diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3f42dbfb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search"]
+	path = lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search
+	url = https://github.com/edelight/chef-solo-search.git
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9711c6be..7b3ac15c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
 # 0.3.0 / _In progress_
 
+**NOTE**: This release includes breaking changes. See [upgrade instructions](https://github.com/matschaffer/knife-solo/wiki/Upgrading-to-0.3.0) for more information.
+
 ## Changes and new features
 
-* Moved root path configuration into `knife[:solo_path]` and use $HOME/chef-solo by default ([197])
+* [BREAKING] Generate solo.rb based on knife.rb settings ([199])
+* [BREAKING] Set root path with `--provisioning-path` or `knife[:provisioning_path]` and use ~/chef-solo by default ([1], [86], [125], [128], [177], [197])
+* Read protect the provision directory from the world ([1])
 * `--prerelease` option to allow pre-release versions of chef omnibus or rubygem to be installed ([205])
 * Prepare/bootstrap now installs the same version of Chef that the workstation is running ([186])
 * Remove hard dependency on Librarian-Chef ([211])
@@ -28,9 +32,15 @@
 * [Naoya Ito][naoya]
 * [David Radcliffe][dwradcliffe]
 
+[1]: https://github.com/matschaffer/knife-solo/issues/1
+[86]: https://github.com/matschaffer/knife-solo/issues/86
+[125]: https://github.com/matschaffer/knife-solo/issues/125
+[128]: https://github.com/matschaffer/knife-solo/issues/128
+[177]: https://github.com/matschaffer/knife-solo/issues/177
 [185]: https://github.com/matschaffer/knife-solo/issues/185
 [186]: https://github.com/matschaffer/knife-solo/issues/186
 [197]: https://github.com/matschaffer/knife-solo/issues/197
+[199]: https://github.com/matschaffer/knife-solo/issues/199
 [200]: https://github.com/matschaffer/knife-solo/issues/200
 [204]: https://github.com/matschaffer/knife-solo/issues/204
 [205]: https://github.com/matschaffer/knife-solo/issues/205
@@ -62,7 +72,6 @@
 * Drop support for Debian 5.0 Lenny (#172)
 * Integration tests for Debian 6 and 7 (74c6ed1 - f299a6)
 * Travis tests for both Chef 10 and 11 (#183)
-* Remove solo.rb and transfer cookbooks to user-owned path (#1, #86, #125, #128, #177). See https://github.com/matschaffer/knife-solo/wiki/Upgrading-to-0.2.0
 
