diff --git a/lib/puppet/application/face_base.rb b/lib/puppet/application/face_base.rb
index d28a8af3b..d02769412 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/application/face_base.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/application/face_base.rb
@@ -1,221 +1,231 @@
 require 'puppet/application'
 require 'puppet/face'
 require 'optparse'
 require 'pp'
 
 class Puppet::Application::FaceBase < Puppet::Application
   should_parse_config
   run_mode :agent
 
   option("--debug", "-d") do |arg|
     Puppet::Util::Log.level = :debug
   end
 
   option("--verbose", "-v") do
     Puppet::Util::Log.level = :info
   end
 
-  option("--render-as FORMAT") do |_arg|
-    format = _arg.to_sym
-    unless @render_method = Puppet::Network::FormatHandler.format(format)
-      unless format == :for_humans or format == :json
-        raise ArgumentError, "I don't know how to render '#{format}'"
-      end
-    end
-    @render_as = format
+  option("--render-as FORMAT") do |format|
+    self.render_as = format.to_sym
   end
 
   option("--mode RUNMODE", "-r") do |arg|
     raise "Invalid run mode #{arg}; supported modes are user, agent, master" unless %w{user agent master}.include?(arg)
     self.class.run_mode(arg.to_sym)
     set_run_mode self.class.run_mode
   end
 
 
   attr_accessor :face, :action, :type, :arguments, :render_as
 
-  def render(result)
-    format = render_as || action.render_as || :for_humans
+  def render_as=(format)
+    if format == :for_humans or format == :json
+      @render_as = format
+    elsif network_format = Puppet::Network::FormatHandler.format(format)
+      method = network_format.render_method
+      if method == "to_pson" then
+        @render_as = :json
+      else
+        @render_as = method.to_sym
+      end
+    else
+      raise ArgumentError, "I don't know how to render '#{format}'"
+    end
+  end
 
+  def render(result)
     # Invoke the rendering hook supplied by the user, if appropriate.
-    if hook = action.when_rendering(format) then
+    if hook = action.when_rendering(render_as) then
       result = hook.call(result)
     end
 
-    if format == :for_humans then
+    if render_as == :for_humans then
       render_for_humans(result)
-    elsif format == :json or @render_method == "to_pson"
+    elsif render_as == :json
       PSON::pretty_generate(result, :allow_nan => true, :max_nesting => false)
     else
-      result.send(@render_method)
+      result.send(render_as)
     end
   end
 
   def render_for_humans(result)
     # String to String
     return result if result.is_a? String
     return result if result.is_a? Numeric
 
     # Simple hash to table
     if result.is_a? Hash and result.keys.all? { |x| x.is_a? String or x.is_a? Numeric }
       output = ''
       column_a = result.map do |k,v| k.to_s.length end.max + 2
       column_b = 79 - column_a
       result.sort_by { |k,v| k.to_s } .each do |key, value|
         output << key.to_s.ljust(column_a)
         output << PP.pp(value, '', column_b).
           chomp.gsub(/\n */) { |x| x + (' ' * column_a) }
         output << "\n"
       end
       return output
     end
 
     # ...or pretty-print the inspect outcome.
     return result.pretty_inspect
   end
 
   def preinit
     super
     Signal.trap(:INT) do
       $stderr.puts "Cancelling Face"
       exit(0)
     end
   end
 
   def parse_options
     # We need to parse enough of the command line out early, to identify what
     # the action is, so that we can obtain the full set of options to parse.
 
     # REVISIT: These should be configurable versions, through a global
     # '--version' option, but we don't implement that yet... --daniel 2011-03-29
     @type = self.class.name.to_s.sub(/.+:/, '').downcase.to_sym
     @face = Puppet::Face[@type, :current]
 
