diff --git a/lib/eval-config.nix b/lib/eval-config.nix
index e3bccb775aa..7697f44a7e5 100644
--- a/lib/eval-config.nix
+++ b/lib/eval-config.nix
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 , modules
 }:
 
-let extraArgs_ = extraArgs; pkgs_ = pkgs; in
+let extraArgs_ = extraArgs; pkgs_ = pkgs; system_ = system; in
 
 rec {
 
@@ -39,7 +39,8 @@ rec {
   # Import Nixpkgs, allowing the NixOS option nixpkgs.config to
   # specify the Nixpkgs configuration (e.g., to set package options
   # such as firefox.enableGeckoMediaPlayer, or to apply global
-  # overrides such as changing GCC throughout the system).  This is
+  # overrides such as changing GCC throughout the system), and the
+  # option nixpkgs.system to override the platform type.  This is
   # tricky, because we have to prevent an infinite recursion: "pkgs"
   # is passed as an argument to NixOS modules, but the value of "pkgs"
   # depends on config.nixpkgs.config, which we get from the modules.
@@ -50,12 +51,13 @@ rec {
     then pkgs_
     else import nixpkgs (
       let
+        system = if nixpkgsOptions.system != "" then nixpkgsOptions.system else system_;
         nixpkgsOptions = (import ./eval-config.nix {
           inherit system nixpkgs services extraArgs modules;
           # For efficiency, leave out most NixOS modules; they don't
           # define nixpkgs.config, so it's pointless to evaluate them.
           baseModules = [ ../modules/misc/nixpkgs.nix ];
-          pkgs = import nixpkgs { inherit system; config = {}; };
+          pkgs = import nixpkgs { system = system_; config = {}; };
         }).optionDefinitions.nixpkgs;
       in
       {
diff --git a/modules/config/fonts.nix b/modules/config/fonts.nix
index 8b7ba6fab94..bb75a1e29ab 100644
--- a/modules/config/fonts.nix
+++ b/modules/config/fonts.nix
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ in
 
 ###### implementation
 let
-  inherit (pkgs) builderDefs ttmkfdir;
+  inherit (pkgs) builderDefs;
   inherit (pkgs.xorg) mkfontdir mkfontscale fontalias;
 
   fontDirs = config.fonts.fonts;
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ let
   localDefs = with builderDefs; builderDefs.passthru.function rec {
     src = "";/* put a fetchurl here */
 
-    buildInputs = [mkfontdir mkfontscale ttmkfdir];
+    buildInputs = [mkfontdir mkfontscale];
     configureFlags = [];
     inherit fontDirs;
     installPhase = fullDepEntry ("
@@ -135,13 +135,6 @@ let
     rm fonts.alias
     mkfontdir
     mkfontscale
-    mv fonts.scale fonts.scale.old
-    mv fonts.dir fonts.dir.old
-    ttmkfdir
-    cat fonts.scale.old >> fonts.scale
-    cat fonts.dir.old >> fonts.dir
-    rm fonts.dir.old
-    rm fonts.scale.old
     cat \$( find ${fontalias}/ -name fonts.alias) >fonts.alias
   ") ["minInit" "addInputs"];
   };
diff --git a/modules/installer/tools/nixos-option.sh b/modules/installer/tools/nixos-option.sh
index fc4380d00c4..456e2b275d0 100644
--- a/modules/installer/tools/nixos-option.sh
+++ b/modules/installer/tools/nixos-option.sh
@@ -66,13 +66,14 @@ for arg; do
         sarg="$arg"
         while test "$sarg" != "-"; do
           case $sarg in
-            --*) longarg=$arg;;
+            --*) longarg=$arg; sarg="--";;
             -d*) longarg="$longarg --description";;
             -v*) longarg="$longarg --value";;
             -l*) longarg="$longarg --lookup";;
             -i*) longarg="$longarg --install";;
             -*) usage;;
           esac
+          # remove the first letter option
           sarg="-${sarg#??}"
         done
         ;;
diff --git a/modules/misc/deployment.nix b/modules/misc/deployment.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..08559cc2a16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/misc/deployment.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+{ config, pkgs, ... }:
+
+with pkgs.lib;
+
+{
+  options = {
+
+    deployment = mkOption {
+      description = ''
+        This option captures various custom attributes related to the configuration of the system, which
+        are not directly used for building a system configuration. Usually these attributes
+        are used by external tooling, such as the nixos-deploy-network tool or the Disnix Avahi
+        publisher.
+      '';
+      default = {};
+      example = {
+        description = "My production machine";
+	hostname = "my.test.org";
+	country = "NL";
+      };
+    };
+  };
+}
diff --git a/modules/misc/ids.nix b/modules/misc/ids.nix
index 2db841194e3..f8219c23068 100644
--- a/modules/misc/ids.nix
+++ b/modules/misc/ids.nix
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ in
     cups = 36;
     foldingAtHome = 37;
     sabnzbd = 38;
+    kdm = 39;
     # When adding a uid, make sure it doesn't match an existing gid.
 
