diff --git a/type/__dma/files/update_dma_conf.awk b/type/__dma/files/update_dma_conf.awk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..67661fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/type/__dma/files/update_dma_conf.awk
@@ -0,0 +1,170 @@
+#!/usr/bin/awk -f
+#
+# 2020 Dennis Camera (dennis.camera at ssrq-sds-fds.ch)
+#
+# 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/>.
+
+function comment_line(line) {
+	# returns the position in line at which the comment'\''s text starts
+	# (0 if the line is not a comment)
+	match(line, /^[ \t]*\#+[ \t]*/)
+	return RSTART ? (RLENGTH + 1) : 0
+}
+function empty_line(line) { return line ~ /^[ \t]*$/ }
+function is_word(s) { return s ~ /^[A-Z_]+$/ }  # "looks like a plausible word"
+
+function first(line, sep_re) {
+	# returns the part of the line until sep is found
+	# (or the whole line if sep is not found)
+	if (!sep_re) sep_re = "[" SUBSEP "]"
+	match(line, sep_re)
+	return RSTART ? substr(line, 1, RSTART - 1) : line
+}
+
+function rest(line, sep_re) {
+	# returns the part of the line after the first occurrence of sep is found.
+	# (or nothing if sep is not found)
+	if (!sep_re) sep_re = "[" SUBSEP "]"
+	if (match(line, sep_re))
+		return substr(line, RSTART + RLENGTH)
+}
+
+function conf_pop(word, value) {
+	# returns the next value for the config `word` and delete it from the list.
+	# if value is set, this function will only return value if it is the first
+	# option in the list, otherwise it returns 0.
+
+	if (!(word in conf)) return 0
+	if (!value) {
+		if (index(conf[word], SUBSEP))  # more than one element?
+			value = substr(conf[word], 1, index(conf[word], SUBSEP) - 1)
+		else
+			value = conf[word]
+	}
+
+	if (index(conf[word], SUBSEP)) {
+		if (index(conf[word], value SUBSEP) != 1) return 0
+		conf[word] = substr(conf[word], length(value) + 2)
+	} else {
+		if (conf[word] != value) return 0
+		delete conf[word]
+	}
+	return value
+}
+
+function print_conf(word, value) {
+	# print a config line with the given parameters
+	printf "%s", word
+	if (value) printf " %s", value
+	printf "\n"
+}
+
+function print_confs(word,    value) {
+	# print config lines for all values stored in conf[word].
+	if (!(word in conf)) return
+	if (conf[word]) {
+		while (value = conf_pop(word))
+			print_conf(word, value)
+	} else {
+		print_conf(word)
+		delete conf[word]
+	}
+}
+
+BEGIN {
+	FS = "\n"
+	EQS = "[ \t]"  # copied from dma/conf.c
+
+	# read the "should" state into the `conf` array.
+	while (getline < "/dev/stdin") {
+		word = first($0, EQS)
+		if ((word in conf))
+			conf[word] = conf[word] SUBSEP rest($0, EQS)
+		else
+			conf[word] = rest($0, EQS)
+	}
+}
+
+# first pass, gather information about where which information is stored in the
+# current config file. This information will be used in the second pass.
+NR == FNR {
+	if (comment_line($0)) {
+		# comment line
+		word = first(substr($0, comment_line($0)), " ")
+		if (is_word(word)) last_occ["#" word] = FNR
+	} else {
+		word = first($0, EQS)
+		if (is_word(word)) last_occ[word] = FNR
+	}
+}
+
+# before second pass prepare hashes containing location information to be used
+# in the second pass.
+NR > FNR && FNR == 1 {
+	# First we drop the locations of commented-out options if a non-commented
+	# option is available. If a non-commented option is available, we will
+	# append new config options there to have them all at one place.
+	for (k in last_occ)
+		if (k ~ /^\#/ && (substr(k, 2) in last_occ))
+			delete last_occ[k]
+
+	# Reverse the option => line mapping. The line_map allows for easier lookups
+	# in the second pass.
+	for (k in last_occ) line_map[last_occ[k]] = k
+}
+
+# second pass, generate and output new config
+NR > FNR {
+	if (comment_line($0) || empty_line($0)) {
+		# comment or empty line
+		print
+
+		if ((FNR in line_map)) {
+			if (line_map[FNR] ~ /^\#/) {
+				# This line contains a commented config option. If the conf hash
+				# contains options to be set, we output them here because this
+				# option is not used in the current config.
+				k = substr(line_map[FNR], 2)
+				if ((k in conf)) print_confs(k)
+			}
+
+			if (("INSECURE" in conf) && line_map[FNR] ~ /^\#?SECURE$/) {
+				# INSECURE goes where SECURE comment is.
+				print_confs("INSECURE")
+			}
+		}
+	} else {
+		word = first($0, EQS)
+		value = rest($0, EQS)
+		sub(/[ \t]*\#.*$/, "", value)  # ignore comments in value
+
+		if ((word in conf) && value == first(conf[word])) {
+			# keep config options we want
+			conf_pop(word)
+			print
+		}
+
+		if ((FNR in line_map) && line_map[FNR] == word) {
+			# rest of config options should be here
+			print_confs(word)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+END {
+	# print rest of config options (
+	for (word in conf) print_confs(word)
+}
diff --git a/type/__dma/gencode-remote b/type/__dma/gencode-remote
index a6aca0d..8177de9 100755
--- a/type/__dma/gencode-remote
+++ b/type/__dma/gencode-remote
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh -e
 
