diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__directory/explorer/group b/cdist/conf/type/__directory/explorer/group
deleted file mode 100644
index e5be37da..00000000
--- a/cdist/conf/type/__directory/explorer/group
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,39 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-#
-# 2011 Nico Schottelius (nico-cdist at schottelius.org)
-#
-# 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/>.
-#
-#
-# Check whether file exists or not
-#
-
-destination="/$__object_id"
-os=$("$__explorer/os")
-
-case "$os" in
-   "freebsd")
-      cmd="stat -f %Sg"
-      ;;
-   *)
-      cmd="stat -c %G"
-      ;;
-esac
-
-if [ -e "$destination" ]; then
-  $cmd "$destination"
-fi
-
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__directory/explorer/mode b/cdist/conf/type/__directory/explorer/mode
deleted file mode 100644
index f75b282b..00000000
--- a/cdist/conf/type/__directory/explorer/mode
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,39 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-#
-# 2011 Nico Schottelius (nico-cdist at schottelius.org)
-#
-# 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/>.
-#
-#
-# Check whether file exists or not
-#
-
-destination="/$__object_id"
-os=$("$__explorer/os")
-
-case "$os" in
-   "freebsd")
-      cmd="stat -f %Op"
-      ;;
-   *)
-      cmd="stat -c %a"
-      ;;
-esac
-
-if [ -e "$destination" ]; then
-  $cmd "$destination"
-fi
-
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__directory/explorer/owner b/cdist/conf/type/__directory/explorer/owner
deleted file mode 100644
index cebd199b..00000000
--- a/cdist/conf/type/__directory/explorer/owner
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,39 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-#
-# 2011 Nico Schottelius (nico-cdist at schottelius.org)
-#
-# 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/>.
-#
-#
-# Check whether file exists or not
-#
-
-destination="/$__object_id"
-os=$("$__explorer/os")
-
-case "$os" in
-   "freebsd")
-      cmd="stat -f %Su"
-      ;;  
-   *)  
-      cmd="stat -c %U"
-      ;;  
-esac
-
-if [ -e "$destination" ]; then
-  $cmd "$destination"
-fi
-
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__directory/explorer/stat b/cdist/conf/type/__directory/explorer/stat
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..2bd5d1c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__directory/explorer/stat
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# 2013 Steven Armstrong (steven-cdist armstrong.cc)
+
+destination="/$__object_id"
+
+# nothing to work with, nothing we could do
+[ -e "$destination" ] || exit 0
+
+os=$("$__explorer/os")
+case "$os" in
+   "freebsd")
+      # FIXME: should be something like this based on man page, but can not test
+      stat -f "type: %ST
+owner: %Du %Su
+group: %Dg %Sg
+mode: %Op %Sp
+" "$destination"
+   ;;
+   *)
+      stat --printf="type: %F
+owner: %u %U
+group: %g %G
+mode: %a %A
+" "$destination"
+   ;;
+esac
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__directory/explorer/state b/cdist/conf/type/__directory/explorer/state
deleted file mode 100755
index 9bdd9024..00000000
--- a/cdist/conf/type/__directory/explorer/state
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-#
-# 2011 Nico Schottelius (nico-cdist at schottelius.org)
-#
-# This file is part of cdist.
-#
-# cdist is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
-# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
-# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
-# (at your option) any later version.
-#
-# cdist is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
-# GNU General Public License for more details.
-#
-# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
-# along with cdist. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-#
-#
-# Check whether file exists or not
-#
-
-destination="/$__object_id"
-
-if [ -e "$destination" ]; then
-   echo present
-else
-   echo absent
-fi
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__directory/explorer/type b/cdist/conf/type/__directory/explorer/type
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..6e6a2956
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__directory/explorer/type
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# 2013 Steven Armstrong (steven-cdist armstrong.cc)
+
+destination="/$__object_id"
+
+if [ ! -e "$destination" ]; then
+   echo none
+elif [ -h "$destination" ]; then
+   echo symlink
+elif [ -f "$destination" ]; then
+   echo file
+elif [ -d "$destination" ]; then
+   echo directory
+else
+   echo unknown
+fi
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__directory/gencode-remote b/cdist/conf/type/__directory/gencode-remote
index f46a5967..ebe07318 100755
--- a/cdist/conf/type/__directory/gencode-remote
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__directory/gencode-remote
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 #
 # 2011-2012 Nico Schottelius (nico-cdist at schottelius.org)
+# 2013 Steven Armstrong (steven-cdist armstrong.cc)
 #
 # This file is part of cdist.
 #
@@ -19,53 +20,84 @@
 #
 
 destination="/$__object_id"
+state_should="$(cat "$__object/parameter/state")"
+type="$(cat "$__object/explorer/type")"
+stat_file="$__object/explorer/stat"
 
