diff --git a/alfred/Makefile b/alfred/Makefile
index db9c71f..b088e45 100644
--- a/alfred/Makefile
+++ b/alfred/Makefile
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ include $(TOPDIR)/rules.mk
 #
 PKG_NAME:=alfred
 PKG_VERSION:=2013.3.0
-PKG_RELEASE:=0
+PKG_RELEASE:=4
 PKG_MD5SUM:=018ef6262cdd11e900af31d71a864b13
 
 PKG_SOURCE:=$(PKG_NAME)-$(PKG_VERSION).tar.gz
@@ -74,6 +74,8 @@ define Package/alfred/install
 	$(INSTALL_BIN) ./files/alfred.init $(1)/etc/init.d/alfred
 	$(INSTALL_DIR) $(1)/etc/config
 	$(INSTALL_DATA) ./files/alfred.config $(1)/etc/config/alfred
+	$(INSTALL_DIR) $(1)/etc/alfred
+	$(INSTALL_BIN) ./files/bat-hosts.lua $(1)/etc/alfred/bat-hosts.lua
 endef
 
 $(eval $(call BuildPackage,alfred))
diff --git a/alfred/files/alfred.config b/alfred/files/alfred.config
index b8fa9b2..9d3fff6 100644
--- a/alfred/files/alfred.config
+++ b/alfred/files/alfred.config
@@ -3,5 +3,6 @@ config 'alfred' 'alfred'
 	option mode 'master'
 	option batmanif 'bat0'
 	option start_vis '1'
+	option run_facters '1'
 # REMOVE THIS LINE TO ENABLE ALFRED
 	option disabled '1'
diff --git a/alfred/files/alfred.init b/alfred/files/alfred.init
index 56818d8..e52a7bd 100755
--- a/alfred/files/alfred.init
+++ b/alfred/files/alfred.init
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ START=99
 STOP=99
 alfred_args=""
 vis_args=""
+facters_dir="/etc/alfred"
 pid_file_alfred="/var/run/alfred.pid"
 pid_file_vis="/var/run/vis.pid"
 enable=0
@@ -48,6 +49,8 @@ alfred_start()
                 append vis_args "-i $batmanif -s"
         fi
 
+	config_get_bool run_facters "$section" run_facters 0
+
 	return 0
 }
 
@@ -63,12 +66,20 @@ start()
 	SERVICE_PID_FILE="$pid_file_alfred"
 	service_start /usr/sbin/alfred ${alfred_args}
 
-        if [ "$vis_enable" = "0" ]; then
-                exit 0
-        fi
-        echo "${initscript}: starting vis"
-	SERVICE_PID_FILE="$pid_file_vis"
-        service_start /usr/sbin/vis ${vis_args}
+	if [ "$vis_enable" = "1" ]; then
+		echo "${initscript}: starting vis"
+		SERVICE_PID_FILE="$pid_file_vis"
+		service_start /usr/sbin/vis ${vis_args}
+	fi
+
+	if [ "$run_facters" = "1" ]; then
+		( for file in $facters_dir/* ; do [ -x $file ] && $file ; done )
+		if ! ( grep -q "for file in $facters_dir/\* ; do " /etc/crontabs/root 2>/dev/null ) ; then
+			echo "*/5 * * * * ( for file in $facters_dir/* ; do [ -x \$file ] && \$file ; done )" >> /etc/crontabs/root
+			/etc/init.d/cron enable
+			/etc/init.d/cron restart
+		fi
+	fi
 }
 
 stop()
@@ -77,5 +88,6 @@ stop()
 	service_stop /usr/sbin/alfred
 	SERVICE_PID_FILE="$pid_file_vis"
 	[ -x /usr/sbin/vis ] && service_stop /usr/sbin/vis
-
+	sed "\|for file in $facters_dir/\* ; do |d" -i /etc/crontabs/root
+	/etc/init.d/cron restart
 }
diff --git a/alfred/files/bat-hosts.lua b/alfred/files/bat-hosts.lua
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7347fac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/alfred/files/bat-hosts.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+#!/usr/bin/lua
+
+local type_id = 64  -- bat-hosts
+
+function get_hostname()
+  local hostfile = io.open("/proc/sys/kernel/hostname", "r")
+  local ret_string = hostfile:read("*a")
+  ret_string = string.gsub(ret_string, "\n", "")
+  hostfile:close()
+  return ret_string
+end
+
+function get_interfaces_names()
+  local ret = {}
+
+  for name in io.popen("ls -1 /sys/class/net/"):lines() do
+    table.insert(ret, name)
+  end
+
+  return ret
+end
+
+function get_interface_address(name)
+  local addressfile = io.open("/sys/class/net/"..name.."/address", "r")
+  local ret_string = addressfile:read("*a")
+  ret_string = string.gsub(ret_string, "\n", "")
+  addressfile:close()
+  return ret_string
+end
+
+
+local function generate_bat_hosts()
+-- get hostname and interface macs/names
+-- then return a table containing valid bat-hosts lines
+  local n, i
+  local ifaces, ret = {}, {}
+
+  local hostname = get_hostname()
+
+  for n, i in ipairs(get_interfaces_names()) do
+    local address = get_interface_address(i)
+    ifaces[address] = i
+  end
+
+  for mac, iname in pairs(ifaces) do
+    if mac:match("^%x%x:%x%x:%x%x:%x%x:%x%x:%x%x$") and not mac:match("00:00:00:00:00:00") then
+      table.insert(ret, mac.." "..hostname.."_"..iname.."\n")
+    end
+  end
+
+  return ret
+end
+
+local function publish_bat_hosts()
+-- pass a raw chunk of data to alfred
+  local fd = io.popen("alfred -s " .. type_id, "w")
+  if fd then
+    local ret = generate_bat_hosts()
+    if ret then
+      fd:write(table.concat(ret))
+    end
+    fd:close()
+  end
+end
+
+local function write_bat_hosts(rows)
+  local content = { "### File generated by alfred-bat-hosts\n" }
+
+  -- merge the chunks from all nodes, de-escaping newlines
+  for _, row in ipairs(rows)  do
+    local node, value = unpack(row)
+    table.insert(content, "# Node ".. node .. "\n")
+    table.insert(content, value:gsub("\x0a", "\n") .. "\n")
+  end
+
+  -- write parsed content down to disk
+  local fd = io.open("/tmp/bat-hosts", "w")
+  if fd then
+    fd:write(table.concat(content))
+    fd:close()
+  end
+
+  -- try to make a symlink in /etc pointing to /tmp,
+  -- if it exists, ln will do nothing.
+  os.execute("ln -ns /tmp/bat-hosts /etc/bat-hosts 2>/dev/null")
+end
+
+local function receive_bat_hosts()
+-- read raw chunks from alfred, convert them to a nested table and call write_bat_hosts
+
+  local fd = io.popen("alfred -r " .. type_id)
+    --[[ this command returns something like
+    { "54:e6:fc:b9:cb:37", "00:11:22:33:44:55 ham_wlan0\x0a00:22:33:22:33:22 ham_eth0\x0a" },
+    { "90:f6:52:bb:ec:57", "00:22:33:22:33:23 spam\x0a" },
+    ]]--
+
+  if fd then
+      local output = fd:read("*a")
+      if output then
+        assert(loadstring("rows = {" .. output .. "}"))()
+        write_bat_hosts(rows)
+      end
+      fd:close()
+  end
+end
+
+publish_bat_hosts()
+receive_bat_hosts()