     nixbld = 30000; # start of range of uids
diff --git a/modules/misc/nixpkgs.nix b/modules/misc/nixpkgs.nix
index 2fb61f686f0..154c619bd36 100644
--- a/modules/misc/nixpkgs.nix
+++ b/modules/misc/nixpkgs.nix
@@ -13,5 +13,16 @@
       '';
     };
 
+    nixpkgs.system = pkgs.lib.mkOption {
+      default = "";
+      description = ''
+        Specifies the Nix platform type for which NixOS should be built.
+        If unset, it defaults to the platform type of your host system
+        (<literal>${builtins.currentSystem}</literal>).
+        Specifying this option is useful when doing distributed
+        multi-platform deployment, or when building virtual machines.
+      '';
+    };
+
   };
 }
diff --git a/modules/module-list.nix b/modules/module-list.nix
index 1364b28182d..8c927aa6142 100644
--- a/modules/module-list.nix
+++ b/modules/module-list.nix
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
   ./installer/tools/tools.nix
   ./misc/assertions.nix
   ./misc/check-config.nix
+  ./misc/deployment.nix
   ./misc/ids.nix
   ./misc/locate.nix
   ./misc/nixpkgs.nix
diff --git a/modules/programs/bash/bashrc.sh b/modules/programs/bash/bashrc.sh
index 50768635d36..c301ffde73a 100644
--- a/modules/programs/bash/bashrc.sh
+++ b/modules/programs/bash/bashrc.sh
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ fi
 alias ls="ls --color=tty"
 alias ll="ls -l"
 alias l="ls -alh"
-alias which="type -p"
+alias which="type -P"
 
 # The "non-interactive" Bash build does not support programmable
 # completion so check whether it's available.
diff --git a/modules/services/backup/mysql-backup.nix b/modules/services/backup/mysql-backup.nix
index b6d42b8782a..7c091fcfe26 100644
--- a/modules/services/backup/mysql-backup.nix
+++ b/modules/services/backup/mysql-backup.nix
@@ -6,10 +6,10 @@ let
 
   inherit (pkgs) mysql gzip;
 
-  location = config.services.mysqlBackup.location ;
-
+  cfg = config.services.mysqlBackup ;
+  location = cfg.location ;
   mysqlBackupCron = db : ''
-    ${config.services.mysqlBackup.period} ${config.services.mysqlBackup.user} ${mysql}/bin/mysqldump ${db} | ${gzip}/bin/gzip -c > ${location}/${db}.gz
+    ${cfg.period} ${cfg.user} ${mysql}/bin/mysqldump ${if cfg.singleTransaction then "--single-transaction" else ""} ${db} | ${gzip}/bin/gzip -c > ${location}/${db}.gz
   ''; 
 
 in
@@ -55,6 +55,13 @@ in
           Location to put the gzipped MySQL database dumps.
         '';
       };
+
+      singleTransaction = mkOption {
+        default = false;
+        description = ''
+          Whether to create database dump in a single transaction
+        '';
+      };
     };
 
