diff --git a/manifests/defines/concatenated_file.pp b/manifests/defines/concatenated_file.pp
index ff7bf53..e3dbe23 100644
--- a/manifests/defines/concatenated_file.pp
+++ b/manifests/defines/concatenated_file.pp
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ define concatenated_file (
 	$header = '',
 	# a file with content to append
 	$footer = '',
-	$mode = 0644, $owner = root, $group = root
+	$mode = 0644, $owner = root, $group = 0
 	)
 {
 
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ define concatenated_file (
 # The file can be referenced as File["cf_part_${name}"]
 define concatenated_file_part (
 	$dir, $content = '', $ensure = present,
-	$mode = 0644, $owner = root, $group = root 
+	$mode = 0644, $owner = root, $group = 0 
 	)
 {
 
diff --git a/manifests/defines/config_file.pp b/manifests/defines/config_file.pp
index c57c9a3..3e6bc06 100644
--- a/manifests/defines/config_file.pp
+++ b/manifests/defines/config_file.pp
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ define config_file ($content = '', $source = '', $ensure = 'present') {
 		# keep old versions on the server
 		backup => server,
 		# default permissions for config files
-		mode => 0644, owner => root, group => root,
+		mode => 0644, owner => root, group => 0,
 		# really detect changes to this file
 		checksum => md5,
 	}
diff --git a/manifests/defines/line.pp b/manifests/defines/line.pp
index 3f7c4c0..2eb8f98 100644
--- a/manifests/defines/line.pp
+++ b/manifests/defines/line.pp
@@ -27,13 +27,13 @@ define line($file, $line, $ensure = 'present') {
 	case $ensure {
 		default : { err ( "unknown ensure value '${ensure}'" ) }
 		present: {
-			exec { "/bin/echo '${line}' >> '${file}'":
-				unless => "/bin/grep -qFx '${line}' '${file}'"
+			exec { "echo '${line}' >> '${file}'":
+				unless => "grep -qFx '${line}' '${file}'"
 			}
 		}
 		absent: {
-			exec { "/usr/bin/perl -ni -e 'print unless /^\\Q${line}\\E\$/' '${file}'":
-				onlyif => "/bin/grep -qFx '${line}' '${file}'"
+			exec { "perl -ni -e 'print unless /^\\Q${line}\\E\$/' '${file}'":
+				onlyif => "grep -qFx '${line}' '${file}'"
 			}
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/manifests/defines/modules_dir.pp b/manifests/defines/modules_dir.pp
index 657b54d..cc80eeb 100644
--- a/manifests/defines/modules_dir.pp
+++ b/manifests/defines/modules_dir.pp
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 # Usage:
 # modules_dir { ["common", "common/dir1", "common/dir2" ]: }
 define modules_dir (
-		$mode = 0644, $owner = root, $group = root
+		$mode = 0644, $owner = root, $group = 0
 	)
 {
 	$dir = "/var/lib/puppet/modules/${name}"
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ define modules_dir (
 			"/var/lib/puppet/modules/${name}":
 				# workaround
 				#source => [ "puppet://$servername/${name}/modules_dir", "puppet://$servername/common/empty"],
-				source => "puppet://$servername/files/empty",
+				source => "puppet://$servername/common/empty",
 				checksum => mtime,
 				recurse => true, purge => true, force => true,
 				mode => $mode, owner => $owner, group => $group;
diff --git a/manifests/init.pp b/manifests/init.pp
index 577b0c6..d284782 100644
--- a/manifests/init.pp
+++ b/manifests/init.pp
@@ -8,8 +8,9 @@ file {
 	"/var/lib/puppet/modules":
 		ensure => directory,
 		source => "puppet://$servername/common/modules/",
+		ignore => ".svn",
 		recurse => true, purge => true, force => true,
-		mode => 0755, owner => root, group => root;
+		mode => 0755, owner => root, group => 0;
 }
 
 import "defines/*.pp"