diff --git a/yacman/yacman.py b/yacman/yacman.py
index 17e41c5..65bcdc2 100755
--- a/yacman/yacman.py
+++ b/yacman/yacman.py
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@
 from ubiquerg import create_lock, expandpath, is_url, make_lock_path, mkabs, remove_lock
 
 from .const import *
+from ._version import __version__
+from typing import Union
+from pathlib import Path
+
 
 _LOGGER = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -403,36 +407,130 @@ def _check_filepath(filepath):
     return filepath
 
 
-# Thought about moving this to ubiquerg -- but `yaml` isn't built-in
-# so it would add a new dependency there, which I'd rather not do.
-def load_yaml(filepath):
-    """Load a yaml file into a python dict"""
-
-    def read_yaml_file(filepath):
-        """
-        Read a YAML file
 
-        :param str filepath: path to the file to read
-        :return dict: read data
-        """
-        with open(filepath, "r") as f:
-            data = yaml.safe_load(f)
-        return data
+def load_yaml(filepath: Union[str, Path]) -> dict:
+    """
+    Load a local or remote YAML file into a Python dict
 
+    :param str filepath: path to the file to read
+    :raises ConnectionError: if the remote YAML file reading fails
+    :return dict: loaded yaml data
+    """
     if is_url(filepath):
         _LOGGER.debug(f"Got URL: {filepath}")
-        try:  # python3
-            from urllib.error import HTTPError
-            from urllib.request import urlopen
-        except:  # python2
-            from urllib2 import URLError as HTTPError
-            from urllib2 import urlopen
         try:
             response = urlopen(filepath)
-        except HTTPError as e:
-            raise e
-        data = response.read()  # a `bytes` object
-        text = data.decode("utf-8")
-        return yaml.safe_load(text)
+        except Exception as e:
+            raise ConnectionError(
+                f"Could not load remote file: {filepath}. "
+                f"Original exception: {getattr(e, 'message', repr(e))}"
+            )
+        else:
+            data = response.read().decode("utf-8")
+            return yaml.safe_load(data)
     else:
-        return read_yaml_file(filepath)
+        with open(os.path.abspath(filepath), "r") as f:
+            data = yaml.safe_load(f)
+        return data
+
+
+def select_config(
+    config_filepath: str = None,
+    config_env_vars=None,
+    default_config_filepath: str = None,
+    check_exist: bool = True,
+    on_missing=lambda fp: IOError(fp),
+    strict_env: bool = False,
+    config_name=None,
+) -> str:
+    """
+    Selects the config file to load.
+
+    This uses a priority ordering to first choose a config filepath if it's given,
+    but if not, then look in a priority list of environment variables and choose
+    the first available filepath to return.
+
+    :param str | NoneType config_filepath: direct filepath specification
+    :param Iterable[str] | NoneType config_env_vars: names of environment
+        variables to try for config filepaths
+    :param str default_config_filepath: default value if no other alternative
+        resolution succeeds
+    :param bool check_exist: whether to check for path existence as file
+    :param function(str) -> object on_missing: what to do with a filepath if it
+        doesn't exist
+    :param bool strict_env: whether to raise an exception if no file path provided
+        and environment variables do not point to any files
+    raise: OSError: when strict environment variables validation is not passed
+    """
+
+    # First priority: given file
+    if type(config_name) is str:
+        config_name = f"{config_name} "
+    else:
+        config_name = ""
+
+    if type(config_env_vars) is str:
+        config_env_vars = [config_env_vars]
+
+    if config_filepath:
+        config_filepath = os.path.expandvars(config_filepath)
+        if not check_exist or os.path.isfile(config_filepath):
+            return os.path.abspath(config_filepath)
+        _LOGGER.error(f"{config_name}config file path isn't a file: {config_filepath}")
+        result = on_missing(config_filepath)
+        if isinstance(result, Exception):
+            raise result
+        return os.path.abspath(result)
+
+    _LOGGER.debug(f"No local {config_name}config file was provided.")
+    selected_filepath = None
+
+    # Second priority: environment variables (in order)
+    if config_env_vars:
+        _LOGGER.debug(
+            f"Checking environment variables '{config_env_vars}' for {config_name}config"
+        )
+
+        for env_var in config_env_vars:
+            result = os.environ.get(env_var, None)
+            if result == None:
+                _LOGGER.debug(f"Env var '{env_var}' not set.")
+                continue
+            elif result == "":
+                _LOGGER.debug(f"Env var '{env_var}' exists, but value is empty.")
+                continue
+            elif not os.path.isfile(result):
+                _LOGGER.debug(f"Env var '{env_var}' file not found: {result}")
+                continue
+            else:
+                _LOGGER.debug(f"Found {config_name}config file in {env_var}: {result}")
+                selected_filepath = result
+
+    if selected_filepath is None:
+        # Third priority: default filepath
+        if default_config_filepath:
+            _LOGGER.info(
+                f"Using default {config_name}config. You may specify in env var: {str(config_env_vars)}"
+            )
+            return default_config_filepath
+        else:
+            if strict_env:
+                raise OSError("Unable to select config file.")
+
+            _LOGGER.info(f"Could not locate {config_name}config file.")
+            return None
+    return (
+        os.path.abspath(selected_filepath) if selected_filepath else selected_filepath
+    )
+
+
+def deep_update(old, new):
+    """
+    Recursively update nested dict, modifying source
+    """
+    for key, value in new.items():
+        if isinstance(value, Mapping) and value:
+            old[key] = deep_update(old.get(key, {}), value)
+        else:
+            old[key] = new[key]
+    return old