diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__file/explorer/exists b/cdist/conf/type/__file/explorer/exists
deleted file mode 100755
index c319cb5d..00000000
--- a/cdist/conf/type/__file/explorer/exists
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-#
-# 2011-2012 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 yes
-else
-    echo no
-fi
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__file/explorer/stat b/cdist/conf/type/__file/explorer/stat
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..40a00aba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__file/explorer/stat
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+#!/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 "$os" in
+   "freebsd")
+      # FIXME: should be something like this based on man page, but can not test
+      stat -f "type: %ST
+owner: %Du %Su
+group: %Dg %Sg
+mode: %Op %Sp
+size: %Dz
+links: %Dl
+" "$destination"
+   ;;
+   *)
+      stat --printf="type: %F
+owner: %u %U
+group: %g %G
+mode: %a %A
+size: %s
+links: %h
+" "$destination"
+   ;;
+esac
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__file/explorer/type b/cdist/conf/type/__file/explorer/type
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..6e6a2956
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__file/explorer/type
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# 2013 Steven Armstrong (steven-cdist armstrong.cc)
+
+destination="/$__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/__file/gencode-local b/cdist/conf/type/__file/gencode-local
index 087011c4..80a2bc20 100755
--- a/cdist/conf/type/__file/gencode-local
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__file/gencode-local
@@ -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.
 #
@@ -17,34 +18,46 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with cdist. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 #
-#
-# __file is a very basic type, which will probably be reused quite often
-#
 
 destination="/$__object_id"
-state_should=present
-[ -f "$__object/parameter/state" ] && state_should="$(cat "$__object/parameter/state")"
-exists="$(cat "$__object/explorer/exists")"
+state_should="$(cat "$__object/parameter/state")"
+type="$(cat "$__object/explorer/type")"
 
-[ "$state_should" = "exists" -a "$exists" = "yes" ] && exit 0 # nothing to do
+[ "$state_should" = "exists" -a "$type" = "file" ] && exit 0 # nothing to do
 
+upload_file=
+create_file=
 if [ "$state_should" = "present" -o "$state_should" = "exists" ]; then
-   if [ -f "$__object/parameter/source" ]; then
+   if [ ! -f "$__object/parameter/source" ]; then
+      create_file=1
+   else
       source="$(cat "$__object/parameter/source")"
       if [ "$source" = "-" ]; then
          source="$__object/stdin"
       fi
-
-      if [ -f "$source" ]; then
-         local_cksum="$(cksum < "$source")"
-         remote_cksum="$(cat "$__object/explorer/cksum")"
-
-         if [ "$local_cksum" != "$remote_cksum" ]; then
-            echo "$__remote_copy" "$source" "${__target_host}:${destination}"
-         fi
-      else
+      if [ ! -f "$source" ]; then
          echo "Source \"$source\" does not exist." >&2
          exit 1
+      else
+         if [ "$type" != "file" ]; then
+            # destination is not a regular file, upload source to replace it
+            upload_file=1
+         else
+            local_cksum="$(cksum < "$source")"
+            remote_cksum="$(cat "$__object/explorer/cksum")"
+            if [ "$local_cksum" != "$remote_cksum" ]; then
+               # destination is a regular file, but not the right one
+               upload_file=1
+            fi
+         fi
+      fi
+   fi
+   if [ "$create_file" -o "$upload_file" ]; then
+      mkdir "$__object/files"
+      tempfile_template="${destination}.cdist.XXXXXXXXXX"
+      echo "$__remote_exec ${__target_host} \"mktemp $tempfile_template\" > \"$__object/files/destination_upload\""
+      if [ "$upload_file" ]; then
+         echo "$__remote_copy $source ${__target_host}:\$(cat \"$__object/files/destination_upload\")"
       fi
    fi
 fi
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__file/gencode-remote b/cdist/conf/type/__file/gencode-remote
index 8b03e919..b0f7757f 100755
--- a/cdist/conf/type/__file/gencode-remote
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__file/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.
 #
@@ -17,52 +18,86 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with cdist. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 #
-#
-# __file is a very basic type, which will probably be reused quite often
-#
 
 destination="/$__object_id"
-state_should=present
-[ -f "$__object/parameter/state" ] && state_should="$(cat "$__object/parameter/state")"
-exists="$(cat "$__object/explorer/exists")"
+state_should="$(cat "$__object/parameter/state")"
+type="$(cat "$__object/explorer/type")"
+stat_file="$__object/explorer/stat"
 
+
+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 \"$1\" \"$destination\"
+}
+
+set_owner() {
+   echo chown \"$1\" \"$destination\"
+}
+
+set_mode() {
+   echo chmod \"$1\" \"$destination\"
+}
+
+set_attributes=
 case "$state_should" in
    present|exists)
-      # No source? Create empty file
-      if [ ! -f "$__object/parameter/source" ]; then
-         if [ "$exists" = "no" ]; then
-            echo touch \"$destination\"
+      if [ -f "$__object/files/destination_upload" ]; then
+         # we uploaded a file, move it into place and set all attributes
+         destination_upload="$(cat "$__object/files/destination_upload")"
+         set_attributes=1
+         if [ "$type" = "directory" ]; then
+            # our destination is currently a directory, move it out of the way,
+            # then delete it after moving our upload into place
+            cat << DONE
+destination_old="\$(mktemp "${destination}.cdist.XXXXXXXXXX")"
+mv "$destination" "$destination_old"
+mv "$destination_upload" "$destination"
+rm -rf "$destination_old"
+DONE
+         else
+            # move our upload into place
+            echo "mv \"$destination_upload\" \"$destination\""
          fi
       fi
 
-      # Group
-      if [ -f "$__object/parameter/group" ]; then
-         echo chgrp \"$(cat "$__object/parameter/group")\" \"$destination\"
-      fi
-
-      # Owner
-      if [ -f "$__object/parameter/owner" ]; then
-         echo chown \"$(cat "$__object/parameter/owner")\" \"$destination\"
-      fi
-
-      # Mode - needs to happen last as a chown/chgrp can alter mode by
-      # clearing S_ISUID and S_ISGID bits (see chown(2))
-      if [ -f "$__object/parameter/mode" ]; then
-         echo chmod \"$(cat "$__object/parameter/mode")\" \"$destination\"
-      fi
+      # 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 [ "$exists" = "yes" ]; then
+      # FIXME: only delete if it's a file? or no matter what?
+      if [ "$type" = "file" ]; then
          echo rm -f \"$destination\"
       fi
-
    ;;
 
    *)
       echo "Unknown state: $state_should" >&2
       exit 1
    ;;
-
 esac
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__file/man.text b/cdist/conf/type/__file/man.text
index 1c61fd51..7cbde0ce 100644
--- a/cdist/conf/type/__file/man.text
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__file/man.text
@@ -13,6 +13,15 @@ DESCRIPTION
 This cdist type allows you to create files, remove files and set file
 attributes on the target.
 
+If the file already exists on the target, then if it is a:
+- regular file, and state is:
+   present: replace it with the source file if they are not equal
+   exists: do nothing
+- symlink: replace it with the source file
+- directory: replace it with the source file
+
+In any case, make sure that the file attributes are as specified.
+
 
 REQUIRED PARAMETERS
 -------------------
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__file/parameter/default/state b/cdist/conf/type/__file/parameter/default/state
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e7f6134f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__file/parameter/default/state
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+present