dogecoind won't read conf I'm having issues starting dogecoind after compiling in ubuntu 12.04 x64 running in VirtualBox on win 7 ultimate x64

here's what i've tried from inside dogecoin/src after make -f makefile.unix:

sudo su
./dogecoind -server -listen -daemon -rpcuser=dogerpc -rpcpassword=dogerpcpw -rpctimeout=30 -rpcport=8334 -rpcallowip=192.168.1.* -rpcallowip=127.0.0.1 -testnet


and i get:

Error: To use the "-server" option, you must set a secure rpcpassword in the configuration file:
/root/.dogecoin/dogecoin.conf


so i do:

cd ~/.dogecoin
emacs dogecoin.conf


i save the following parameters:

rpcuser=dogerpc
rpcpassword=dogerpcpw
rpcport=8334
rpcallowip=192.168.1.*
rpcallowip=127.0.0.1
server=1
daemon=1
listen=1
testnet=1


i even chmod 777 dogecoin.conf to be sure everyone on God's green earth could access it so that wouldn't be a problem, but still the same error when trying to start up dogecoind

would much appreciate any help/tips!
It's unclear which version of dogecoind you are using. However, in the current 1.5 code on Github, there is a similar message:

if (mapArgs["-rpcuser"] == "" &amp;&amp; mapArgs["-rpcpassword"] == "")
    throw runtime_error(strprintf(
        _("You must set rpcpassword=&lt;password&gt; in the configuration file:\n%s\n"
          "If the file does not exist, create it with owner-readable-only file permissions."),
            GetConfigFile().string().c_str()));


https://github.com/dogecoin/dogecoin/blob/master-1.5/src/bitcoinrpc.cpp#L1080

This indicates that your attempt at working around the problem with chmod 777 would not have had the desired effect. Instead, try chmod 600 dogecoin.conf.