diff --git a/lib/puppet/settings/config_file.rb b/lib/puppet/settings/config_file.rb
index 77db99977..d584f31e6 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/settings/config_file.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/settings/config_file.rb
@@ -1,99 +1,96 @@
 require 'puppet/settings/ini_file'
 
 ##
 # @api private
 #
 # Parses puppet configuration files
 #
 class Puppet::Settings::ConfigFile
 
   ##
   # @param value_converter [Proc] a function that will convert strings into ruby types
   #
   def initialize(value_converter)
     @value_converter = value_converter
   end
 
   def parse_file(file, text)
     result = {}
 
-    # Default to 'main' for the section.
-    section_name = :main
-    result[section_name] = empty_section
-    line_number = 1
-    Puppet::Settings::IniFile.parse(StringIO.new(text)).each do |line|
-      case line
-      when Puppet::Settings::IniFile::SectionLine
-        section_name = line.name.intern
-        fail_when_illegal_section_name(section_name, file, line_number)
-        if result[section_name].nil?
-          result[section_name] = empty_section
-        end
-      when Puppet::Settings::IniFile::SettingLine
-        var = line.name.intern
+    ini = Puppet::Settings::IniFile.parse(StringIO.new(text))
+    ini.sections.each do |section|
+      section_name = section.name.intern
+      fail_when_illegal_section_name(section_name, file, section.line_number)
+      result[section_name] = empty_section
 
-        # We don't want to munge modes, because they're specified in octal, so we'll
-        # just leave them as a String, since Puppet handles that case correctly.
-        if var == :mode
-          value = line.value
-        else
-          value = @value_converter[line.value]
-        end
-
-        # Check to see if this is a file argument and it has extra options
-        begin
-          if value.is_a?(String) and options = extract_fileinfo(value)
-            value = options[:value]
-            options.delete(:value)
-            result[section_name][:_meta][var] = options
-          end
-          result[section_name][var] = value
-        rescue Puppet::Error => detail
-          raise Puppet::Settings::ParseError.new(detail.message, file, line_number, detail)
-        end
-      else
-        if line.text !~ /^\s*#|^\s*$/
-          raise Puppet::Settings::ParseError.new("Could not match line #{line.text}", file, line_number)
+      ini.lines_in(section.name).each do |line|
+        if line.is_a?(Puppet::Settings::IniFile::SettingLine)
+          parse_setting(line, result[section_name])
+        elsif line.text !~ /^\s*#|^\s*$/
+          raise Puppet::Settings::ParseError.new("Could not match line #{line.text}", file, line.line_number)
         end
       end
-      line_number += 1
     end
 
     result
   end
 
 private
 
+  def parse_setting(setting, result)
+    var = setting.name.intern
+
+    # We don't want to munge modes, because they're specified in octal, so we'll
+    # just leave them as a String, since Puppet handles that case correctly.
+    if var == :mode
+      value = setting.value
+    else
+      value = @value_converter[setting.value]
+    end
+
+    # Check to see if this is a file argument and it has extra options
+    begin
+      if value.is_a?(String) and options = extract_fileinfo(value)
+        value = options[:value]
+        options.delete(:value)
+        result[:_meta][var] = options
+      end
+      result[var] = value
+    rescue Puppet::Error => detail
+      raise Puppet::Settings::ParseError.new(detail.message, file, setting.line_number, detail)
+    end
+  end
+
   def empty_section
     { :_meta => {} }
   end
 
   def fail_when_illegal_section_name(section, file, line)
     if section == :application_defaults or section == :global_defaults
       raise Puppet::Error, "Illegal section '#{section}' in config file #{file} at line #{line}"
     end
   end
 
   def extract_fileinfo(string)
     result = {}
     value = string.sub(/\{\s*([^}]+)\s*\}/) do
       params = $1
       params.split(/\s*,\s*/).each do |str|
         if str =~ /^\s*(\w+)\s*=\s*([\w\d]+)\s*$/
           param, value = $1.intern, $2
           result[param] = value
           raise ArgumentError, "Invalid file option '#{param}'" unless [:owner, :mode, :group].include?(param)
 
