diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 4215e1b6..9d583c63 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ Collate:
     'driver-sqlite.R'
     'driver-teradata.R'
     'driver-vertica.R'
+    'odbc-config.R'
     'odbc-data-sources.R'
     'odbc-data-type.R'
     'odbc-drivers.R'
diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 71f9bf31..caece594 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ export(odbcConnectionColumns)
 export(odbcConnectionIcon)
 export(odbcDataType)
 export(odbcListColumns)
+export(odbcListConfig)
 export(odbcListDataSources)
 export(odbcListDrivers)
 export(odbcListObjectTypes)
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 580134c2..c0695c9d 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
 # odbc (development version)
 
+* Added a function `odbcListConfig()` to help locate configuration files on
+  macOS and Linux (@simonpcouch, #565).
+
 * Use correct parent class for Oracle (#685).
 
+
 # odbc 1.4.0
 
 ## Major changes
diff --git a/R/odbc-config.R b/R/odbc-config.R
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..08d46303
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R/odbc-config.R
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+#' List locations of ODBC configuration files
+#'
+#' @description
+#' On MacOS and Linux, odbc uses the unixODBC driver manager to manage
+#' information about driver and data sources. This helper returns the filepaths
+#' where the driver manager will look for that information.
+#'
+#' This function is a wrapper around the command line call `odbcinst -j`.
+#'
+#' Windows does not use `.ini` configuration files; this function will return a
+#' 0-length vector on Windows.
+#'
+#' @seealso
+#' The [odbcListDrivers()] and [odbcListDataSources()] helpers return
+#' information on the contents of `odbcinst.ini` and `odbc.ini` files,
+#' respectively.
+#'
+#' Learn more about unixODBC and the `odbcinst` utility
+#' [here](https://www.unixodbc.org/odbcinst.html).
+#'
+#' @examplesIf FALSE
+#' configs <- odbcListConfig()
+#'
+#' file.edit(configs[1])
+#' @export
+odbcListConfig <- function() {
+  if (is_windows()) {
+    return(character(0))
+  }
+
+  if (!has_odbc()) {
+    abort(
+      c("The unixODBC driver manager is not available. ",
+        "Please install and try again.")
+    )
+  }
+
+  res <- system("odbcinst -j", intern = TRUE)
+  res <- res[grepl("\\.ini", res)]
+  res <- strsplit(res, "\\:")
+
+  if (!identical(vapply(res, length, numeric(1)), c(2, 2, 2))) {
+    abort("Failed to parse output from odbcinst.", .internal = TRUE)
+  }
+
+  res <- vapply(res, `[[`, character(1), 2)
+  res <- trimws(res)
+  names(res) <- c("drivers", "system_dsn", "user_dsn")
+
+  res
+}
+
+system <- NULL
+
+has_odbc <- function() {
+  !identical(unname(Sys.which("odbcinst")), "")
+}
diff --git a/R/utils.R b/R/utils.R
index 4ca2b1a6..e4a192cb 100644
--- a/R/utils.R
+++ b/R/utils.R
@@ -112,3 +112,7 @@ escapePattern <- function(x, charsToEsc = c("_"), escChar = "\\\\") {
   x <- gsub(pattern, replace, x)
   I(x)
 }
+
+is_windows <- function() {
+  identical(.Platform$OS.type, "windows")
+}
diff --git a/R/zzz.R b/R/zzz.R
index fd5f30c9..655482d9 100644
--- a/R/zzz.R
+++ b/R/zzz.R
@@ -5,11 +5,9 @@
 }
 
