diff --git a/contrib/check-config.sh b/contrib/check-config.sh
index 62606aca04..f225443138 100755
--- a/contrib/check-config.sh
+++ b/contrib/check-config.sh
@@ -7,62 +7,101 @@ set -e
 : ${CONFIG:=/proc/config.gz}
 : ${GREP:=zgrep}
 
-if [ ! -e "$CONFIG" ]; then
-	echo >&2 "warning: $CONFIG does not exist, searching other paths for kernel config..."
-	if [ -e "/boot/config-$(uname -r)" ]; then
-		CONFIG="/boot/config-$(uname -r)"
-	elif [ -e '/usr/src/linux/.config' ]; then
-		CONFIG='/usr/src/linux/.config'
-	else
-		echo >&2 "error: cannot find kernel config"
-		echo >&2 "  try running this script again, specifying the kernel config:"
-		echo >&2 "    CONFIG=/path/to/kernel/.config $0"
-		exit 1
-	fi
-fi
-
 is_set() {
 	$GREP "CONFIG_$1=[y|m]" $CONFIG > /dev/null
 }
 
+# see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#Colors
+declare -A colors=(
+	[black]=30
+	[red]=31
+	[green]=32
+	[yellow]=33
+	[blue]=34
+	[magenta]=35
+	[cyan]=36
+	[white]=37
+)
 color() {
-	color=
-	prefix=
+	color=()
 	if [ "$1" = 'bold' ]; then
-		prefix='1;'
+		color+=( '1' )
 		shift
 	fi
-	case "$1" in
-		green) color='32' ;;
-		red)   color='31' ;;
-		gray)  color='30' ;;
-		reset) color='' ;;
-	esac
-	echo -en '\033['"$prefix$color"m
+	if [ $# -gt 0 ] && [ "${colors[$1]}" ]; then
+		color+=( "${colors[$1]}" )
+	fi
+	local IFS=';'
+	echo -en '\033['"${color[*]}"m
+}
+wrap_color() {
+	text="$1"
+	shift
+	color "$@"
+	echo -n "$text"
+	color reset
+	echo
+}
+
+wrap_good() {
+	echo "$(wrap_color "$1" white): $(wrap_color "$2" green)"
+}
+wrap_bad() {
+	echo "$(wrap_color "$1" bold): $(wrap_color "$2" bold red)"
+}
+wrap_warning() {
+	wrap_color >&2 "$*" red
 }
 
 check_flag() {
 	if is_set "$1"; then
-		color green
-		echo -n enabled
+		wrap_good "CONFIG_$1" 'enabled'
 	else
-		color bold red
-		echo -n missing
+		wrap_bad "CONFIG_$1" 'missing'
 	fi
-	color reset
 }
 
 check_flags() {
 	for flag in "$@"; do
-		echo "- CONFIG_$flag: $(check_flag "$flag")"
+		echo "- $(check_flag "$flag")"
 	done
 } 
 
+if [ ! -e "$CONFIG" ]; then
+	wrap_warning "warning: $CONFIG does not exist, searching other paths for kernel config..."
+	for tryConfig in \
+		'/proc/config.gz' \
+		"/boot/config-$(uname -r)" \
+		'/usr/src/linux/.config' \
+	; do
+		if [ -e "$tryConfig" ]; then
+			CONFIG="$tryConfig"
+			break
+		fi
+	done
+	if [ ! -e "$CONFIG" ]; then
+		wrap_warning "error: cannot find kernel config"
+		wrap_warning "  try running this script again, specifying the kernel config:"
+		wrap_warning "    CONFIG=/path/to/kernel/.config $0"
+		exit 1
+	fi
+fi
+
+wrap_color "info: reading kernel config from $CONFIG ..." white
 echo
 
-# TODO check that the cgroupfs hierarchy is properly mounted
-
 echo 'Generally Necessary:'
+
+echo -n '- '
+cgroupCpuDir="$(awk '/[, ]cpu[, ]/ && $8 == "cgroup" { print $5 }' /proc/$$/mountinfo | head -n1)"
+cgroupDir="$(dirname "$cgroupCpuDir")"
+if [ -d "$cgroupDir/cpu" ]; then
+	echo "$(wrap_good 'cgroup hierarchy' 'properly mounted') [$cgroupDir]"
+else
+	echo "$(wrap_bad 'cgroup hierarchy' 'single mountpoint!') [$cgroupCpuDir]"
+	echo "    $(wrap_color '(see https://github.com/tianon/cgroupfs-mount)' yellow)"
+fi
+
 flags=(
 	NAMESPACES {NET,PID,IPC,UTS}_NS
 	DEVPTS_MULTIPLE_INSTANCES
@@ -83,16 +122,16 @@ check_flags "${flags[@]}"
 
 echo '- Storage Drivers:'
 {
-	echo '- "aufs":'
+	echo '- "'$(wrap_color 'aufs' blue)'":'
 	check_flags AUFS_FS | sed 's/^/  /'
 	if ! is_set AUFS_FS && grep -q aufs /proc/filesystems; then
-		echo "    $(color bold gray)(note that some kernels include AUFS patches but not the AUFS_FS flag)$(color reset)"
+		echo "    $(wrap_color '(note that some kernels include AUFS patches but not the AUFS_FS flag)' bold black)"
 	fi
 
-	echo '- "btrfs":'
+	echo '- "'$(wrap_color 'btrfs' blue)'":'
 	check_flags BTRFS_FS | sed 's/^/  /'
 
-	echo '- "devicemapper":'
+	echo '- "'$(wrap_color 'devicemapper' blue)'":'
 	check_flags BLK_DEV_DM DM_THIN_PROVISIONING EXT4_FS | sed 's/^/  /'
 } | sed 's/^/  /'
 echo