diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 80eaceb..cb1e7b6 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -22,13 +22,13 @@
 /extrasrc
 
 # You should really generate local copies of these, as they're pretty private.
-extra/pre-build.d/etc/openvpn/client.conf
-overlay/etc/ssh/*
-overlay/home/*
-overlay/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/openvpn@client.service
-ssl/
-!ssl/.keepme
-!ssl/openssl.cnf
+**/etc/openvpn
+**/etc/ssh
+**/home
+etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/openvpn@client.service
+**ssl/
+!**ssl/.keepme
+!**ssl/openssl.cnf
 
 # and we DEFINITELY don't need these.
 __pycache__/
diff --git a/bdisk/prep.py b/bdisk/prep.py
index 1f0e14e..d90cb1b 100755
--- a/bdisk/prep.py
+++ b/bdisk/prep.py
@@ -179,9 +179,14 @@ def prepChroot(build, bdisk):
     tpl = env.get_template('VERSION_INFO.txt.j2')
     tpl_out = tpl.render(build = build, bdisk = bdisk, hostname = host.getHostname())
     for a in arch:
-        with open('{0}/root.{1}/root/VERSION_INFO.txt'.format(chrootdir, a), "w+") as f:
+        with open('{0}/root.{1}/root/VERSION_INFO.txt'.format(chrootdir, a), 'w+') as f:
             f.write(tpl_out)
-        with open(tempdir + '/VERSION_INFO.txt', "w+") as f:
+        with open(tempdir + '/VERSION_INFO.txt', 'w+') as f:
+            f.write(tpl_out)
+    tpl = env.get_template('VARS.txt.j2')
+    tpl_out = tpl.render(bdisk = bdisk)
+    for a in arch:
+        with open('{0}/root.{1}/root/VARS.txt'.format(chrootdir, a), 'w+') as f:
             f.write(tpl_out)
     return(build)
 
diff --git a/extra/pre-build.d/etc/apacman.conf b/extra/pre-build.d/etc/apacman.conf
index f9e124a..2223aee 100644
--- a/extra/pre-build.d/etc/apacman.conf
+++ b/extra/pre-build.d/etc/apacman.conf
@@ -11,10 +11,11 @@
 #buildonly=1
 #cachevcs=1
 #ignorearch=1
-#keepkeys=1
+keepkeys=1
 needed=1
 #noaur=1
 noconfirm=1
+nodatabase=1
 noedit=1
 nofail=1
 #preview=1
@@ -37,6 +38,10 @@ skipcache=1
 #pacmanconf="/etc/pacman.conf"
 #downdir="/var/cache/pacman/pkg"
 #savedir="/var/cache/apacman/pkg"
+#database="/var/lib/apacman"
+#pacmandb="/var/lib/pacman/sync/aur.db"
+#pkgfiledb="/var/cache/pkgfile/aur.files"
+#localrepo="aur"
 #editor="nano -w"
 #pager="less -R"
 #RPCURL="https://aur.archlinux.org/rpc.php?type"
@@ -55,4 +60,3 @@ skipcache=1
 #COLOR5='\e[1;34m'
 #COLOR6='\e[1;33m'
 #COLOR7='\e[1;31m'
-
diff --git a/extra/pre-build.d/i686/root/iso.pkgs.arch b/extra/pre-build.d/i686/root/iso.pkgs.arch
index 7626efb..9079650 100644
--- a/extra/pre-build.d/i686/root/iso.pkgs.arch
+++ b/extra/pre-build.d/i686/root/iso.pkgs.arch
@@ -1 +1,6 @@
-# This can be used for 32-bit only packages
+# Commented lines are supported (via a preceding # only).
+# Packages from the AUR can be specified.
+# If you require a package with a regex special character in the name
+# (i.e.: .\?+[]{} etc.)
+# and it is part of the ACTUAL package name, then you must DOUBLE-ESCAPE it:
+# e.g. 'bonnie\\+\\+' for a package named 'bonnie++'
diff --git a/extra/pre-build.d/i686/root/packages.arch b/extra/pre-build.d/i686/root/packages.arch
index e69de29..9079650 100644
--- a/extra/pre-build.d/i686/root/packages.arch
+++ b/extra/pre-build.d/i686/root/packages.arch
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# Commented lines are supported (via a preceding # only).
+# Packages from the AUR can be specified.
+# If you require a package with a regex special character in the name
+# (i.e.: .\?+[]{} etc.)
+# and it is part of the ACTUAL package name, then you must DOUBLE-ESCAPE it:
+# e.g. 'bonnie\\+\\+' for a package named 'bonnie++'
diff --git a/extra/pre-build.d/root/apacman-3.0-1-any.pkg.tar.xz b/extra/pre-build.d/root/apacman-3.0-1-any.pkg.tar.xz
deleted file mode 100644
index c69fb0c..0000000
Binary files a/extra/pre-build.d/root/apacman-3.0-1-any.pkg.tar.xz and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/extra/pre-build.d/root/apacman-3.1-1-any.pkg.tar.xz b/extra/pre-build.d/root/apacman-3.1-1-any.pkg.tar.xz
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..00083a8
Binary files /dev/null and b/extra/pre-build.d/root/apacman-3.1-1-any.pkg.tar.xz differ
diff --git a/extra/pre-build.d/root/iso.pkgs.both b/extra/pre-build.d/root/iso.pkgs.both
index d7eba67..1405e7c 100644
--- a/extra/pre-build.d/root/iso.pkgs.both
+++ b/extra/pre-build.d/root/iso.pkgs.both
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+# Commented lines are supported (via a preceding # only).
+# Packages from the AUR can be specified.
+# If you require a package with a regex special character in the name
+# (i.e.: .\?+[]{} etc.)
+# and it is part of the ACTUAL package name, then you must DOUBLE-ESCAPE it:
+# e.g. 'bonnie\\+\\+' for a package named 'bonnie++'
 arch-install-scripts
 archiso
 bzip2
diff --git a/extra/pre-build.d/root/packages.both b/extra/pre-build.d/root/packages.both
index 48e5fb0..3fca5dc 100644
--- a/extra/pre-build.d/root/packages.both
+++ b/extra/pre-build.d/root/packages.both
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
-# You can include comments, such as this. AUR packages are allowed.
+# Commented lines are supported (via a preceding # only).
+# Packages from the AUR can be specified.
+# If you require a package with a regex special character in the name
+# (i.e.: .\?+[]{} etc.)
+# and it is part of the ACTUAL package name, then you must DOUBLE-ESCAPE it:
+# e.g. 'bonnie\\+\\+' for a package named 'bonnie++'
 # We need to install all X drivers.
 abs
 acpi
@@ -19,7 +24,7 @@ bin86
 bind-tools
 binutils
 bluez-utils
-bonnie++
+bonnie\\+\\+
 boxbackup-client
 boxbackup-server
 bozocrack-git
diff --git a/extra/pre-build.d/root/pre-build.sh b/extra/pre-build.d/root/pre-build.sh
index b975390..bed551a 100755
--- a/extra/pre-build.d/root/pre-build.sh
+++ b/extra/pre-build.d/root/pre-build.sh
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ pacman -S --noconfirm --needed base syslinux wget rsync unzip jshon sed sudo abs
 # And get rid of files it wants to replace
 cleanPacorigs
 # Force update all currently installed packages in case the tarball's out of date
-pacman -Syyu --force --noconfirm
+pacman -Su --force --noconfirm
 # And in case the keys updated...
 pacman-key --refresh-keys
 cleanPacorigs
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ pacman --noconfirm -U /root/apacman*.tar.xz &&\
 	 mkdir /var/tmp/apacman && chmod 0750 /var/tmp/apacman &&\
 	 chown root:aurbuild /var/tmp/apacman
 cleanPacorigs
+apacman -Syy
 apacman -S --noconfirm --noedit --skipinteg --needed -S apacman apacman-deps apacman-utils expac
 apacman --gendb
 cleanPacorigs
@@ -95,8 +96,7 @@ ln -s /usr/lib/libdialog.so.1.2 /usr/lib/libdialog.so
 cleanPacorigs
 apacman --noconfirm --noedit --skipinteg -S --needed linux
 apacman --gendb
-cp -a /boot/vmlinuz-linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux-${DISTNAME}
-cp -af /boot/initramfs-linux.img /boot/initramfs-linux-${DISTNAME}.img
+mv /boot/vmlinuz-linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux-${DISTNAME}
 cleanPacorigs
 
