diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 47a190dba..1dfd136a2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ user named `daemon` defined within that file-system.
 
 ```json
 {
-    "version": "0.1",
+    "version": "0.1.1",
     "platform": {
         "os": "linux",
         "arch": "amd64"
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index ecc4e5dd5..f4793d392 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	version = "0.1"
+	version = "0.1.1"
 	usage   = `Open Container Project runtime
 
 runc is a command line client for running applications packaged according to the Open Container Format (OCF) and is
@@ -79,13 +79,13 @@ func main() {
 	}
 	// default action is to execute a container
 	app.Action = func(context *cli.Context) {
-		if os.Geteuid() != 0 {
-			logrus.Fatal("runc should be run as root")
-		}
 		spec, err := loadSpec(context.Args().First())
 		if err != nil {
 			fatal(err)
 		}
+		if os.Geteuid() != 0 {
+			logrus.Fatal("runc should be run as root")
+		}
 		status, err := execContainer(context, spec)
 		if err != nil {
 			logrus.Fatalf("Container start failed: %v", err)
diff --git a/spec_linux.go b/spec_linux.go
index 917d68094..6c0974ae3 100644
--- a/spec_linux.go
+++ b/spec_linux.go
@@ -107,10 +107,10 @@ var namespaceMapping = map[string]configs.NamespaceType{
 }
 
 // loadSpec loads the specification from the provided path.
-// If the path is empty then the default path will be "container.json"
+// If the path is empty then the default path will be "config.json"
 func loadSpec(path string) (*Spec, error) {
 	if path == "" {
-		path = "container.json"
+		path = "config.json"
 	}
 	f, err := os.Open(path)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -124,7 +124,16 @@ func loadSpec(path string) (*Spec, error) {
 	if err := json.NewDecoder(f).Decode(&s); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	return s, nil
+	return s, checkSpecVersion(s)
+}
+
+// checkSpecVersion makes sure that the spec version matches runc's while we are in the initial
+// development period.  It is better to hard fail than have missing fields or options in the spec.
+func checkSpecVersion(s *Spec) error {
+	if s.Version != version {
+		return fmt.Errorf("spec version is not compatible with runc version %q: spec %q", version, s.Version)
+	}
+	return nil
 }
 
 func createLibcontainerConfig(spec *Spec) (*configs.Config, error) {