diff --git a/net-mgmt/net-snmp/files/snmpd.in b/net-mgmt/net-snmp/files/snmpd.in
--- a/net-mgmt/net-snmp/files/snmpd.in
+++ b/net-mgmt/net-snmp/files/snmpd.in
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@
 # snmpd_conffile="<set as needed>"
 #
 # Add the following line to make snmpd drop privileges after initialization.
-# This might invalidate existing SNMPv3 users.
+# This might invalidate existing SNMPv3 users.  Make sure that configuration
+# files are readable by the snmpd user.
 #
 # snmpd_sugid="YES"
 #
@@ -32,8 +33,24 @@
 
 start_precmd=net_snmpd_precmd
 
-net_snmpd_precmd () {
-	local flag conffile snmpd_conffile_set
+check_conffile()
+{
+	local conffile
+
+	conffile=$1
+
+	if [ ! -f "${conffile}" ]; then
+		warn "snmpd configuration file $conffile not found"
+		return
+	fi
+	su -m snmpd -c "test -r ${conffile}"
+	if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+		warn "snmpd configuration file $conffile not readable by snmpd user"
+	fi
+}
+
+net_snmpd_precmd() {
+	local flag conffile snmpd_conffile_set readable
 
 	if checkyesno snmpd_flush_cache; then
 		rm -vf /var/net-snmp/.snmp-exec-cache
@@ -52,11 +69,14 @@
 		esac
 	done
 
+	# -c does not override the default config file.
+	check_conffile %%PREFIX%%/share/snmp/snmpd.conf
 	for conffile in ${snmpd_conffile}; do
+		check_conffile ${conffile}
 		if [ -f "${conffile}" -a -s "${conffile}" ]; then
-		       snmpd_conffile_set="${snmpd_conffile_set},${conffile}"
+			snmpd_conffile_set="${snmpd_conffile_set},${conffile}"
 		else
-		       err 1 "snmpd configuration file $conffile not found."
+			err 1 "snmpd configuration file $conffile not found."
 		fi
 	done