1 files changed, 2 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/src/luarocks/cmd/config.lua b/src/luarocks/cmd/config.lua
index 6d3543b5..bdabe960 100644
--- a/src/luarocks/cmd/config.lua
+++ b/src/luarocks/cmd/config.lua
@@ -233,7 +233,8 @@ local function get_scope(args)
           or (args["local"] and "user")
           or (args.project_tree and "project")
           or (cfg.local_by_default and "user")
-          or "system"
+          or (fs.is_writable(cfg.config_files["system"].file and "system"))
+          or "user"
 end
 
 --- Driver function for "config" command.