diff --git a/cdist/conf/explorer/os_version b/cdist/conf/explorer/os_version
index a7b1d3bc..3b02dedd 100755
--- a/cdist/conf/explorer/os_version
+++ b/cdist/conf/explorer/os_version
@@ -70,6 +70,11 @@ case "$("$__explorer/os")" in
    macosx)
       sw_vers -productVersion
    ;;
+   freebsd)
+      # Apparently uname -r is not a reliable way to get the patch level.
+      # See: https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=251743
+      freebsd-version
+   ;;
    *bsd|solaris)
       uname -r
    ;;
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__apt_backports/man.rst b/cdist/conf/type/__apt_backports/man.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7036fb84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__apt_backports/man.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+cdist-type__debian_backports(7)
+===============================
+
+NAME
+----
+cdist-type__apt_backports - Install backports
+
+
+DESCRIPTION
+-----------
+This singleton type installs backports for the current OS release.
+It aborts if backports are not supported for the specified OS or
+no version codename could be fetched (like Debian unstable).
+
+The package index will be automatically updated if required.
+
+It supports backports from following OSes:
+
+- Debian
+- Devuan
+- Ubuntu
+
+
+REQUIRED PARAMETERS
+-------------------
+None.
+
+
+OPTIONAL PARAMETERS
+-------------------
+state
+    Represents the state of the backports repository. ``present`` or
+    ``absent``, defaults to ``present``.
+
+    Will be directly passed to :strong:`cdist-type__apt_source`\ (7).
+
+mirror
+    The mirror to fetch the backports from. Will defaults to the generic
+    mirror of the current OS.
+
+    Will be directly passed to :strong:`cdist-type__apt_source`\ (7).
+
+
+BOOLEAN PARAMETERS
+------------------
+None.
+
+
+MESSAGES
+--------
+None.
+
+
+EXAMPLES
+--------
+
+.. code-block:: sh
+
+   # setup the backports
+   __apt_backports
+   __apt_backports --state absent
+   __apt_backports --state present --mirror "http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/"
+
+   # install a backports package
+   # currently for the buster release backports
+   require="__apt_backports" __package_apt wireguard \
+        --target-release buster-backports
+
+
+ABORTS
+------
+Aborts if the detected os is not Debian.
+
+Aborts if no distribuition codename could be detected. This is common for the
+unstable distribution, but there is no backports repository for it already.
+
+
+CAVEATS
+-------
+For Ubuntu, it setup all componenents for the backports repository: ``main``,
+``restricted``, ``universe`` and ``multiverse``. The user may not want to
+install proprietary packages, which will only be installed if the user
+explicitly uses the backports target-release. The user may change this behavior
+to install backports packages without the need of explicitly select it.
+
+
+SEE ALSO
+--------
+`Official Debian Backports site <https://backports.debian.org/>`_
+
+:strong:`cdist-type__apt_source`\ (7)
+
+
+AUTHORS
+-------
+Matthias Stecher <matthiasstecher at gmx.de>
+
+
+COPYING
+-------
+Copyright \(C) 2020 Matthias Stecher. 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.
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__apt_backports/manifest b/cdist/conf/type/__apt_backports/manifest
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..bc47d8de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__apt_backports/manifest
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+#!/bin/sh -e
+# __apt_backports/manifest
+#
+# 2020 Matthias Stecher (matthiasstecher at gmx.de)
+#
+# 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/>.
+#
+#
+# Enables/disables backports repository. Utilises __apt_source for it.
+#
+
+
+# Get the distribution codename by /etc/os-release.
+#  is already executed in a subshell by string substitution
+#  lsb_release may not be given in all installations
+codename_os_release() {
+    # shellcheck disable=SC1090
+    . "$__global/explorer/os_release"
+    printf "%s" "$VERSION_CODENAME"
+}
+
+# detect backport distribution
+os="$(cat "$__global/explorer/os")"
+case "$os" in
+    debian)
+        dist="$( codename_os_release )"
+        components="main"
+        mirror="http://deb.debian.org/debian/"
+        ;;
+    devuan)
+        dist="$( codename_os_release )"
+        components="main"
+        mirror="http://deb.devuan.org/merged"
+        ;;
+    ubuntu)
+        dist="$( codename_os_release )"
+        components="main restricted universe multiverse"
+        mirror="http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu"
+        ;;
+
+    *)
+        printf "Backports for %s are not supported!\n" "$os" >&2
+        exit 1
+        ;;
+esac
+
+# error if no codename given (e.g. on Debian unstable)
+if [ -z "$dist" ]; then
+    printf "No backports for unkown version of distribution %s!\n" "$os" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+
+# parameters
+state="$(cat "$__object/parameter/state")"
+
+# mirror already set for the os, only override user-values
+if [ -f "$__object/parameter/mirror" ]; then
+    mirror="$(cat "$__object/parameter/mirror")"
+fi
+
+
+# install the given backports repository
+__apt_source "${dist}-backports" \
+    --state "$state" \
+    --distribution "${dist}-backports" \
+    --component "$components" \
+    --uri "$mirror"
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__apt_backports/parameter/default/state b/cdist/conf/type/__apt_backports/parameter/default/state
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e7f6134f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__apt_backports/parameter/default/state
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+present
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__apt_backports/parameter/optional b/cdist/conf/type/__apt_backports/parameter/optional
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4b05c235
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__apt_backports/parameter/optional
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+state
+mirror
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__apt_backports/singleton b/cdist/conf/type/__apt_backports/singleton
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__dot_file/man.rst b/cdist/conf/type/__dot_file/man.rst
index ae65eb95..ba7621a1 100644
--- a/cdist/conf/type/__dot_file/man.rst
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__dot_file/man.rst
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ user
 OPTIONAL PARAMETERS
 -------------------
 
