diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__user_groups/explorer/oldusermod b/cdist/conf/type/__user_groups/explorer/oldusermod
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6ef25b13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__user_groups/explorer/oldusermod
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# 2015 Heule Daniel (hda at sfs.biz)
+#
+# This file is part of cdist.
+#
+# cdist is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# cdist is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with cdist. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+
+usermod --help | grep -q -- '-A group' && echo true || echo false
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__user_groups/gencode-remote b/cdist/conf/type/__user_groups/gencode-remote
index 9f11dd16..65404bfc 100755
--- a/cdist/conf/type/__user_groups/gencode-remote
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__user_groups/gencode-remote
@@ -20,6 +20,15 @@
 
 user="$(cat "$__object/parameter/user" 2>/dev/null || echo "$__object_id")"
 state_should="$(cat "$__object/parameter/state")"
+oldusermod="$(cat "$__object/explorer/oldusermod")"
+
+if [ "$oldusermod" = "true" ]; then
+        addparam="-A"
+        delparam="-R"
+else
+        addparam="-a"
+        delparam="-d"
+fi
 
 mkdir "$__object/files"
 # file has to be sorted for comparison with `comm`
@@ -28,11 +37,11 @@ sort "$__object/parameter/group" > "$__object/files/group.sorted"
 case "$state_should" in
    present)
       changed_groups="$(comm -13 "$__object/explorer/group" "$__object/files/group.sorted")"
-      action="-a"
+      action="$addparam"
    ;;
    absent)
       changed_groups="$(comm -12 "$__object/explorer/group" "$__object/files/group.sorted")"
-      action="-d"
+      action="$delparam"
    ;;
 esac
 
@@ -42,5 +51,9 @@ if [ -z "$changed_groups" ]; then
 fi
 
 for group in $changed_groups; do
-   echo "gpasswd $action \"$user\" \"$group\""
+   if [ "$oldusermod" = "true" ]; then
+     echo "usermod $action \"$group\" \"$user\""
+   else
+     echo "gpasswd $action \"$user\" \"$group\""
+   fi
 done