   };
diff --git a/modules/services/databases/postgresql.nix b/modules/services/databases/postgresql.nix
index 6d58b757421..56e98e4a3f9 100644
--- a/modules/services/databases/postgresql.nix
+++ b/modules/services/databases/postgresql.nix
@@ -9,22 +9,16 @@ let
   # see description of extraPlugins
   postgresqlAndPlugins = pg:
     if cfg.extraPlugins == [] then pg
-    else pkgs.runCommand "postgresql-and-plugins" {
-      inherit (pkgs) perl;
-      inherit pg;
-      # used by env builder:
+    else pkgs.buildEnv {
+      name = "postgresql-and-plugins";
       paths = [ pg ] ++ cfg.extraPlugins;
-      pathsToLink = "/";
-      ignoreCollisions = 0;
-      manifest = null;
-    }
-      ''
-        perlScript=${pkgs.buildEnvScript}
-        mkdir -p $out/bin
-        $perl/bin/perl $perlScript
-        rm $out/bin/{pg_config,postgres,pg_ctl}
-        cp --target-directory=$out/bin $pg/bin/{postgres,pg_config,pg_ctl}
-      '';
+      postBuild =
+        ''
+          mkdir -p $out/bin
+          rm $out/bin/{pg_config,postgres,pg_ctl}
+          cp --target-directory=$out/bin ${pg}/bin/{postgres,pg_config,pg_ctl}
+        '';
+    };
 
   postgresql = postgresqlAndPlugins pkgs.postgresql;
 
diff --git a/modules/services/misc/disnix.nix b/modules/services/misc/disnix.nix
index 09b9cf8fe08..dee19b0577a 100644
--- a/modules/services/misc/disnix.nix
+++ b/modules/services/misc/disnix.nix
@@ -6,7 +6,14 @@ with pkgs.lib;
 let
 
   cfg = config.services.disnix;
-
+  
+  disnix_activation_scripts = pkgs.disnix_activation_scripts.override (origArgs: {
+    enableApacheWebApplication = config.services.httpd.enable;
+    enableAxis2WebService = config.services.tomcat.axis2.enable;
+    enableEjabberdDump = config.services.ejabberd.enable;
+    enableMySQLDatabase = config.services.mysql.enable;
+    enableTomcatWebApplication = config.services.tomcat.enable;
+  });
 in
 
 {
@@ -20,7 +27,17 @@ in
       enable = mkOption {
         default = false;
         description = "Whether to enable Disnix";
-      };        
+      };
+      
+      useWebServiceInterface = mkOption {
+        default = false;
+	description = "Whether to enable the DisnixWebService interface running on Apache Tomcat";
+      };
+      
+      publishAvahi = mkOption {
+        default = false;
+	description = "Whether to publish capabilities/properties as a Disnix service through Avahi";
+      };
 
     };
     
@@ -31,11 +48,19 @@ in
 
   config = mkIf cfg.enable {
 
-    environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.disnix ];
+    environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.disnix ] ++ optional cfg.useWebServiceInterface pkgs.DisnixWebService;
 
     services.dbus.enable = true;
     services.dbus.packages = [ pkgs.disnix ];
 
+    services.tomcat.enable = cfg.useWebServiceInterface;
+    services.tomcat.extraGroups = [ "disnix" ];
+    services.tomcat.javaOpts = "${optionalString cfg.useWebServiceInterface "-Djava.library.path=${pkgs.libmatthew_java}/lib/jni"} ";
+    services.tomcat.sharedLibs = []
+                                 ++ optional cfg.useWebServiceInterface "${pkgs.DisnixWebService}/share/java/DisnixConnection.jar"
+				 ++ optional cfg.useWebServiceInterface "${pkgs.dbus_java}/share/java/dbus.jar";
+    services.tomcat.webapps = [] ++ optional cfg.useWebServiceInterface pkgs.DisnixWebService;
+
     users.extraGroups = singleton
       { name = "disnix";
         gid = config.ids.gids.disnix;
@@ -47,14 +72,37 @@ in
         startOn = "started dbus";
 
         script =
-          ''                
-            export PATH=/var/run/current-system/sw/bin:/var/run/current-system/sw/sbin
+          ''
+	    export PATH=/var/run/current-system/sw/bin:/var/run/current-system/sw/sbin
             export HOME=/root
-	
-            ${pkgs.disnix}/bin/disnix-service --activation-modules-dir=${pkgs.disnix_activation_scripts}/libexec/disnix/activation-scripts
+
+            ${pkgs.disnix}/bin/disnix-service --activation-modules-dir=${disnix_activation_scripts}/libexec/disnix/activation-scripts
           '';
       };
 
