diff --git a/html/inc/account.inc b/html/inc/account.inc
index 4db6ea2481..e1ad3f0849 100644
--- a/html/inc/account.inc
+++ b/html/inc/account.inc
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ function create_account_form($teamid, $next_url) {
         ),
         "passwd", "", "password",'id="passwd"',passwd_visible_checkbox("passwd")
     );
-    if (!NO_USER_COUNTRY) {
+    if (USER_COUNTRY) {
         form_select(
             sprintf('<span title="%s">%s</span>',
                 tra("Select the country you want to represent, if any."),
diff --git a/html/inc/forum.inc b/html/inc/forum.inc
index 80c0d5ccaf..72f8f5425e 100644
--- a/html/inc/forum.inc
+++ b/html/inc/forum.inc
@@ -628,7 +628,7 @@ function show_post(
         // - put the .png's in html/user/flags/
         // - put define("COUNTRY_FLAGS", 1); in your html/project/project.inc
         //
-        if (!NO_USER_COUNTRY && defined("COUNTRY_FLAGS")) {
+        if (USER_COUNTRY && defined("COUNTRY_FLAGS")) {
             if (array_key_exists($user->country, $country_to_iso3166_2)) {
                 $code = $country_to_iso3166_2[$user->country];
                 echo "<img class=flag alt=\"$user->country\" title=\"$user->country\" src=flags/$code.png>\n";
diff --git a/html/inc/user.inc b/html/inc/user.inc
index 2c23c21a82..606a148224 100644
--- a/html/inc/user.inc
+++ b/html/inc/user.inc
@@ -243,13 +243,13 @@ function show_user_info_private($user) {
         }
         row2(tra("Email address"), $email_text);
     }
-    if (!NO_USER_URL) {
+    if (USER_URL) {
         if (strlen($user->url)) {
             $u = normalize_user_url($user->url);
             row2(tra("URL"), sprintf('<a href="%s">%s</a>', $u, $u));
         }
     }
-    if (!NO_USER_COUNTRY) {
+    if (USER_COUNTRY) {
         row2(tra("Country"), $user->country);
     }
     if (POSTAL_CODE) {
@@ -437,10 +437,10 @@ function show_user_summary_public($user) {
     global $g_logged_in_user;
     row2(tra("User ID"), $user->id);
     row2(tra("%1 member since", PROJECT), date_str($user->create_time));
-    if (!NO_USER_COUNTRY) {
+    if (USER_COUNTRY) {
         row2(tra("Country"), $user->country);
     }
-    if (!NO_USER_URL) {
+    if (USER_URL) {
         // don't show URL if user has no recent credit (spam suppression)
         //
         if (strlen($user->url)) {
diff --git a/html/inc/user_util.inc b/html/inc/user_util.inc
index 37067b79c8..9d238ce75a 100644
--- a/html/inc/user_util.inc
+++ b/html/inc/user_util.inc
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ function validate_post_make_user() {
     $passwd_hash = md5($passwd.$new_email_addr);
 
     $country = "";
-    if (!NO_USER_COUNTRY) {
+    if (USER_COUNTRY) {
         $country = post_str("country", true);
         if ($country && !is_valid_country($country)) {
             error_page("bad country");
diff --git a/html/inc/util.inc b/html/inc/util.inc
index 62b107704a..befed7c2ce 100644
--- a/html/inc/util.inc
+++ b/html/inc/util.inc
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ require_once("../inc/translation.inc");
 require_once("../inc/profile.inc");
 require_once("../inc/bootstrap.inc");
 
-// parse some stuff from config (do it here for efficiency)
+// parse some stuff from config.xml (do it here for efficiency)
 //
 $config = get_config();
 global $master_url;
@@ -42,8 +42,16 @@ $master_url = parse_config($config , "<master_url>");
 $recaptcha_public_key = parse_config($config, "<recaptcha_public_key>");
 $recaptcha_private_key = parse_config($config, "<recaptcha_private_key>");
 
-// don't allow /... at the end of URL
+// the following default to on
+//
+$x = parse_config($config, "<user_country>");
+define('USER_COUNTRY', ($x===null)?1:(int)$x);
 