 ## Fixes
 
diff --git a/Manifest.txt b/Manifest.txt
index 380444e3..12b0c6b3 100644
--- a/Manifest.txt
+++ b/Manifest.txt
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@ Rakefile
 lib/chef/knife/bootstrap_solo.rb
 lib/chef/knife/cook.rb
 lib/chef/knife/kitchen.rb
-lib/chef/knife/patches/parser.rb
-lib/chef/knife/patches/search.rb
 lib/chef/knife/prepare.rb
 lib/chef/knife/solo_bootstrap.rb
 lib/chef/knife/solo_clean.rb
@@ -20,12 +18,13 @@ lib/knife-solo/bootstraps/darwin.rb
 lib/knife-solo/bootstraps/freebsd.rb
 lib/knife-solo/bootstraps/linux.rb
 lib/knife-solo/bootstraps/sun_os.rb
-lib/knife-solo/config.rb
 lib/knife-solo/deprecated_command.rb
 lib/knife-solo/gitignore.rb
 lib/knife-solo/info.rb
 lib/knife-solo/node_config_command.rb
-lib/knife-solo/resources/solo.rb
+lib/knife-solo/resources/knife.rb
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search
+lib/knife-solo/resources/solo.rb.erb
 lib/knife-solo/ssh_command.rb
 lib/knife-solo/tools.rb
 test/bootstraps_test.rb
@@ -49,7 +48,6 @@ test/integration/ubuntu10_04_test.rb
 test/integration/ubuntu12_04_bootstrap_test.rb
 test/integration/ubuntu12_04_test.rb
 test/integration_helper.rb
-test/knife-solo/config_test.rb
 test/knife_bootstrap_test.rb
 test/minitest/parallel.rb
 test/node_config_command_test.rb
@@ -77,3 +75,26 @@ test/support/test_case.rb
 test/support/validation_helper.rb
 test/test_helper.rb
 test/tools_test.rb
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/.travis.yml
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/CHANGELOG
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/LICENSE
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/NOTICE
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/README.md
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/libraries/search.rb
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/libraries/search/overrides.rb
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/libraries/search/parser.rb
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/libraries/vendor/chef/solr_query/lucene.treetop
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/libraries/vendor/chef/solr_query/lucene_nodes.rb
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/libraries/vendor/chef/solr_query/query_transform.rb
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/metadata.rb
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/recipes/default.rb
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/tests/Gemfile
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/tests/data/data_bags/node/alpha.json
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/tests/data/data_bags/node/beta.json
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/tests/data/data_bags/node/without_json_class.json
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/tests/data/data_bags/users/jerry.json
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/tests/data/data_bags/users/lea.json
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/tests/data/data_bags/users/mike.json
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/tests/data/data_bags/users/tom.json
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/tests/test_data_bags.rb
+lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search/tests/test_search.rb
diff --git a/README.rdoc b/README.rdoc
index 368567fa..895c9295 100644
--- a/README.rdoc
+++ b/README.rdoc
@@ -35,12 +35,13 @@ The init command simply takes a name of the directory to store the kitchen struc
 Currently the directory structure looks like this, but could change as development continues.
 
     mychefrepo/
+    ├── .chef
+    │   └── knife.rb
     ├── cookbooks
     ├── data_bags
     ├── nodes
     ├── roles
-    ├── site-cookbooks
-    └── solo.rb
+    └── site-cookbooks
 
 === Prepare command
 
@@ -71,7 +72,7 @@ The cook command uploads the current kitchen to the server and runs chef-solo on
 
 This uploads all of your cookbooks in addition to a patch that allows you to use data_bags in a read-only fashion from the +data_bags+ folder.
 
-This also supports encrypted data bags. To use them, place your key in +data_bag_key+ in the root of your kitchen (or if you move it make sure to update +solo.rb+ to reflect the new path).
+This also supports encrypted data bags. To use them, set the path to your key with +encrypted_data_bag_secret+ in .chef/knife.rb.
 
 The knife command for creating encrypted data bags doesn't work well without a Chef server, so use {this gist}[https://gist.github.com/2896172] as an example on how to create encrypted data bag items on your local file system.
 
@@ -99,9 +100,9 @@ The clean command removes an uploaded kitchen completely from the target host. T
 
 The cook command will work on Windows node if you meet the following howto:
 
-==== Init then tweak
+==== Init as normally
 
-- run <tt>knife solo init</tt> then edit solo.rb to use Windows path-naming (see https://gist.github.com/1773854)
+- run <tt>knife solo init</tt>
 
 ==== Prepare the node manually
 
diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index 814632e6..835eee2c 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'lib', 'knife-solo', 'info')
 MANIFEST_IGNORES = %w[
     .travis.yml
     .gitignore
+    .gitmodules
     Gemfile
     Gemfile.lock
     Manifest.txt
@@ -24,10 +25,11 @@ namespace :manifest do
 
   desc 'Updates Manifest.txt with a list of files from git'
   task :update do
-    git_files = `git ls-files`.split("\n")
+    git_files       = `git ls-files`.split("\n")
+    submodule_files = `git submodule foreach -q 'for f in $(git ls-files); do echo $path/$f; done'`.split("\n")
 