     # Now, walk the command line and identify the action.  We skip over
     # arguments based on introspecting the action and all, and find the first
     # non-option word to use as the action.
     action = nil
     index  = -1
     until @action or (index += 1) >= command_line.args.length do
       item = command_line.args[index]
       if item =~ /^-/ then
         option = @face.options.find do |name|
           item =~ /^-+#{name.to_s.gsub(/[-_]/, '[-_]')}(?:[ =].*)?$/
         end
         if option then
           option = @face.get_option(option)
           # If we have an inline argument, just carry on.  We don't need to
           # care about optional vs mandatory in that case because we do a real
           # parse later, and that will totally take care of raising the error
           # when we get there. --daniel 2011-04-04
           if option.takes_argument? and !item.index('=') then
             index += 1 unless
               (option.optional_argument? and command_line.args[index + 1] =~ /^-/)
           end
         elsif option = find_global_settings_argument(item) then
           unless Puppet.settings.boolean? option.name then
             # As far as I can tell, we treat non-bool options as always having
             # a mandatory argument. --daniel 2011-04-05
             index += 1          # ...so skip the argument.
           end
         elsif option = find_application_argument(item) then
           index += 1 if (option[:argument] and option[:optional])
         else
           raise OptionParser::InvalidOption.new(item.sub(/=.*$/, ''))
         end
       else
         @action = @face.get_action(item.to_sym)
       end
     end
 
     if @action.nil?
-      @action = @face.get_default_action()
-      @is_default_action = true
+      if @action = @face.get_default_action() then
+        @is_default_action = true
+      else
+        Puppet.err "#{face.name} does not have a default action, and no action was given"
+        Puppet.err Puppet::Face[:help, :current].help(@face.name)
+        exit false
+      end
     end
 
     # Now we can interact with the default option code to build behaviour
     # around the full set of options we now know we support.
     @action.options.each do |option|
       option = @action.get_option(option) # make it the object.
       self.class.option(*option.optparse) # ...and make the CLI parse it.
-    end if @action
+    end
 
     # ...and invoke our parent to parse all the command line options.
     super
   end
 
   def find_global_settings_argument(item)
     Puppet.settings.each do |name, object|
       object.optparse_args.each do |arg|
         next unless arg =~ /^-/
         # sadly, we have to emulate some of optparse here...
         pattern = /^#{arg.sub('[no-]', '').sub(/[ =].*$/, '')}(?:[ =].*)?$/
         pattern.match item and return object
       end
     end
     return nil                  # nothing found.
   end
 
   def find_application_argument(item)
     self.class.option_parser_commands.each do |options, function|
       options.each do |option|
         next unless option =~ /^-/
         pattern = /^#{option.sub('[no-]', '').sub(/[ =].*$/, '')}(?:[ =].*)?$/
         next unless pattern.match(item)
         return {
           :argument => option =~ /[ =]/,
           :optional => option =~ /[ =]\[/
         }
       end
     end
     return nil                  # not found
   end
 
   def setup
     Puppet::Util::Log.newdestination :console
 
     @arguments = command_line.args
 
     # Note: because of our definition of where the action is set, we end up
     # with it *always* being the first word of the remaining set of command
     # line arguments.  So, strip that off when we construct the arguments to
     # pass down to the face action. --daniel 2011-04-04
     # Of course, now that we have default actions, we should leave the
     # "action" name on if we didn't actually consume it when we found our
     # action.
     @arguments.delete_at(0) unless @is_default_action
 
     # We copy all of the app options to the end of the call; This allows each
     # action to read in the options.  This replaces the older model where we
     # would invoke the action with options set as global state in the
     # interface object.  --daniel 2011-03-28
     @arguments << options
+
+    # If we don't have a rendering format, set one early.
+    self.render_as ||= (@action.render_as || :for_humans)
   end
 
 
   def main
     status = false
 
     # Call the method associated with the provided action (e.g., 'find').
     if @action
       begin
         result = @face.send(@action.name, *arguments)
         puts render(result) unless result.nil?
         status = true
       rescue Exception => detail
         puts detail.backtrace if Puppet[:trace]
         Puppet.err detail.to_s
       end
     else
-      if arguments.first.is_a? Hash
-        puts "#{face} does not have a default action"
-      else
-        puts "#{face} does not respond to action #{arguments.first}"
-      end
-
-      puts Puppet::Face[:help, :current].help(@face.name, *arguments)
+      puts "#{face} does not respond to action #{arguments.first}"
+      puts Puppet::Face[:help, :current].help(@face.name)
     end
 
     exit status
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/unit/application/face_base_spec.rb b/spec/unit/application/face_base_spec.rb
index 0c75236f8..275702085 100755
--- a/spec/unit/application/face_base_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/application/face_base_spec.rb
@@ -1,321 +1,321 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env rspec
 require 'spec_helper'
 require 'puppet/application/face_base'
 require 'tmpdir'
 
