diff --git a/examples/pdf-job.cc b/examples/pdf-job.cc
index 238f44c0..41ee8603 100644
--- a/examples/pdf-job.cc
+++ b/examples/pdf-job.cc
@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
             ->pages()
             ->pageSpec(".", "1-z")
             ->endPages()
-            ->qdf();
+            ->qdf()
+            ->checkConfiguration();
         j.run();
     }
     catch (std::exception& e)
diff --git a/include/qpdf/QPDFJob.hh b/include/qpdf/QPDFJob.hh
index e56626a7..5178c4c1 100644
--- a/include/qpdf/QPDFJob.hh
+++ b/include/qpdf/QPDFJob.hh
@@ -90,8 +90,9 @@ class QPDFJob
     // Check to make sure no contradictory options have been
     // specified. This is called automatically after initializing from
     // argv or json and is also called by run, but you can call it
-    // manually as well. It throws a Usage exception if there are any
-    // errors.
+    // manually as well. It throws a QPDFUsage exception if there are
+    // any errors. This Config object (see CONFIGURATION) also has a
+    // checkConfiguration method which calls this one.
     QPDF_DLL
     void checkConfiguration();
 
@@ -272,6 +273,10 @@ class QPDFJob
     {
         friend class QPDFJob;
       public:
+        // Proxy to QPDFJob::checkConfiguration()
+        QPDF_DLL
+        void checkConfiguration();
+
         QPDF_DLL
         Config* inputFile(char const* filename);
         QPDF_DLL
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFJob_argv.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFJob_argv.cc
index 619c5a58..73d1ec21 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFJob_argv.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFJob_argv.cc
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ ArgParser::initOptionTables()
 {
 
 #   include <qpdf/auto_job_init.hh>
+    this->ap.addFinalCheck([this](){c_main->checkConfiguration();});
     // add_help is defined in auto_job_help.hh
     add_help(this->ap);
 }
@@ -496,7 +497,5 @@ QPDFJob::initializeFromArgv(int argc, char* argv[], char const* progname_env)
     QPDFArgParser qap(argc, argv, progname_env);
     setMessagePrefix(qap.getProgname());
     ArgParser ap(qap, config());
-    qap.addFinalCheck(
-        QPDFArgParser::bindBare(&QPDFJob::checkConfiguration, this));
     ap.parseOptions();
 }
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFJob_config.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFJob_config.cc
index 53032cea..81d7d09b 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFJob_config.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFJob_config.cc
@@ -3,6 +3,12 @@
 #include <qpdf/QTC.hh>
 #include <cstring>
 
+void
+QPDFJob::Config::checkConfiguration()
+{
+    o.checkConfiguration();
+}
+
 QPDFJob::Config*
 QPDFJob::Config::inputFile(char const* filename)
 {
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFJob_json.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFJob_json.cc
index 2d6b265e..ddd63dcd 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFJob_json.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFJob_json.cc
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ namespace
     class Handlers
     {
       public:
-        Handlers(JSONHandler& jh, std::shared_ptr<QPDFJob::Config> c_main);
+        Handlers(std::shared_ptr<QPDFJob::Config> c_main);
         void handle(JSON&);
 
       private:
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ namespace
         void usage(std::string const& message);
         void initHandlers();
 
-        JSONHandler& jh;
+        JSONHandler jh;
         std::shared_ptr<QPDFJob::Config> c_main;
         std::shared_ptr<QPDFJob::CopyAttConfig> c_copy_att;
         std::shared_ptr<QPDFJob::AttConfig> c_att;
@@ -31,8 +31,7 @@ namespace
     };
 }
 
-Handlers::Handlers(JSONHandler& jh, std::shared_ptr<QPDFJob::Config> c_main) :
-    jh(jh),
+Handlers::Handlers(std::shared_ptr<QPDFJob::Config> c_main) :
     c_main(c_main)
 {
     initHandlers();
@@ -44,7 +43,7 @@ Handlers::initHandlers()
 //#       include <qpdf/auto_job_json_init.hh>
     jh.addDictHandlers(
         [](std::string const&){},
-        [](std::string const&){});
+        [this](std::string const&){c_main->checkConfiguration();});
 
     auto input = std::make_shared<JSONHandler>();
     auto input_file = std::make_shared<JSONHandler>();
@@ -118,7 +117,5 @@ QPDFJob::initializeFromJson(std::string const& json)
         throw std::runtime_error(msg.str());
     }
 
-    JSONHandler jh;
-    Handlers h(jh, config());
-    h.handle(j);
+    Handlers(config()).handle(j);
 }