           if param == :mode and value !~ /^\d+$/
             raise ArgumentError, "File modes must be numbers"
           end
         else
           raise ArgumentError, "Could not parse '#{string}'"
         end
       end
       ''
     end
     result[:value] = value.sub(/\s*$/, '')
     result
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/puppet/settings/ini_file.rb b/lib/puppet/settings/ini_file.rb
index e99dce4ba..11b727217 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/settings/ini_file.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/settings/ini_file.rb
@@ -1,110 +1,145 @@
 # @api private
 class Puppet::Settings::IniFile
   DEFAULT_SECTION_NAME = "main"
 
   def self.update(config_fh, &block)
     config = parse(config_fh)
     manipulator = Manipulator.new(config)
     yield manipulator
     config.write(config_fh)
   end
 
   def self.parse(config_fh)
-    config = new
+    lines = [DefaultSection.new]
     config_fh.each_line do |line|
       case line
       when /^(\s*)\[(\w+)\](\s*)$/
-        config << SectionLine.new($1, $2, $3)
+        lines << SectionLine.new(lines[-1], $1, $2, $3)
       when /^(\s*)(\w+)(\s*=\s*)(.*?)(\s*)$/
-        config << SettingLine.new($1, $2, $3, $4, $5)
+        lines << SettingLine.new(lines[-1], $1, $2, $3, $4, $5)
       else
-        config << Line.new(line)
+        lines << Line.new(lines[-1], line)
       end
     end
 
-    config
+    new(lines)
   end
 
-  def initialize
-    @lines = []
+  def initialize(lines = [])
+    @lines = lines
   end
 
-  def <<(line)
-    @lines << line
+  def add_section(name)
+    @lines << SectionLine.new(@lines[-1], "", name, "")
+  end
+
+  def add_setting(name, value)
+    @lines << SettingLine.new(@lines[-1], "", name, "=", value, "")
   end
 
   def each(&block)
     @lines.each(&block)
   end
 
+  def sections
+    sections = @lines.select { |line| line.is_a?(SectionLine) }
+  end
+
   def setting(section, name)
-    settings_in(section).find do |line|
+    lines_in(section).find do |line|
       line.is_a?(SettingLine) && line.name == name
     end
   end
 
-  def settings_in(section)
+  def lines_in(section)
     section_lines = []
     current_section = DEFAULT_SECTION_NAME
     @lines.each do |line|
       if line.is_a?(SectionLine)
         current_section = line.name
       elsif current_section == section
         section_lines << line
       end
     end
 
     section_lines
   end
 
   def write(fh)
     fh.truncate(0)
     fh.rewind
     @lines.each do |line|
       line.write(fh)
     end
     fh.flush
   end
 
   class Manipulator
     def initialize(config)
       @config = config
     end
 
     def set(section, name, value)
       setting = @config.setting(section, name)
       if setting
         setting.value = value
       else
-        @config << SectionLine.new("", section, "")
-        @config << SettingLine.new("", name, "=", value, "")
+        @config.add_section(section)
+        @config.add_setting(name, value)
       end
     end
   end
 
-  Line = Struct.new(:text) do
+  module LineNumber
+    def line_number
+      line = 0
+      previous_line = previous
+      while previous_line
+        line += 1
+        previous_line = previous_line.previous
+      end
+      line
+    end
+  end
+
+  Line = Struct.new(:previous, :text) do
+    include LineNumber
+
     def write(fh)
       fh.puts(text)
     end
   end
 
-  SettingLine = Struct.new(:prefix, :name, :infix, :value, :suffix) do
+  SettingLine = Struct.new(:previous, :prefix, :name, :infix, :value, :suffix) do
+    include LineNumber
+
     def write(fh)
       fh.write(prefix)
       fh.write(name)
       fh.write(infix)
       fh.write(value)
       fh.puts(suffix)
     end
   end
 
-  SectionLine = Struct.new(:prefix, :name, :suffix) do
+  SectionLine = Struct.new(:previous, :prefix, :name, :suffix) do
+    include LineNumber
+
     def write(fh)
       fh.write(prefix)
       fh.write("[")
       fh.write(name)
       fh.write("]")
       fh.puts(suffix)
     end
   end
+
+  class DefaultSection < SectionLine
+    def initialize
+      super(nil, "", DEFAULT_SECTION_NAME, "")
+    end
+
+    def write(fh)
+    end
+  end
 end