 class Puppet::Application::FaceBase::Basetest < Puppet::Application::FaceBase
 end
 
 describe Puppet::Application::FaceBase do
   let :app do
     app = Puppet::Application::FaceBase::Basetest.new
     app.command_line.stubs(:subcommand_name).returns('subcommand')
     Puppet::Util::Log.stubs(:newdestination)
     app
   end
 
   describe "#find_global_settings_argument" do
     it "should not match --ca to --ca-location" do
       option = mock('ca option', :optparse_args => ["--ca"])
       Puppet.settings.expects(:each).yields(:ca, option)
 
       app.find_global_settings_argument("--ca-location").should be_nil
     end
   end
 
   describe "#parse_options" do
     before :each do
       app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns %w{}
     end
 
     describe "with just an action" do
       before :all do
         # We have to stub Signal.trap to avoid a crazy mess where we take
         # over signal handling and make it impossible to cancel the test
         # suite run.
         #
         # It would be nice to fix this elsewhere, but it is actually hard to
         # capture this in rspec 2.5 and all. :(  --daniel 2011-04-08
         Signal.stubs(:trap)
         app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns %w{foo}
         app.preinit
         app.parse_options
       end
 
       it "should set the face based on the type" do
         app.face.name.should == :basetest
       end
 
       it "should find the action" do
         app.action.should be
         app.action.name.should == :foo
       end
     end
 
     it "should use the default action if not given any arguments" do
       app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns []
-      action = stub(:options => [])
+      action = stub(:options => [], :render_as => nil)
       Puppet::Face[:basetest, '0.0.1'].expects(:get_default_action).returns(action)
       app.stubs(:main)
       app.run
       app.action.should == action
       app.arguments.should == [ { } ]
     end
 
     it "should use the default action if not given a valid one" do
       app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns %w{bar}
-      action = stub(:options => [])
+      action = stub(:options => [], :render_as => nil)
       Puppet::Face[:basetest, '0.0.1'].expects(:get_default_action).returns(action)
       app.stubs(:main)
       app.run
       app.action.should == action
       app.arguments.should == [ 'bar', { } ]
     end
 
     it "should have no action if not given a valid one and there is no default action" do
       app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns %w{bar}
       Puppet::Face[:basetest, '0.0.1'].expects(:get_default_action).returns(nil)
       app.stubs(:main)
-      app.run
-      app.action.should be_nil
-      app.arguments.should == [ 'bar', { } ]
+      expect { app.run }.to exit_with 1
+      @logs.first.message.should =~ /does not have a default action/
     end
 
     it "should report a sensible error when options with = fail" do
       app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns %w{--action=bar foo}
       expect { app.preinit; app.parse_options }.
         to raise_error OptionParser::InvalidOption, /invalid option: --action/
     end
 
     it "should fail if an action option is before the action" do
       app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns %w{--action foo}
       expect { app.preinit; app.parse_options }.
         to raise_error OptionParser::InvalidOption, /invalid option: --action/
     end
 
     it "should fail if an unknown option is before the action" do
       app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns %w{--bar foo}
       expect { app.preinit; app.parse_options }.
         to raise_error OptionParser::InvalidOption, /invalid option: --bar/
     end
 
     it "should fail if an unknown option is after the action" do
       app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns %w{foo --bar}
       expect { app.preinit; app.parse_options }.
         to raise_error OptionParser::InvalidOption, /invalid option: --bar/
     end
 
     it "should accept --bar as an argument to a mandatory option after action" do
       app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns %w{foo --mandatory --bar}
       app.preinit
       app.parse_options
       app.action.name.should == :foo
       app.options.should == { :mandatory => "--bar" }
     end
 
     it "should accept --bar as an argument to a mandatory option before action" do
       app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns %w{--mandatory --bar foo}
       app.preinit
       app.parse_options
       app.action.name.should == :foo
       app.options.should == { :mandatory => "--bar" }
     end
 
     it "should not skip when --foo=bar is given" do
       app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns %w{--mandatory=bar --bar foo}
       expect { app.preinit; app.parse_options }.
         to raise_error OptionParser::InvalidOption, /invalid option: --bar/
     end
 
     { "boolean options before" => %w{--trace foo},
       "boolean options after"  => %w{foo --trace}
     }.each do |name, args|
       it "should accept global boolean settings #{name} the action" do
         app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns args
         app.preinit
         app.parse_options
         Puppet[:trace].should be_true
       end
     end
 
