diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 77afef7a..bc783efb 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,6 +4,11 @@ node_modules
 .DS_Store
 build
 dist
+# ignore config file at the top-level of the repo
+# but not sub-dirs
+/jupyterhub_config.py
+jupyterhub_cookie_secret
+jupyterhub.sqlite
 share/jupyter/static/components
 share/jupyter/static/css/style.min.css
 share/jupyter/static/css/style.min.css.map
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index b327d8aa..319542e6 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -30,5 +30,5 @@ WORKDIR /srv/jupyterhub/
 
 EXPOSE 8000
 
-ONBUILD ADD jupyter_hub_config.py /srv/jupyterhub/jupyter_hub_config.py
-CMD ["jupyterhub", "-f", "/srv/jupyterhub/jupyter_hub_config.py"]
\ No newline at end of file
+ONBUILD ADD jupyterhub_config.py /srv/jupyterhub/jupyterhub_config.py
+CMD ["jupyterhub", "-f", "/srv/jupyterhub/jupyterhub_config.py"]
diff --git a/examples/postgres/hub/jupyter_hub_config.py b/examples/postgres/hub/jupyterhub_config.py
similarity index 100%
rename from examples/postgres/hub/jupyter_hub_config.py
rename to examples/postgres/hub/jupyterhub_config.py
diff --git a/examples/sudo/jupyter_hub_config.py b/examples/sudo/jupyterhub_config.py
similarity index 100%
rename from examples/sudo/jupyter_hub_config.py
rename to examples/sudo/jupyterhub_config.py
diff --git a/jupyterhub/app.py b/jupyterhub/app.py
index 74ce26a8..1ad573ee 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/app.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/app.py
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ class JupyterHubApp(Application):
     
     generate default config file:
     
-        jupyterhub --generate-config -f myconfig.py
+        jupyterhub --generate-config -f /etc/jupyterhub/jupyterhub.py
     
     spawn the server on 10.0.1.2:443 with https:
     
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ class JupyterHubApp(Application):
         PAMAuthenticator,
     ])
     
-    config_file = Unicode('jupyter_hub_config.py', config=True,
+    config_file = Unicode('jupyterhub_config.py', config=True,
         help="The config file to load",
     )
     generate_config = Bool(False, config=True,
diff --git a/jupyterhub/tests/test_app.py b/jupyterhub/tests/test_app.py
index a8894e14..06213020 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/tests/test_app.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/tests/test_app.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ def test_help_all():
     assert '--JupyterHubApp.ip' in out
 
 def test_generate_config():
-    with NamedTemporaryFile(prefix='jupyter_hub_config', suffix='.py') as tf:
+    with NamedTemporaryFile(prefix='jupyterhub_config', suffix='.py') as tf:
         cfg_file = tf.name
     
     out = check_output([sys.executable, '-m', 'jupyterhub',