-state_is="$(cat "$__object/explorer/state")"
-owner_is="$(cat "$__object/explorer/owner")"
-group_is="$(cat "$__object/explorer/group")"
-mode_is="$(cat "$__object/explorer/mode")"
+# variable to keep track if we have to set directory attributes
+set_attributes=
 
-state_should="present"
-[ -f "$__object/parameter/state" ]     && state_should="$(cat "$__object/parameter/state")"
-mode=""
-[ -f "$__object/parameter/mode" ]      && mode="$(cat "$__object/parameter/mode")"
-owner=""
-[ -f "$__object/parameter/owner" ]     && owner="$(cat "$__object/parameter/owner")"
-group=""
-[ -f "$__object/parameter/group" ]     && group="$(cat "$__object/parameter/group")"
 mkdiropt=""
-[ -f "$__object/parameter/parents" ]   && mkdiropt="-p"
+[ -f "$__object/parameter/parents" ] && mkdiropt="-p"
+
 recursive=""
-[ -f "$__object/parameter/recursive" ] && recursive="-R"
+if [ -f "$__object/parameter/recursive" ]; then
+   recursive="-R"
+   # need to allways set attributes when recursive is given
+   # as we don't want to check all subfolders/files
+   set_attributes=1
+fi
+
+get_current_value() {
+   if [ -s "$stat_file" ]; then
+      _name="$1"
+      _value="$2"
+      case "$_value" in
+         [0-9]*)
+            _index=2
+         ;;
+         *)
+            _index=3
+         ;;
+      esac
+      awk '/'"$_name"':/ { print $'$_index' }' "$stat_file"
+      unset _name _value _index
+   fi
+}
+
+set_group() {
+   echo chgrp $recursive \"$1\" \"$destination\"
+}
+
+set_owner() {
+   echo chown $recursive \"$1\" \"$destination\"
+}
+
+set_mode() {
+   echo chmod $recursive \"$1\" \"$destination\"
+}
 
 case "$state_should" in
-    present)
-        if [ "$state_is" != "present" ]; then
-            echo mkdir $mkdiropt \"$destination\"
-        fi
+   present)
+      if [ "$type" != "directory" ];
+         # our destination is not a directory, remove whatever is there
+         # and then create our directory and set all attributes
+         set_attributes=1
+         cat << DONE
+rm -f "$destination"
+mkdir "$mkdiropt" "$destination"
+DONE
+      fi
 
-        # Mode settings
-        if [ "$mode" ] && [ "$mode_is" != "$mode" -o -n "$recursive" ]; then
-            echo chmod $recursive \"$mode\" \"$destination\"
-        fi
-
-        # Group
-        if [ "$group" ] && [ "$group_is" != "$group" -o -n "$recursive" ]; then
-            echo chgrp $recursive \"$group\" \"$destination\"
-        fi
-
-        # Owner
-        if [ "$owner" ] && [ "$owner_is" != "$owner" -o -n "$recursive" ]; then
-            echo chown $recursive \"$owner\" \"$destination\"
-        fi
-    ;;
-    absent)
-        if [ "$state_is" != "absent" ]; then
-          echo rm -rf \"$destination\"
-        fi
-    ;;
-    *)
-        echo "Unknown state: $state_should" >&2
-        exit 1
-    ;;
+      # Note: Mode - needs to happen last as a chown/chgrp can alter mode by
+      # clearing S_ISUID and S_ISGID bits (see chown(2))
+      for attribute in group owner mode; do
+         if [ -f "$__object/parameter/$attribute" ]; then
+            value_should="$(cat "$__object/parameter/$attribute")"
+            value_is="$(get_current_value "$attribute" "$value_should")"
+            if [ "$set_attributes" -o "$value_should" != "$value_is" ]; then
+               "set_$attribute" "$value_should"
+            fi
+         fi
+      done
+   ;;
+   absent)
+      if [ "$type" = "directory" ]; then
+         echo rm -rf \"$destination\"
+      fi
+   ;;
+   *)
+      echo "Unknown state: $state_should" >&2
+      exit 1
+   ;;
 esac
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__directory/parameter/default/state b/cdist/conf/type/__directory/parameter/default/state
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e7f6134f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__directory/parameter/default/state
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+present