     { "before" => %w{--syslogfacility user1 foo},
       " after" => %w{foo --syslogfacility user1}
     }.each do |name, args|
       it "should accept global settings with arguments #{name} the action" do
         app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns args
         app.preinit
         app.parse_options
         Puppet[:syslogfacility].should == "user1"
       end
     end
 
     it "should handle application-level options" do
-      app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns %w{help --verbose help}
+      app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns %w{basetest --verbose return_true}
       app.preinit
       app.parse_options
       app.face.name.should == :basetest
     end
   end
 
   describe "#setup" do
     it "should remove the action name from the arguments" do
       app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns %w{--mandatory --bar foo}
       app.preinit
       app.parse_options
       app.setup
       app.arguments.should == [{ :mandatory => "--bar" }]
     end
 
     it "should pass positional arguments" do
       app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns %w{--mandatory --bar foo bar baz quux}
       app.preinit
       app.parse_options
       app.setup
       app.arguments.should == ['bar', 'baz', 'quux', { :mandatory => "--bar" }]
     end
   end
 
   describe "#main" do
     before :each do
       app.stubs(:puts)          # don't dump text to screen.
 
       app.face      = Puppet::Face[:basetest, '0.0.1']
       app.action    = app.face.get_action(:foo)
       app.arguments = ["myname", "myarg"]
     end
 
     it "should send the specified verb and name to the face" do
       app.face.expects(:foo).with(*app.arguments)
       expect { app.main }.to exit_with 0
     end
 
     it "should lookup help when it cannot do anything else" do
       app.action = nil
-      Puppet::Face[:help, :current].expects(:help).with(:basetest, *app.arguments)
+      Puppet::Face[:help, :current].expects(:help).with(:basetest)
       expect { app.main }.to exit_with 1
     end
 
     it "should use its render method to render any result" do
       app.expects(:render).with(app.arguments.length + 1)
       expect { app.main }.to exit_with 0
     end
   end
 
   describe "error reporting" do
     before :each do
       app.stubs(:puts)          # don't dump text to screen.
 
+      app.render_as = :json
       app.face      = Puppet::Face[:basetest, '0.0.1']
       app.arguments = []
     end
 
     it "should exit 0 when the action returns true" do
       app.action = app.face.get_action :return_true
       expect { app.main }.to exit_with 0
     end
 
     it "should exit 0 when the action returns false" do
       app.action = app.face.get_action :return_false
       expect { app.main }.to exit_with 0
     end
 
     it "should exit 0 when the action returns nil" do
       app.action = app.face.get_action :return_nil
       expect { app.main }.to exit_with 0
     end
 
     it "should exit non-0 when the action raises" do
       app.action = app.face.get_action :return_raise
       expect { app.main }.not_to exit_with 0
     end
-
-    it "should exit non-0 when the action does not exist" do
-      app.action = nil
-      app.arguments = ["foo"]
-      expect { app.main }.to exit_with 1
-    end
   end
 
   describe "#render" do
     before :each do
-      app.face   = Puppet::Face[:basetest, '0.0.1']
-      app.action = app.face.get_action(:foo)
+      app.face      = Puppet::Face[:basetest, '0.0.1']
+      app.action    = app.face.get_action(:foo)
     end
 
-    ["hello", 1, 1.0].each do |input|
-      it "should just return a #{input.class.name}" do
-        app.render(input).should == input
+    context "default rendering" do
+      before :each do app.setup end
+
+      ["hello", 1, 1.0].each do |input|
+        it "should just return a #{input.class.name}" do
+          app.render(input).should == input
+        end
       end
-    end
 
-    [[1, 2], ["one"], [{ 1 => 1 }]].each do |input|
-      it "should render #{input.class} using the 'pp' library" do
-        app.render(input).should == input.pretty_inspect
+      [[1, 2], ["one"], [{ 1 => 1 }]].each do |input|
+        it "should render #{input.class} using the 'pp' library" do
+          app.render(input).should == input.pretty_inspect
+        end
       end
-    end
 