+  } //
+  mkIf cfg.publishAvahi {
+  
+    services.avahi.enable = true;
+  
+    jobs.disnixAvahi =
+      { description = "Disnix Avahi publisher";
+      
+        startOn = "started avahi-daemon";
+	
+	exec =
+        ''
+          ${pkgs.avahi}/bin/avahi-publish-service disnix-$(${pkgs.nettools}/bin/hostname) _disnix._tcp 22 \
+            "hostname=\"$(${pkgs.nettools}/bin/hostname)\"" \
+	    "system=\"$(uname -m)-linux\"" \
+	    "mem=$(grep 'MemTotal:' /proc/meminfo | sed -e 's/kB//' -e 's/MemTotal://' -e 's/ //g')" \
+	    ${optionalString (cfg.useWebServiceInterface) ''"targetEPR=\"http://(${pkgs.nettools}/bin/hostname):8080/DisnixWebService/services/DisnixWebService\""''} \
+            ${optionalString (config.services.httpd.enable) ''"documentRoot=\"${config.services.httpd.documentRoot}\""''} \
+            ${optionalString (config.services.mysql.enable) ''"mysqlPort=3306"''} \
+            ${optionalString (config.services.tomcat.enable) ''"tomcatPort=8080"''} \
+            "supportedTypes=[$(for i in ${disnix_activation_scripts}/libexec/disnix/activation-scripts/*; do echo -n " \"$(basename $i)\""; done) ]" \
+	    ${concatMapStrings (deploymentAttrName: let deploymentAttrValue = getAttr deploymentAttrName (config.deployment); in ''${deploymentAttrName}=\"${deploymentAttrValue}\" '' ) (attrNames (config.deployment))}
+        '';
+      };
   };
-
 }
diff --git a/modules/services/monitoring/monit.nix b/modules/services/monitoring/monit.nix
index 35f483411b2..40ad8456d7c 100644
--- a/modules/services/monitoring/monit.nix
+++ b/modules/services/monitoring/monit.nix
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ in
         description = "monit.conf content";
       };
       startOn = mkOption {
-        default = "network-interfaces/started";
+        default = "started network-interfaces";
         description = "What Monit supposes to be already present";
       };
     };
diff --git a/modules/services/network-filesystems/nfs-kernel.nix b/modules/services/network-filesystems/nfs-kernel.nix
index 603e63f6005..290622b0997 100644
--- a/modules/services/network-filesystems/nfs-kernel.nix
+++ b/modules/services/network-filesystems/nfs-kernel.nix
@@ -133,7 +133,15 @@ in
             startOn = "started nfs-kernel-exports and started nfs-kernel-mountd and started nfs-kernel-statd and started portmap";
             stopOn = "stopping nfs-kernel-exports";
 
-            preStart = "${pkgs.nfsUtils}/sbin/rpc.nfsd ${if cfg.server.hostName != null then "-H ${cfg.server.hostName}" else ""} ${builtins.toString cfg.server.nproc}";
+            preStart = 
+              ''
+                # Create a state directory required by NFSv4.
+                mkdir -p /var/lib/nfs/v4recovery
+
+                ${pkgs.nfsUtils}/sbin/rpc.nfsd \
+                  ${if cfg.server.hostName != null then "-H ${cfg.server.hostName}" else ""} \
+                  ${builtins.toString cfg.server.nproc}
+              '';
 
             postStop = "${pkgs.nfsUtils}/sbin/rpc.nfsd 0";
           };
diff --git a/modules/services/networking/dhclient.nix b/modules/services/networking/dhclient.nix
index bd3f781c19a..454bd361b12 100644
--- a/modules/services/networking/dhclient.nix
+++ b/modules/services/networking/dhclient.nix
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ let
 
   # Don't start dhclient on explicitly configured interfaces.
   ignoredInterfaces = 
-    map (i: i.name) (lib.filter (i: i ? ipAddress) config.networking.interfaces);
+    map (i: i.name) (lib.filter (i: i ? ipAddress && i.ipAddress != "" ) config.networking.interfaces);
 
   stateDir = "/var/lib/dhcp"; # Don't use /var/state/dhcp; not FHS-compliant.
 
diff --git a/modules/services/web-servers/tomcat.nix b/modules/services/web-servers/tomcat.nix
index e63abfb15d2..83b95655011 100644
--- a/modules/services/web-servers/tomcat.nix
+++ b/modules/services/web-servers/tomcat.nix
@@ -26,6 +26,12 @@ in
         description = "Location where Tomcat stores configuration files, webapplications and logfiles";
       };
 