+$x = parse_config($config, "<user_url>");
+define('USER_URL', ($x===null)?1:(int)$x);
+
+// don't allow /... at the end of URL
+//
 if (array_key_exists("PATH_INFO", $_SERVER)) {
     die("bad URL");
 }
@@ -101,12 +109,6 @@ if (!defined('USER_HOME')) {
 if (!defined('POST_MAX_LINKS')) {
     define('POST_MAX_LINKS', 0);
 }
-if (!defined('NO_USER_COUNTRY')) {
-    define('NO_USER_COUNTRY', 0);
-}
-if (!defined('NO_USER_URL')) {
-    define('NO_USER_URL', 0);
-}
 
 // sleep this long on any login failure
 // (slow the rate of hacker attacks)
diff --git a/html/inc/util_basic.inc b/html/inc/util_basic.inc
index 33337ce9d7..8e51ef12fd 100644
--- a/html/inc/util_basic.inc
+++ b/html/inc/util_basic.inc
@@ -95,7 +95,6 @@ function get_config() {
 // If it's a single-tag element, and it's present, just return the tag
 //
 function parse_element($xml, $tag) {
-    $element = null;
     $closetag = "</" . substr($tag,1);
     $x = strstr($xml, $tag);
     if ($x) {
@@ -104,9 +103,10 @@ function parse_element($xml, $tag) {
         $n = strpos($y, $closetag);
         if ($n) {
             $element = substr($y, 0, $n);
+            return trim($element);
         }
     }
-    return trim($element);
+    return null;
 }
 
 function parse_next_element($xml, $tag, &$cursor) {
diff --git a/html/inc/xml.inc b/html/inc/xml.inc
index 473fa38957..b6e289e17e 100644
--- a/html/inc/xml.inc
+++ b/html/inc/xml.inc
@@ -113,10 +113,10 @@ function show_user_xml($user, $show_hosts) {
             show_host_xml($host);
         }
     }
-    if (!NO_USER_COUNTRY) {
+    if (USER_COUNTRY) {
         echo "     <country>$user->country</country>\n";
     }
-    if (!NO_USER_URL) {
+    if (USER_URL) {
         $url = normalize_user_url($user->url);
         echo "    <url>".htmlspecialchars($url)."</url>\n";
     }
@@ -138,10 +138,10 @@ function show_team_member($user, $creditonly = false) {
     <expavg_time>$user->expavg_time</expavg_time>
     <has_profile>$user->has_profile</has_profile>
 ";
-        if (!NO_USER_COUNTRY) {
+        if (USER_COUNTRY) {
             echo "     <country>$user->country</country>\n";
         }
-        if (!NO_USER_URL) {
+        if (USER_URL) {
             $url = normalize_user_url($user->url);
             echo "    <url>".htmlspecialchars($url)."</url>\n";
         }
diff --git a/html/user/am_set_info.php b/html/user/am_set_info.php
index 67613d5f32..350c895d26 100644
--- a/html/user/am_set_info.php
+++ b/html/user/am_set_info.php
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ if (!$user) {
 }
 
 $name = BoincDb::escape_string($name);
-if (NO_USER_COUNTRY) {
+if (!USER_COUNTRY) {
     $country = "";
 }
 if (!is_valid_country($country)) {
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ if (stripos($project_prefs, "<project_specific>") === false) {
     $project_prefs = str_ireplace("<project_preferences>", "<project_preferences>\n".$orig_project_specific, $project_prefs);
 }
 
-if (NO_USER_URL) {
+if (!USER_URL) {
     $url = "";
 }
 $url = BoincDb::escape_string($url);
diff --git a/html/user/edit_user_info_action.php b/html/user/edit_user_info_action.php
index 77d5cdfec9..6494f2db24 100644
--- a/html/user/edit_user_info_action.php
+++ b/html/user/edit_user_info_action.php
@@ -38,12 +38,12 @@ $name = BoincDb::escape_string($name);
 $url = "";
 $country = "";
 $postal_code = "";
-if (!NO_USER_URL) {
+if (USER_URL) {
     $url = post_str("url", true);
     $url = sanitize_tags($url);
     $url = BoincDb::escape_string($url);
 }
-if (!NO_USER_COUNTRY) {
+if (USER_COUNTRY) {
     $country = post_str("country");
     if (!is_valid_country($country)) {
         error_page("bad country");
diff --git a/html/user/edit_user_info_form.php b/html/user/edit_user_info_form.php
index 773c42f2e1..f19e11cb0f 100644
--- a/html/user/edit_user_info_form.php
+++ b/html/user/edit_user_info_form.php
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ form_input_text(
     $user->name
 );
 
