diff --git a/src/aiori-POSIX.c b/src/aiori-POSIX.c
index 9e85fa7..6f865b3 100755
--- a/src/aiori-POSIX.c
+++ b/src/aiori-POSIX.c
@@ -306,6 +306,7 @@ void *POSIX_Create(char *testFileName, IOR_param_t * param)
                 ERR("Unable to malloc file descriptor");
         posix_options_t * o = (posix_options_t*) param->backend_options;
         if (o->direct_io == TRUE){
+          printf("ODIREC\n");
           set_o_direct_flag(&fd_oflag);
         }
 
diff --git a/src/option.c b/src/option.c
index d5b76c3..99f696c 100644
--- a/src/option.c
+++ b/src/option.c
@@ -223,6 +223,7 @@ void option_print_current(option_help * args){
 static void option_parse_token(char ** argv, int * flag_parsed_next, int * requiredArgsSeen, options_all_t * opt_all, int * error, int * print_help){
   char * txt = argv[0];
   char * arg = strstr(txt, "=");
+
   int replaced_equal = 0;
   int i = 0;
   if(arg != NULL){
@@ -338,12 +339,14 @@ static void option_parse_token(char ** argv, int * flag_parsed_next, int * requi
   }
 }
 
-int option_parse_key_value(char * key, char * value, options_all_t * opt_all){
+int option_parse_key_value(char * key, char *val, options_all_t * opt_all){
   int flag_parsed_next;
-  char * argv[2] = {key, value};
   int error = 0;
   int requiredArgsSeen = 0;
   int print_help = 0;
+  char value[1024];
+  sprintf(value, "%s=%s", key, val);
+  char * argv[2] = {value, NULL};
   option_parse_token(argv, & flag_parsed_next, & requiredArgsSeen, opt_all, & error, & print_help);
   return error;
 }
diff --git a/src/parse_options.c b/src/parse_options.c
index dd6e68b..71af8e5 100755
--- a/src/parse_options.c
+++ b/src/parse_options.c
@@ -291,6 +291,10 @@ void DecodeDirective(char *line, IOR_param_t *params, options_all_t * module_opt
         } else if (strcasecmp(option, "summaryalways") == 0) {
                 params->summary_every_test = atoi(value);
         } else {
+                // backward compatibility for now
+                if (strcasecmp(option, "useo_direct") == 0) {
+                  strcpy(option, "--posix.odirect");
+                }
                 int parsing_error = option_parse_key_value(option, value, module_options);
                 if(parsing_error){
                   if (rank == 0)
@@ -410,7 +414,7 @@ IOR_test_t *ReadConfigScript(char *scriptName)
                                 tail->next = CreateTest(&tail->params, test_num++);
                                 AllocResults(tail);
                                 ((IOR_test_t*) tail)->params.backend_options = airoi_update_module_options(((IOR_test_t*) tail)->params.backend, global_options);
-                              
+
                                 tail = tail->next;
                                 *option_p = createGlobalOptions(& ((IOR_test_t*) tail->next)->params);
                         }
diff --git a/testing/test_comments.ior b/testing/test_comments.ior
index bd2efa8..eaf7997 100644
--- a/testing/test_comments.ior
+++ b/testing/test_comments.ior
@@ -15,5 +15,7 @@ blockSize=100k
     # space-prefixed comment
 run
 --dummy.delay-create=1000
+useo_direct=0
+#--posix.odirect=0
 api=dummy
     ior stop