+dirmode
+    forwarded to :strong:`__directory` type as mode
+
 mode
     forwarded to :strong:`__file` type
 
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__dot_file/manifest b/cdist/conf/type/__dot_file/manifest
index 5e4957e5..02dadf05 100755
--- a/cdist/conf/type/__dot_file/manifest
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__dot_file/manifest
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ set -eu
 user="$(cat "${__object}/parameter/user")"
 home="$(cat "${__object}/explorer/home")"
 primary_group="$(cat "${__object}/explorer/primary_group")"
+dirmode="$(cat "${__object}/parameter/dirmode")"
 
 # Create parent directory. Type __directory has flag 'parents', but it
 # will leave us with root-owned directory in user home, which is not
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@ export CDIST_ORDER_DEPENDENCY
 for dir ; do
 	__directory "${home}/${dir}"   \
 	    --group "${primary_group}" \
+            --mode "${dirmode}" \
 	    --owner "${user}"
 done
 
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__dot_file/parameter/default/dirmode b/cdist/conf/type/__dot_file/parameter/default/dirmode
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e9745d1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__dot_file/parameter/default/dirmode
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+0700
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__dot_file/parameter/optional b/cdist/conf/type/__dot_file/parameter/optional
index ccab9fa6..9f7f83fb 100644
--- a/cdist/conf/type/__dot_file/parameter/optional
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__dot_file/parameter/optional
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 state
 mode
 source
+dirmode
diff --git a/docs/changelog b/docs/changelog
index 3d6084f1..3a623236 100644
--- a/docs/changelog
+++ b/docs/changelog
@@ -2,10 +2,13 @@ Changelog
 ---------
 
 next:
-	* __package_pkgng_freebsd: Fix bootstrapping pkg (Dennis Camera)
+	* Type __package_pkgng_freebsd: Fix bootstrapping pkg (Dennis Camera)
 	* Core: Deal with deprecated imp in unit tests (Evil Ham)
 	* Type __iptables: Add IPv6 support (Matthias Stecher)
 	* Type __block: Fix escaping in here-doc (Matthias Stecher)
+	* Explorer os_version: Improve FreeBSD support (Evil Ham)
+	* New type: __apt_backports (Matthias Stecher)
+	* Type __dot_file: Add dirmode parameter (Mark Verboom)
 
 6.9.3: 2020-12-04
 	* pip install: Add cdist.scan to packages in setup.py (Dennis Camera)