-if (!NO_USER_URL) {
+if (USER_URL) {
     form_input_text(
         tra("URL %1 of your personal web page; optional%2", "<br><p class=\"small\">", "</p>"),
         'url',
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ if (!NO_USER_URL) {
     );
 }
 
-if (!NO_USER_COUNTRY) {
+if (USER_COUNTRY) {
     form_select(
         tra("Country"),
         'country',
diff --git a/lib/util.cpp b/lib/util.cpp
index c51418a8b2..5a38f4ff3e 100644
--- a/lib/util.cpp
+++ b/lib/util.cpp
@@ -484,6 +484,7 @@ int run_program(
         FCGI::perror("execvp");
 #else
         perror("execvp");
+        fprintf(stderr, "couldn't exec %s: %d\n", file, errno);
 #endif
         exit(errno);
     }
diff --git a/sched/db_dump.cpp b/sched/db_dump.cpp
index d155facf6f..04f349eb69 100644
--- a/sched/db_dump.cpp
+++ b/sched/db_dump.cpp
@@ -582,7 +582,6 @@ void write_user(USER& user, ZFILE* f, bool /*detail*/) {
         "<user>\n"
         " <id>%lu</id>\n"
         " <name>%s</name>\n"
-        " <country>%s</country>\n"
         " <create_time>%d</create_time>\n"
         " <total_credit>%f</total_credit>\n"
         " <expavg_credit>%f</expavg_credit>\n"
@@ -597,7 +596,13 @@ void write_user(USER& user, ZFILE* f, bool /*detail*/) {
         user.expavg_time,
         cpid
     );
-    if (strlen(user.url)) {
+    if (config.user_country && strlen(user.country)) {
+        f->write(
+            " <country>%s</country>\n",
+            user.country
+        );
+    }
+    if (config.user_url && strlen(user.url)) {
         f->write(
             " <url>%s</url>\n",
             url
diff --git a/sched/sched_config.cpp b/sched/sched_config.cpp
index b5a72bf187..eb4ceb6a99 100644
--- a/sched/sched_config.cpp
+++ b/sched/sched_config.cpp
@@ -95,6 +95,8 @@ int SCHED_CONFIG::parse(FILE* f) {
     scheduler_log_buffer = 32768;
     version_select_random_factor = 1.;
     maintenance_delay = 3600;
+    user_url = true;
+    user_country = true;
 
     if (!xp.parse_start("boinc")) return ERR_XML_PARSE;
     if (!xp.parse_start("config")) return ERR_XML_PARSE;
@@ -194,6 +196,8 @@ int SCHED_CONFIG::parse(FILE* f) {
         if (xp.parse_bool("job_size_matching", job_size_matching)) continue;
         if (xp.parse_bool("dont_send_jobs", dont_send_jobs)) continue;
         if (xp.parse_bool("estimate_flops_from_hav_pfc", estimate_flops_from_hav_pfc)) continue;
+        if (xp.parse_bool("user_url", user_url)) continue;
+        if (xp.parse_bool("user_country", user_country)) continue;
 
         //////////// STUFF RELEVANT ONLY TO SCHEDULER STARTS HERE ///////
 
diff --git a/sched/sched_config.h b/sched/sched_config.h
index f210057d56..96ec0b6489 100644
--- a/sched/sched_config.h
+++ b/sched/sched_config.h
@@ -101,6 +101,8 @@ struct SCHED_CONFIG {
     bool enable_assignment_multi;
     bool job_size_matching;
     bool dont_send_jobs;
+    bool user_url;          // whether to export user.url in db dump
+    bool user_country;
 
     //////////// STUFF RELEVANT ONLY TO SCHEDULER FOLLOWS ///////////