-    it "should render a non-trivially-keyed Hash with the 'pp' library" do
-      hash = { [1,2] => 3, [2,3] => 5, [3,4] => 7 }
-      app.render(hash).should == hash.pretty_inspect
-    end
+      it "should render a non-trivially-keyed Hash with the 'pp' library" do
+        hash = { [1,2] => 3, [2,3] => 5, [3,4] => 7 }
+        app.render(hash).should == hash.pretty_inspect
+      end
 
-    it "should render a {String,Numeric}-keyed Hash into a table" do
-      object = Object.new
-      hash = { "one" => 1, "two" => [], "three" => {}, "four" => object,
-        5 => 5, 6.0 => 6 }
+      it "should render a {String,Numeric}-keyed Hash into a table" do
+        object = Object.new
+        hash = { "one" => 1, "two" => [], "three" => {}, "four" => object,
+          5 => 5, 6.0 => 6 }
 
-      # Gotta love ASCII-betical sort order.  Hope your objects are better
-      # structured for display than my test one is. --daniel 2011-04-18
-      app.render(hash).should == <<EOT
+        # Gotta love ASCII-betical sort order.  Hope your objects are better
+        # structured for display than my test one is. --daniel 2011-04-18
+        app.render(hash).should == <<EOT
 5      5
 6.0    6
 four   #{object.pretty_inspect.chomp}
 one    1
 three  {}
 two    []
 EOT
-    end
+      end
 
-    it "should render a hash nicely with a multi-line value" do
-      hash = {
-        "number" => { "1" => '1' * 40, "2" => '2' * 40, '3' => '3' * 40 },
-        "text"   => { "a" => 'a' * 40, 'b' => 'b' * 40, 'c' => 'c' * 40 }
-      }
-      app.render(hash).should == <<EOT
+      it "should render a hash nicely with a multi-line value" do
+        hash = {
+          "number" => { "1" => '1' * 40, "2" => '2' * 40, '3' => '3' * 40 },
+          "text"   => { "a" => 'a' * 40, 'b' => 'b' * 40, 'c' => 'c' * 40 }
+        }
+        app.render(hash).should == <<EOT
 number  {"1"=>"1111111111111111111111111111111111111111",
          "2"=>"2222222222222222222222222222222222222222",
          "3"=>"3333333333333333333333333333333333333333"}
 text    {"a"=>"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa",
          "b"=>"bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb",
          "c"=>"cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc"}
 EOT
-    end
+      end
 
-    it "should invoke the action rendering hook while rendering" do
-      app.action.set_rendering_method_for(:for_humans, proc { |value| "bi-winning!" })
-      app.action.render_as = :for_humans
-      app.render("bi-polar?").should == "bi-winning!"
-    end
+      it "should invoke the action rendering hook while rendering" do
+        app.action.set_rendering_method_for(:for_humans, proc { |value| "bi-winning!" })
+        app.render("bi-polar?").should == "bi-winning!"
+      end
 
-    it "should render JSON when asked for json" do
-      app.action.render_as = :json
-      json = app.render({ :one => 1, :two => 2 })
-      json.should =~ /"one":\s*1\b/
-      json.should =~ /"two":\s*2\b/
-      PSON.parse(json).should == { "one" => 1, "two" => 2 }
+      it "should render JSON when asked for json" do
+        app.render_as = :json
+        json = app.render({ :one => 1, :two => 2 })
+        json.should =~ /"one":\s*1\b/
+        json.should =~ /"two":\s*2\b/
+        PSON.parse(json).should == { "one" => 1, "two" => 2 }
+      end
     end
 
     it "should fail early if asked to render an invalid format" do
       app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns %w{--render-as interpretive-dance help help}
       # We shouldn't get here, thanks to the exception, and our expectation on
       # it, but this helps us fail if that slips up and all. --daniel 2011-04-27
       Puppet::Face[:help, :current].expects(:help).never
 
-      # ...and this is just annoying.  Thanks, puppet/application.rb.
-      $stderr.expects(:puts).
-        with "Could not parse options: I don't know how to render 'interpretive-dance'"
+      expect {
+        expect { app.setup; app.run }.to exit_with 1
+      }.to print(/I don't know how to render 'interpretive-dance'/)
+    end
 
-      expect { app.run }.to exit_with 1
+    it "should work if asked to render a NetworkHandler format" do
+      app.command_line.stubs(:args).returns %w{facts find dummy --render-as yaml}
+      expect { app.parse_options; app.setup; app.run }.to exit_with 0
     end
   end
 end