     File.open('Manifest.txt', 'w') do |f|
-      f.puts((git_files - MANIFEST_IGNORES).join("\n"))
+      f.puts((git_files + submodule_files - MANIFEST_IGNORES).join("\n"))
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/knife-solo.gemspec b/knife-solo.gemspec
index a41a4455..ff433c1b 100644
--- a/knife-solo.gemspec
+++ b/knife-solo.gemspec
@@ -34,4 +34,5 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
 
   s.add_dependency 'chef',     chef_version
   s.add_dependency 'net-ssh',  '>= 2.2.2', '< 3.0'
+  s.add_dependency 'erubis',    '~> 2.7.0'
 end
diff --git a/lib/chef/knife/patches/parser.rb b/lib/chef/knife/patches/parser.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 69b07e61..00000000
--- a/lib/chef/knife/patches/parser.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,223 +0,0 @@
-#
-# Copyright 2011, edelight GmbH
-#
-# Authors:
-#       Markus Korn <markus.korn@edelight.de>
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-#
-
-require 'treetop'
-require 'chef/solr_query/query_transform'
-
-# mock QueryTransform such that we can access the location of the lucene grammar
-class Chef
-  class SolrQuery
-    class QueryTransform
-      def self.base_path
-        class_variable_get(:@@base_path)
-      end
-    end
-  end
-end
-
-def build_flat_hash(hsh, prefix="")
-  result = {}
-  hsh.each_pair do |key, value|
-    if value.kind_of?(Hash)
-      result.merge!(build_flat_hash(value, "#{prefix}#{key}_"))
-    else
-      result[prefix+key] = value
-    end
-  end
-  result
-end
-
-module Lucene
-
-  class Term < Treetop::Runtime::SyntaxNode
-    # compares a query value and a value, tailing '*'-wildcards are handled correctly.
-    # Value can either be a string or an array, all other objects are converted
-    # to a string and than checked.
-    def match( value )
-      if value.is_a?(Array)
-        value.any?{ |x| self.match(x) }
-      else
-        File.fnmatch(self.text_value, value.to_s)
-      end
-    end
-  end
-
-  class Field < Treetop::Runtime::SyntaxNode
-    # simple field -> value matches, supporting tailing '*'-wildcards in keys
-    # as well as in values
-    def match( item )
-      keys = self.elements[0].match(item)
-      if keys.nil?
-        false
-      else
-        keys.any?{ |key| self.elements[1].match(item[key]) }
-      end
-    end
-  end
-
-  # we don't support range matches
-  # range of integers would be easy to implement
-  # but string ranges are hard
-  class FiledRange < Treetop::Runtime::SyntaxNode
-  end
-
-  # we handle '[* TO *]' as a special case since it is common in
-  # cookbooks for matching the existence of keys
-  class InclFieldRange
-    def match(item)
-      field = self.elements[0].text_value
-      range_start = self.elements[1].transform
-      range_end = self.elements[2].transform
-      if range_start == "*" and range_end == "*"
-        !!item[field]
-      else
-        raise "Ranges not really supported yet"
-      end
-    end
-  end
-
-  class ExclFieldRange < FieldRange
-  end
-
-  class RangeValue < Treetop::Runtime::SyntaxNode
-  end
-
-  class FieldName < Treetop::Runtime::SyntaxNode
-    def match( item )
-      if self.text_value.count("_") > 0
-        item.merge!(build_flat_hash(item))
-      end
-      if self.text_value.end_with?("*")
-        part = self.text_value.chomp("*")
-        item.keys.collect{ |key| key.start_with?(part)? key: nil}.compact
-      else
-        if item[self.text_value]
-          [self.text_value,]
-        else
-          nil
-        end
-      end
-    end
-  end
-
-  class Body < Treetop::Runtime::SyntaxNode
-    def match( item )
-      self.elements[0].match( item )
-    end
-  end
-
-  class Group < Treetop::Runtime::SyntaxNode
-    def match( item )
-      self.elements[0].match(item)
-    end
-  end
-
-  class BinaryOp < Treetop::Runtime::SyntaxNode
-    def match( item )
-      self.elements[1].match(
-        self.elements[0].match(item),
-        self.elements[2].match(item)
-      )
-    end
-  end
-
-  class OrOperator < Treetop::Runtime::SyntaxNode
-    def match( cond1, cond2 )
-      cond1 or cond2
-    end
-  end
-
-  class AndOperator < Treetop::Runtime::SyntaxNode
-    def match( cond1, cond2 )
-      cond1 and cond2
-    end
-  end
-
-  # we don't support fuzzy string matching
-  class FuzzyOp < Treetop::Runtime::SyntaxNode
-  end
-
-  class BoostOp < Treetop::Runtime::SyntaxNode
-  end
-
-  class FuzzyParam < Treetop::Runtime::SyntaxNode
-  end
-
-  class UnaryOp < Treetop::Runtime::SyntaxNode
-    def match( item )
-      self.elements[0].match(
-        self.elements[1].match(item)
-      )
-    end
-  end
-
-  class NotOperator < Treetop::Runtime::SyntaxNode
-    def match( cond )
-      not cond
-    end
-  end
-
-  class RequiredOperator < Treetop::Runtime::SyntaxNode
-  end
-