+drop_awk_comments() { sed '/^[[:blank:]]*#.*$/d;/^$/d' "$@"; }
+
 CONF_PATH=/etc/dma  # set in Makefile
 
 # Determine mailname
@@ -100,7 +102,7 @@ config_updated=false
 if ! echo "$conf_should" | cmp -s "${__object}/explorer/conf" -
 then
 	# config needs to be updated
-	echo "dma_conf='${CONF_PATH:?}/dma.conf'"
+	dma_conf="${CONF_PATH:?}/dma.conf"
 
 	# The following AWK script will output the new config file to be stored on
 	# disk. To do so it reads the current dma.conf file and the config options
@@ -119,164 +121,13 @@ then
 	#    options are grouped by word (the first word in the line) and appended
 	#    at the end of the file.
 
-	cat <<'EOF'
-awk -F '\n' '
-function comment_line(line) {
-	# returns the position in line at which the comment'\''s text starts
-	# (0 if the line is not a comment)
-	match(line, /^[ \t]*\#+[ \t]*/)
-	return RSTART ? (RLENGTH + 1) : 0
-}
-function empty_line(line) { return line ~ /^[ \t]*$/ }
-function is_word(s) { return s ~ /^[A-Z_]+$/ }  # "looks like a plausible word"
-
-function first(line, sep_re) {
-	# returns the part of the line until sep is found
-	# (or the whole line if sep is not found)
-	if (!sep_re) sep_re = "[" SUBSEP "]"
-	match(line, sep_re)
-	return RSTART ? substr(line, 1, RSTART - 1) : line
-}
-
-function rest(line, sep_re) {
-	# returns the part of the line after the first occurrence of sep is found.
-	# (or nothing if sep is not found)
-	if (!sep_re) sep_re = "[" SUBSEP "]"
-	if (match(line, sep_re))
-		return substr(line, RSTART + RLENGTH)
-}
-
-function conf_pop(word, value) {
-	# returns the next value for the config `word` and delete it from the list.
-	# if value is set, this function will only return value if it is the first
-	# option in the list, otherwise it returns 0.
-
-	if (!(word in conf)) return 0
-	if (!value) {
-		if (index(conf[word], SUBSEP))  # more than one element?
-			value = substr(conf[word], 1, index(conf[word], SUBSEP) - 1)
-		else
-			value = conf[word]
-	}
-
-	if (index(conf[word], SUBSEP)) {
-		if (index(conf[word], value SUBSEP) != 1) return 0
-		conf[word] = substr(conf[word], length(value) + 2)
-	} else {
-		if (conf[word] != value) return 0
-		delete conf[word]
-	}
-	return value
-}
-
-function print_conf(word, value) {
-	# print a config line with the given parameters
-	printf "%s", word
-	if (value) printf " %s", value
-	printf "\n"
-}
-
-function print_confs(word,    value) {
-	# print config lines for all values stored in conf[word].
-	if (!(word in conf)) return
-	if (conf[word]) {
-		while (value = conf_pop(word))
-			print_conf(word, value)
-	} else {
-		print_conf(word)
-		delete conf[word]
-	}
-}
-
-BEGIN {
-	EQS = "[ \t]"  # copied from dma/conf.c
-
-	# read the "should" state into the `conf` array.