 .onLoad <- function(libname, pkgname) {
-  is_windows <- identical(.Platform$OS.type, "windows")
-
   # If TZDIR is not set we need to set it to R's timezone database on windows,
   # we can use the standard timezone database elsewhere.
-  if (is_windows) {
+  if (is_windows()) {
     if (!nzchar(Sys.getenv("TZDIR"))) Sys.setenv("TZDIR" = file.path(R.home(), "share", "zoneinfo"))
   }
 }
diff --git a/inst/diagrams.key b/inst/diagrams.key
index 0c06c495..b9e89bee 100644
Binary files a/inst/diagrams.key and b/inst/diagrams.key differ
diff --git a/man/figures/r-interface.png b/man/figures/r-interface.png
index b6401058..367e7c8e 100644
Binary files a/man/figures/r-interface.png and b/man/figures/r-interface.png differ
diff --git a/man/odbcListConfig.Rd b/man/odbcListConfig.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..eba7f949
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/odbcListConfig.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/odbc-config.R
+\name{odbcListConfig}
+\alias{odbcListConfig}
+\title{List locations of ODBC configuration files}
+\usage{
+odbcListConfig()
+}
+\description{
+On MacOS and Linux, odbc uses the unixODBC driver manager to manage
+information about driver and data sources. This helper returns the filepaths
+where the driver manager will look for that information.
+
+This function is a wrapper around the command line call \code{odbcinst -j}.
+
+Windows does not use \code{.ini} configuration files; this function will return a
+0-length vector on Windows.
+}
+\examples{
+\dontshow{if (FALSE) (if (getRversion() >= "3.4") withAutoprint else force)(\{ # examplesIf}
+configs <- odbcListConfig()
+
+file.edit(configs[1])
+\dontshow{\}) # examplesIf}
+}
+\seealso{
+The \code{\link[=odbcListDrivers]{odbcListDrivers()}} and \code{\link[=odbcListDataSources]{odbcListDataSources()}} helpers return
+information on the contents of \code{odbcinst.ini} and \code{odbc.ini} files,
+respectively.
+
+Learn more about unixODBC and the \code{odbcinst} utility
+\href{https://www.unixodbc.org/odbcinst.html}{here}.
+}
diff --git a/tests/testthat/_snaps/SQLServer.md b/tests/testthat/_snaps/SQLServer.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 5a232d17..00000000
--- a/tests/testthat/_snaps/SQLServer.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-# Create / write to temp table
-
-    Temporary flag is set to true, but table name doesn't use # prefix
-
----
-
-    Temporary flag is set to true, but table name doesn't use # prefix
-
diff --git a/tests/testthat/_snaps/show.md b/tests/testthat/_snaps/dbi-connection.md
similarity index 100%
rename from tests/testthat/_snaps/show.md
rename to tests/testthat/_snaps/dbi-connection.md
diff --git a/tests/testthat/_snaps/odbc-config.md b/tests/testthat/_snaps/odbc-config.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..68a990e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/_snaps/odbc-config.md
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# odbcListConfig errors informatively without unixODBC
+
+    Code
+      odbcListConfig()
+    Condition
+      Error in `odbcListConfig()`:
+      ! The unixODBC driver manager is not available. 
+      * Please install and try again.
+
+# odbcListConfig errors informatively with unexpected odbcinst output
+
+    Code
+      odbcListConfig()
+    Condition
+      Error in `odbcListConfig()`:
+      ! Failed to parse output from odbcinst.
+      i This is an internal error that was detected in the odbc package.
+        Please report it at <https://github.com/r-dbi/odbc/issues> with a reprex (<https://tidyverse.org/help/>) and the full backtrace.
+
+---
+
+    Code
+      odbcListConfig()
+    Condition
+      Error in `odbcListConfig()`:
+      ! Failed to parse output from odbcinst.
+      i This is an internal error that was detected in the odbc package.
+        Please report it at <https://github.com/r-dbi/odbc/issues> with a reprex (<https://tidyverse.org/help/>) and the full backtrace.
+
diff --git a/tests/testthat/_snaps/Connection.md b/tests/testthat/_snaps/odbc-connection.md
similarity index 100%
rename from tests/testthat/_snaps/Connection.md
rename to tests/testthat/_snaps/odbc-connection.md
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-odbc-config.R b/tests/testthat/test-odbc-config.R
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0617fcee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-odbc-config.R
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+test_that("odbcListConfig returns appropriate result", {
+  skip_on_os(c("windows", "solaris"))
+  skip_if(!has_odbc(), "odbcinst not available.")
+
+  res <- odbcListConfig()
+
+  expect_type(res, "character")
+  expect_length(res, 3)
+  expect_named(res, c("drivers", "system_dsn", "user_dsn"))
+  expect_match(res, "\\.ini")
+})
+
+test_that("odbcListConfig returns an empty vector on Windows", {
+  local_mocked_bindings(is_windows = function() {TRUE})
+
+  res <- odbcListConfig()
+
+  expect_equal(res, character(0))
+})
+
+test_that("odbcListConfig errors informatively without unixODBC", {
+  local_mocked_bindings(is_windows = function() {FALSE},
+                        has_odbc = function() {FALSE})
+
+  expect_snapshot(error = TRUE, odbcListConfig())
+})
+
+test_that("odbcListConfig errors informatively with unexpected odbcinst output", {
+  local_mocked_bindings(is_windows = function() {FALSE},
+                        has_odbc = function() {TRUE})
+
+  local_mocked_bindings(system = function(...) {c("beep", "bop")})
+  expect_snapshot(error = TRUE, odbcListConfig())
+
+  local_mocked_bindings(system = function(...) {""})
+  expect_snapshot(error = TRUE, odbcListConfig())
+})