-  class ProhibitedOperator < Treetop::Runtime::SyntaxNode
-  end
-
-  class Phrase < Treetop::Runtime::SyntaxNode
-    # a quoted ::Term
-    def match( value )
-      self.elements[0].match(value)
-    end
-  end
-end
-
-class Query
-  # initialize the parser by using the grammar shipped with chef
-  @@grammar = File.join(Chef::SolrQuery::QueryTransform.base_path, "lucene.treetop")
-  Treetop.load(@@grammar)
-  @@parser = LuceneParser.new
-
-  def self.parse(data)
-    # parse the query into a query tree
-    if data.nil?
-      data = "*:*"
-    end
-    tree = @@parser.parse(data)
-    if tree.nil?
-      msg = "Parse error at offset: #{@@parser.index}\n"
-      msg += "Reason: #{@@parser.failure_reason}"
-      raise "Query #{data} is not supported: #{msg}"
-    end
-    self.clean_tree(tree)
-    tree
-  end
-
-  private
-
-  def self.clean_tree(root_node)
-    # remove all SyntaxNode elements from the tree, we don't need them as
-    # the related ruby class already knowns what to do.
-    return if root_node.elements.nil?
-    root_node.elements.delete_if do |node|
-      node.class.name == "Treetop::Runtime::SyntaxNode"
-    end
-    root_node.elements.each { |node| self.clean_tree(node) }
-  end
-end
-
diff --git a/lib/chef/knife/patches/search.rb b/lib/chef/knife/patches/search.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index b528c716..00000000
--- a/lib/chef/knife/patches/search.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,110 +0,0 @@
-#
-# Copyright 2011, edelight GmbH
-#
-# Authors:
-#       Markus Korn <markus.korn@edelight.de>
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-#
-
-if Chef::Config[:solo]
-
-  if (defined? require_relative).nil?
-    # defenition of 'require_relative' for ruby < 1.9, found on stackoverflow.com
-    def require_relative(relative_feature)
-      c = caller.first
-      fail "Can't parse #{c}" unless c.rindex(/:\d+(:in `.*')?$/)
-      file = $`
-      if /\A\((.*)\)/ =~ file # eval, etc.
-        raise LoadError, "require_relative is called in #{$1}"
-      end
-      absolute = File.expand_path(relative_feature, File.dirname(file))
-      require absolute
-    end
-  end
-
-  require_relative 'parser.rb'
-
-  class Chef
-    module Mixin
-      module Language
-
-        # Overwrite the search method of recipes to operate locally by using
-        # data found in data_bags.
-        # Only very basic lucene syntax is supported and also sorting the result
-        # is not implemented, if this search method does not support a given query
-        # an exception is raised.
-        # This search() method returns a block iterator or an Array, depending
-        # on how this method is called.
-        def search(obj, query=nil, sort=nil, start=0, rows=1000, &block)
-          if !sort.nil?
-            raise "Sorting search results is not supported"
-          end
-          @_query = Query.parse(query)
-          if @_query.nil?
-            raise "Query #{query} is not supported"
-          end
-          @_result = []
-
-          case obj
-          when :node
-            search_nodes(start, rows, &block)
-          when :role
-            search_roles(start, rows, &block)
-          else
-            search_data_bag(obj, start, rows, &block)
-          end
-
-
-          if block_given?
-            pos = 0
-            while (pos >= start and pos < (start + rows) and pos < @_result.size)
-              yield @_result[pos]
-              pos += 1
-            end
-          else
-            return @_result.slice(start, rows)
-          end
-        end
-
-        def search_nodes(start, rows, &block)
-          Dir.glob(File.join(Chef::Config[:data_bag_path], "node", "*.json")).map do |f|
-            # parse and hashify the node
-            node = JSON.parse(IO.read(f))
-            if @_query.match(node.to_hash)
-              @_result << node
-            end
-          end
-        end
-
-        def search_roles(start, rows, &block)
-          raise "Role searching not implemented"
-        end
-
-        def search_data_bag(bag_name, start, rows, &block)
-          secret_path = Chef::Config[:encrypted_data_bag_secret]
-          data_bag(bag_name.to_s).each do |bag_item_id|
-            if secret_path && secret = Chef::EncryptedDataBagItem.load_secret(secret_path)
-              bag_item = Chef::EncryptedDataBagItem.load(bag_name, bag_item_id, secret)
-            else
-              bag_item = data_bag_item(bag_name.to_s, bag_item_id)
-            end
-            if @_query.match(bag_item)
-              @_result << bag_item
-            end
-          end
-        end
-      end
-    end
-  end
-end
diff --git a/lib/chef/knife/solo_clean.rb b/lib/chef/knife/solo_clean.rb
index 5db89370..4a3de38e 100644
--- a/lib/chef/knife/solo_clean.rb
+++ b/lib/chef/knife/solo_clean.rb
@@ -1,24 +1,36 @@
 require 'chef/knife'
 
