diff --git a/conf/type/__cron/man.text b/conf/type/__cron/man.text
index c4852b7f..47f47456 100644
--- a/conf/type/__cron/man.text
+++ b/conf/type/__cron/man.text
@@ -35,14 +35,25 @@ month::
    See crontab(5). Defaults to *
 day_of_week::
    See crontab(5). Defaults to *
+raw::
+   Take whatever the user has given instead of time and date fields.
+   If given, all other time and date fields are ignored.
+   Can for example be used to specify cron EXTENSIONS like reboot, yearly etc.
+   See crontab(5) for the extensions if any that your cron implementation
+   implements.
 
 
 EXAMPLES
 --------
 
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# add cronjob
-__cron some-id --user root --command "/path/to/script"
+# run Monday to Saturday at 23:15
+__cron some-id --user root --command "/path/to/script" \
+   --hour 23 --minute 15 --day_of_week 1-6
+
+# run on reboot
+__cron some-id --user root --command "/path/to/script" \
+   --raw @reboot
 
 # remove cronjob
 __cron some-id --user root --command "/path/to/script" --state absent
diff --git a/conf/type/__cron/manifest b/conf/type/__cron/manifest
index 01c4358c..7aca41ff 100755
--- a/conf/type/__cron/manifest
+++ b/conf/type/__cron/manifest
@@ -23,44 +23,23 @@ user="$(cat "$__object/parameter/user")"
 command="$(cat "$__object/parameter/command")"
 
 # set defaults
-if [ ! -f "$__object/parameter/state" ]; then
-   echo "present" > "$__object/parameter/state"
-fi
-if [ -f "$__object/parameter/minute" ]; then
-   minute="$(cat "$__object/parameter/minute")"
+test -f "$__object/parameter/state" || echo "present" > "$__object/parameter/state"
+
+if [ -f "$__object/parameter/raw" ]; then
+   raw="$(cat "$__object/parameter/raw")"
+   entry="$raw $command"
 else
-   minute="*"
-   echo "$minute" > "$__object/parameter/minute"
-fi
-if [ -f "$__object/parameter/hour" ]; then
-   hour="$(cat "$__object/parameter/hour")"
-else
-   hour="*"
-   echo "$hour" > "$__object/parameter/hour"
-fi
-if [ -f "$__object/parameter/day_of_month" ]; then
-   day_of_month="$(cat "$__object/parameter/day_of_month")"
-else
-   day_of_month="*"
-   echo "$day_of_month" > "$__object/parameter/day_of_month"
-fi
-if [ -f "$__object/parameter/month" ]; then
-   month="$(cat "$__object/parameter/month")"
-else
-   month="*"
-   echo "$month" > "$__object/parameter/month"
-fi
-if [ -f "$__object/parameter/day_of_week" ]; then
-   day_of_week="$(cat "$__object/parameter/day_of_week")"
-else
-   day_of_week="*"
-   echo "$day_of_week" > "$__object/parameter/day_of_week"
+   minute="$(cat "$__object/parameter/minute" 2>/dev/null || echo "*")"
+   hour="$(cat "$__object/parameter/hour" 2>/dev/null || echo "*")"
+   day_of_month="$(cat "$__object/parameter/day_of_month" 2>/dev/null || echo "*")"
+   month="$(cat "$__object/parameter/month" 2>/dev/null || echo "*")"
+   day_of_week="$(cat "$__object/parameter/day_of_week" 2>/dev/null || echo "*")"
+   entry="$minute $hour $day_of_month $month $day_of_week $command"
 fi
 
 # NOTE: if changed, also change in explorers
 prefix="#cdist:__cron/$name"
 suffix="#/cdist:__cron/$name"
 echo "$prefix" | tee "$__object/parameter/prefix" > "$__object/parameter/entry"
-echo "$minute $hour $day_of_month $month $day_of_week $command" >> "$__object/parameter/entry"
+echo "$entry" >> "$__object/parameter/entry"
 echo "$suffix" | tee "$__object/parameter/suffix" >> "$__object/parameter/entry"
-
diff --git a/conf/type/__cron/parameter/optional b/conf/type/__cron/parameter/optional
index 1a4aae3d..517d821e 100644
--- a/conf/type/__cron/parameter/optional
+++ b/conf/type/__cron/parameter/optional
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@ hour
 day_of_month
 month
 day_of_week
+raw