 # And install EXTRA functionality packages, if there are any.
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ else
 	usermod -L root
 fi
 cleanPacorigs
-cp -af /boot/initramfs-linux.img /boot/initramfs-linux-${DISTNAME}.img
+mv /boot/initramfs-linux.img /boot/initramfs-linux-${DISTNAME}.img
 # And install arch-specific extra packages, if there are any.
 PKGLIST=$(sed -e '/^[[:space:]]*#/d ; /^[[:space:]]*$/d' /root/packages.arch | tr '\n' ' ')
 if [[ -n "${PKGLIST}" ]];
@@ -146,8 +146,11 @@ then
 	cleanPacorigs
 fi
 # Cleanup
-yes | pacman -Scc
+#yes | pacman -Scc # doesn't parse yes(1) output correctly, it seems.
+# TODO: look into https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman/Tips_and_tricks#Removing_unused_packages_.28orphans.29
+paccache -rk0
 rm -f /root/.bash_history
 rm -f /root/.viminfo
 rm -f /root/apacman-*.pkg.tar.xz
 rm -f /root/pre-build.sh
+pkill -9 dirmngr
diff --git a/extra/pre-build.d/x86_64/root/iso.pkgs.arch b/extra/pre-build.d/x86_64/root/iso.pkgs.arch
index 3d2d993..9079650 100644
--- a/extra/pre-build.d/x86_64/root/iso.pkgs.arch
+++ b/extra/pre-build.d/x86_64/root/iso.pkgs.arch
@@ -1 +1,6 @@
-# This can be used for 64-bit only packages
+# Commented lines are supported (via a preceding # only).
+# Packages from the AUR can be specified.
+# If you require a package with a regex special character in the name
+# (i.e.: .\?+[]{} etc.)
+# and it is part of the ACTUAL package name, then you must DOUBLE-ESCAPE it:
+# e.g. 'bonnie\\+\\+' for a package named 'bonnie++'
diff --git a/extra/pre-build.d/x86_64/root/packages.arch b/extra/pre-build.d/x86_64/root/packages.arch
index e69de29..9079650 100644
--- a/extra/pre-build.d/x86_64/root/packages.arch
+++ b/extra/pre-build.d/x86_64/root/packages.arch
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# Commented lines are supported (via a preceding # only).
+# Packages from the AUR can be specified.
+# If you require a package with a regex special character in the name
+# (i.e.: .\?+[]{} etc.)
+# and it is part of the ACTUAL package name, then you must DOUBLE-ESCAPE it:
+# e.g. 'bonnie\\+\\+' for a package named 'bonnie++'