-	while (getline < "/dev/stdin") {
-		word = first($0, EQS)
-		if ((word in conf))
-			conf[word] = conf[word] SUBSEP rest($0, EQS)
-		else
-			conf[word] = rest($0, EQS)
-	}
-}
-
-# first pass, gather information about where which information is stored in the
-# current config file. This information will be used in the second pass.
-NR == FNR {
-	if (comment_line($0)) {
-		# comment line
-		word = first(substr($0, comment_line($0)), " ")
-		if (is_word(word)) last_occ["#" word] = FNR
-	} else {
-		word = first($0, EQS)
-		if (is_word(word)) last_occ[word] = FNR
-	}
-}
-
-# before second pass prepare hashes containing location information to be used
-# in the second pass.
-NR > FNR && FNR == 1 {
-	# First we drop the locations of commented-out options if a non-commented
-	# option is available. If a non-commented option is available, we will
-	# append new config options there to have them all at one place.
-	for (k in last_occ)
-		if (k ~ /^\#/ && (substr(k, 2) in last_occ))
-			delete last_occ[k]
-
-	# Reverse the option => line mapping. The line_map allows for easier lookups
-	# in the second pass.
-	for (k in last_occ) line_map[last_occ[k]] = k
-}
-
-# second pass, generate and output new config
-NR > FNR {
-	if (comment_line($0) || empty_line($0)) {
-		# comment or empty line
-		print
-
-		if ((FNR in line_map)) {
-			if (line_map[FNR] ~ /^\#/) {
-				# This line contains a commented config option. If the conf hash
-				# contains options to be set, we output them here because this
-				# option is not used in the current config.
-				k = substr(line_map[FNR], 2)
-				if ((k in conf)) print_confs(k)
-			}
-
-			if (("INSECURE" in conf) && line_map[FNR] ~ /^\#?SECURE$/) {
-				# INSECURE goes where SECURE comment is.
-				print_confs("INSECURE")
-			}
-		}
-	} else {
-		word = first($0, EQS)
-		value = rest($0, EQS)
-		sub(/[ \t]*\#.*$/, "", value)  # ignore comments in value
-
-		if ((word in conf) && value == first(conf[word])) {
-			# keep config options we want
-			conf_pop(word)
-			print
-		}
-
-		if ((FNR in line_map) && line_map[FNR] == word) {
-			# rest of config options should be here
-			print_confs(word)
-		}
-	}
-}
-
-END {
-	# print rest of config options (
-	for (word in conf) print_confs(word)
-}
-' "${dma_conf}" "${dma_conf}" <<'EOF' >"${dma_conf}.tmp" \
- && mv "${dma_conf}.tmp" "${dma_conf}"
+	cat <<CODE
+awk '$(drop_awk_comments "${__type}/files/update_dma_conf.awk")' '${dma_conf}' '${dma_conf}' <<'EOF' >'${dma_conf}.tmp' \
+&& cat '${dma_conf}.tmp' >'${dma_conf}'
+${conf_should}
 EOF
-	# Pass in "conf_should" via stdin
-	echo "${conf_should}"
-	echo 'EOF'
+rm '${dma_conf}.tmp'
+CODE
 
 	config_updated=true
 	echo 'config updated' >>"${__messages_out}"