diff --git a/lib/puppet/provider/host/parsed.rb b/lib/puppet/provider/host/parsed.rb
index 4f15eff3f..a303c4bcf 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/provider/host/parsed.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/provider/host/parsed.rb
@@ -1,73 +1,43 @@
 require 'puppet/provider/parsedfile'
 
 hosts = nil
 case Facter.value(:operatingsystem)
 when "Solaris"; hosts = "/etc/inet/hosts"
 else
   hosts = "/etc/hosts"
 end
 
 
-      Puppet::Type.type(:host).provide(
-        :parsed,
-  :parent => Puppet::Provider::ParsedFile,
-  :default_target => hosts,
-        
-  :filetype => :flat
-) do
+Puppet::Type.type(:host).provide(:parsed,:parent => Puppet::Provider::ParsedFile,
+  :default_target => hosts,:filetype => :flat) do
   confine :exists => hosts
 
   text_line :comment, :match => /^#/
   text_line :blank, :match => /^\s*$/
 
-  record_line :parsed, :fields => %w{ip name host_aliases},
-    :optional => %w{host_aliases},
-    :rts => true do |line|
-    hash = {}
-    if line.sub!(/^(\S+)\s+(\S+)\s*/, '')
-      hash[:ip] = $1
-      hash[:name] = $2
-
-      if line.empty?
-        hash[:host_aliases] = []
+  record_line :parsed, :fields => %w{ip name host_aliases comment},
+    :optional => %w{host_aliases comment},
+    :match    => /^(\S+)\s+(\S+)\s*(.*?)?(?:\s*#\s*(.*))?$/,
+    :post_parse => proc { |hash|
+      # An absent comment should match "comment => ''"
+      hash[:comment] = '' if hash[:comment].nil? or hash[:comment] == :absent
+      unless hash[:host_aliases].nil? or hash[:host_aliases] == :absent
+        hash[:host_aliases] = hash[:host_aliases].split(/\s+/)
       else
-        line.sub!(/\s*/, '')
-        line.sub!(/^([^#]+)\s*/) do |value|
-          aliases = $1
-          unless aliases =~ /^\s*$/
-            hash[:host_aliases] = aliases.split(/\s+/)
-          end
-
-          ""
-        end
+        hash[:host_aliases] = []
       end
-    else
-      raise Puppet::Error, "Could not match '#{line}'"
-    end
-
-    hash[:host_aliases] = [] if hash[:host_aliases] == ""
-
-    return hash
-  end
-
-  # Convert the current object into a host-style string.
-  def self.to_line(hash)
-    return super unless hash[:record_type] == :parsed
-    [:ip, :name].each do |n|
-      raise ArgumentError, "#{n} is a required attribute for hosts" unless hash[n] and hash[n] != :absent
-    end
-
-    str = "#{hash[:ip]}\t#{hash[:name]}"
-
-    if hash.include? :host_aliases and !hash[:host_aliases].empty?
-      if hash[:host_aliases].is_a? Array
+    },
+    :to_line  => proc { |hash|
+      [:ip, :name].each do |n|
+        raise ArgumentError, "#{n} is a required attribute for hosts" unless hash[n] and hash[n] != :absent
+      end
+      str = "#{hash[:ip]}\t#{hash[:name]}"
+      if hash.include? :host_aliases and !hash[:host_aliases].empty?
         str += "\t#{hash[:host_aliases].join("\t")}"
-      else
-        raise ArgumentError, "Host aliases must be specified as an array"
       end
-    end
-
-    str
-  end
+      if hash.include? :comment and !hash[:comment].empty?
+        str += "\t# #{hash[:comment]}"
+      end
+      str
+    }
 end
-
diff --git a/lib/puppet/type/host.rb b/lib/puppet/type/host.rb
index 8ab750459..1af74d886 100755
--- a/lib/puppet/type/host.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/type/host.rb
@@ -1,98 +1,88 @@
 module Puppet
   newtype(:host) do
     ensurable
 
     newproperty(:ip) do
       desc "The host's IP address, IPv4 or IPv6."
 
-    validate do |value|
-      unless value =~ /((([0-9a-fA-F]+:){7}[0-9a-fA-F]+)|(([0-9a-fA-F]+:)*[0-9a-fA-F]+)?::(([0-9a-fA-F]+:)*[0-9a-fA-F]+)?)|((25[0-5]|2[0-4][\d]|[0-1]?\d?\d)(\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|[0-1]?\d?\d)){3})/
-      raise Puppet::Error, "Invalid IP address"
+      validate do |value|
+        unless value =~ /^((([0-9a-fA-F]+:){7}[0-9a-fA-F]+)|(([0-9a-fA-F]+:)*[0-9a-fA-F]+)?::(([0-9a-fA-F]+:)*[0-9a-fA-F]+)?)|((25[0-5]|2[0-4][\d]|[0-1]?\d?\d)(\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|[0-1]?\d?\d)){3})$/
+          raise Puppet::Error, "Invalid IP address"
+        end
       end
-    end
 
     end
 
     newproperty(:host_aliases) do
       desc "Any aliases the host might have.  Multiple values must be
         specified as an array."
 
       def insync?(is)
         is == @should
       end
 
       def is_to_s(currentvalue = @is)
         currentvalue = [currentvalue] unless currentvalue.is_a? Array
         currentvalue.join(" ")
       end
 
-      def retrieve
-        is = super
-        case is
-        when String
-          is = is.split(/\s*,\s*/)
-        when Symbol
-          is = [is]
-        when Array
-          # nothing
-        else
-          raise Puppet::DevError, "Invalid @is type #{is.class}"
-        end
-        is
-      end
-
       # We actually want to return the whole array here, not just the first
       # value.
       def should
         if defined?(@should)
           if @should == [:absent]
             return :absent
           else
             return @should
           end
         else
           return nil
         end
       end
 
       def should_to_s(newvalue = @should)
         newvalue.join(" ")
       end
 
       validate do |value|
         raise Puppet::Error, "Host aliases cannot include whitespace" if value =~ /\s/
+        raise Puppet::Error, "Host alias cannot be an empty string. Use an empty array to delete all host_aliases " if value =~ /^\s*$/
       end
     end
 
+    newproperty(:comment) do
+      desc "A comment that will be attached to the line with a # character"
+    end
+
     newproperty(:target) do
       desc "The file in which to store service information.  Only used by
         those providers that write to disk."
 
       defaultto { if @resource.class.defaultprovider.ancestors.include?(Puppet::Provider::ParsedFile)
         @resource.class.defaultprovider.default_target
         else
           nil
         end
       }
     end
 
     newparam(:name) do
       desc "The host name."
 
       isnamevar
 
       validate do |value|
         # LAK:NOTE See http://snurl.com/21zf8  [groups_google_com]
         x = value.split('.').each do |hostpart|
           unless hostpart =~ /^([\d\w]+|[\d\w][\d\w\-]+[\d\w])$/
             raise Puppet::Error, "Invalid host name"
           end
         end
       end
     end
 
     @doc = "Installs and manages host entries.  For most systems, these
       entries will just be in `/etc/hosts`, but some systems (notably OS X)
       will have different solutions."
   end
 end