION}")"
 
+if ! "${SCRIPTPATH}/../check_golang_version.sh"
+then
+    exit 1
+fi
+
 scripts/travis/build.sh
 
 export RELEASE_GENESIS_PROCESS=true
diff --git a/test/testdata/configs/logging/logging.config.test1 b/test/testdata/configs/logging/logging.config.test1
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8e9e46fd35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/testdata/configs/logging/logging.config.test1
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+{
+  "Enable":             true,
+  "UserName":           "test-user-name"
+}