diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 50f94d1..4afba34 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+v0.2.5
+======
++ it was previously not possible to adjust the order of impacts with
+  `SLIVAR_IMPACTFUL_ORDER`. This is now fixed. (#97)
+
 v0.2.4
 ======
 + fix long-standing bug (#27) that would cause sigsegv in some cases
diff --git a/src/slivarpkg/impact_order.nim b/src/slivarpkg/impact_order.nim
index 4047069..bc715d7 100644
--- a/src/slivarpkg/impact_order.nim
+++ b/src/slivarpkg/impact_order.nim
@@ -21,4 +21,6 @@ proc adjustOrder*(order: string): TableRef[string, int] =
 
 var default_order* = adjustOrder(order_x)
 if getEnv("SLIVAR_IMPACTFUL_ORDER") != "":
-  default_order = adjustOrder(getEnv("SLIVAR_IMPACTFUL_ORDER"))
+  if not fileExists(getEnv("SLIVAR_IMPACTFUL_ORDER")):
+    raise newException(IOError, "[slivar] couldn't open file at:" & getEnv("SLIVAR_IMPACTFUL_ORDER") & " specified by env var 'SLIVAR_IMPACTFUL_ORDER'")
+  default_order = adjustOrder(getEnv("SLIVAR_IMPACTFUL_ORDER").readFile)
diff --git a/src/slivarpkg/version.nim b/src/slivarpkg/version.nim
index 779591a..91f7257 100644
--- a/src/slivarpkg/version.nim
+++ b/src/slivarpkg/version.nim
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
-const slivarVersion* = "0.2.4"
+const slivarVersion* = "0.2.5"
 const slivarGitCommit* = staticExec("git rev-parse --verify HEAD")