diff --git a/src/main/resources/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/archetypes/ash-template b/src/main/resources/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/archetypes/ash-template
index 18de7256d..3e1d0ca9f 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/archetypes/ash-template
+++ b/src/main/resources/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/archetypes/ash-template
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ realpath () {
 
 # Loads a configuration file full of default command line options for this script.
 loadConfigFile() {
-  cat "$1" | sed '/^\#/d'
+  cat "$1" | sed '/^\#/d' | sed 's/^-J-X/-X/' | tr '\r\n' ' '
 }
 
 
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ lib_dir="$(realpath "${app_home}/../lib")"
 ${{template_declares}}
 
 # If a configuration file exist, read the contents to $opts
-[ -f "$script_conf_file" ] && set -- $(loadConfigFile "$script_conf_file") "$opts"
+[ -f "$script_conf_file" ] && opts=$(loadConfigFile "$script_conf_file")
 
 java -classpath $app_classpath $opts $app_mainclass $@
-