+      extraGroups = mkOption {
+        default = [];
+	example = [ "users" ];
+	description = "Defines extra groups to which the tomcat user belongs.";
+      };
+      
       user = mkOption {
         default = "tomcat";
         description = "User account under which Apache Tomcat runs.";
@@ -104,6 +110,7 @@ in
         uid = config.ids.uids.tomcat;
         description = "Tomcat user";
         home = "/homeless-shelter";
+	extraGroups = cfg.extraGroups;
       };
             
     jobs.tomcat =
diff --git a/modules/services/x11/display-managers/kdm.nix b/modules/services/x11/display-managers/kdm.nix
index 1fa5b4f210f..2c5a720f815 100644
--- a/modules/services/x11/display-managers/kdm.nix
+++ b/modules/services/x11/display-managers/kdm.nix
@@ -106,6 +106,13 @@ in
 
     security.pam.services = [ { name = "kde"; } ];
       
+    users.extraUsers = singleton
+      { name = "kdm";
+        uid = config.ids.uids.kdm;
+        description = "kdm user";
+        home = "/tmp/kdm";
+      };
+
   };
   
 }
diff --git a/modules/tasks/network-interfaces.nix b/modules/tasks/network-interfaces.nix
index 562a945d832..640ef0821fc 100644
--- a/modules/tasks/network-interfaces.nix
+++ b/modules/tasks/network-interfaces.nix
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ let
 
   cfg = config.networking;
 
+  ifconfig = "${nettools}/sbin/ifconfig";
+
 in 
 
 {
@@ -113,6 +115,15 @@ in
           '';
         };
 
+        macAddress = mkOption {
+          default = "";
+          example = "00:11:22:33:44:55";
+          type = types.string;
+          description = ''
+            MAC address of the interface. Leave empty to use the default.
+          '';
+        };
+
       };
       
     };
@@ -155,9 +166,19 @@ in
             export PATH=${config.system.sbin.modprobe}/sbin:$PATH
             modprobe af_packet || true
 
+            ${pkgs.lib.concatMapStrings (i:
+              if i.macAddress != "" then
+                ''
+                  echo "Configuring interface ${i.name}..."
+                  ${ifconfig} "${i.name}" down || true
+                  ${ifconfig} "${i.name}" hw ether "${i.macAddress}" || true
+                ''
+              else "") cfg.interfaces
+            }
+
             for i in $(cd /sys/class/net && ls -d *); do
                 echo "Bringing up network device $i..."
-                ${nettools}/sbin/ifconfig $i up || true
+                ${ifconfig} $i up || true
             done
 
             # Configure the manually specified interfaces.
@@ -169,7 +190,7 @@ in
                   if test -n "${i.subnetMask}"; then
                       extraFlags="$extraFlags netmask ${i.subnetMask}"
                   fi
-                  ${nettools}/sbin/ifconfig "${i.name}" "${i.ipAddress}" $extraFlags || true
+                  ${ifconfig} "${i.name}" "${i.ipAddress}" $extraFlags || true
                 ''
               else "") cfg.interfaces}
 
@@ -202,7 +223,7 @@ in
           ''
             #for i in $(cd /sys/class/net && ls -d *); do
             #    echo "Taking down network device $i..."
-            #    ${nettools}/sbin/ifconfig $i down || true
+            #    ${ifconfig} $i down || true
             #done
           '';
       };
diff --git a/modules/tasks/tty-backgrounds.nix b/modules/tasks/tty-backgrounds.nix
index 8d079edc934..d376c6a4b89 100644
--- a/modules/tasks/tty-backgrounds.nix
+++ b/modules/tasks/tty-backgrounds.nix
@@ -86,7 +86,8 @@ in
 
     assertions = singleton
       { assertion = kernelPackages.splashutils != null;
-        message = "kernelPackages.splashutils may not be false";
+        message = "The kernelPackages does not provide splashutils, as required by ttyBackgrounds. " +
+          "Either provide kernelPackages with splashutils, or disable ttyBackgrounds.";
       };
 
     services.ttyBackgrounds.specificThemes = singleton