 require 'knife-solo/ssh_command'
-require 'knife-solo/config'
 
 class Chef
   class Knife
     class SoloClean < Knife
       include KnifeSolo::SshCommand
 
+      deps do
+        require 'knife-solo/tools'
+        KnifeSolo::SshCommand.load_deps
+      end
+
       banner "knife solo clean [USER@]HOSTNAME"
 
+      option :provisioning_path,
+        :long        => '--provisioning-path path',
+        :description => 'Where to store kitchen data on the node'
+        # TODO de-duplicate this option with solo cook
+
       def run
-        @solo_config = KnifeSolo::Config.new
         validate!
-        run_command "rm -rf #{@solo_config.chef_path}"
+        run_command "rm -rf #{provisioning_path}"
       end
 
       def validate!
         validate_ssh_options!
-        @solo_config.validate!
+      end
+
+      def provisioning_path
+        # TODO de-duplicate this method with solo cook
+        KnifeSolo::Tools.config_value(config, :provisioning_path, '~/chef-solo')
       end
     end
   end
diff --git a/lib/chef/knife/solo_cook.rb b/lib/chef/knife/solo_cook.rb
index 6f30243d..912480c0 100644
--- a/lib/chef/knife/solo_cook.rb
+++ b/lib/chef/knife/solo_cook.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 require 'knife-solo/ssh_command'
 require 'knife-solo/node_config_command'
 require 'knife-solo/tools'
-require 'knife-solo/config'
 
 class Chef
   class Knife
@@ -19,7 +18,9 @@ class SoloCook < Knife
 
       deps do
         require 'chef/cookbook/chefignore'
+        require 'erubis'
         require 'pathname'
+        require 'tempfile'
         KnifeSolo::SshCommand.load_deps
         KnifeSolo::NodeConfigCommand.load_deps
       end
@@ -53,9 +54,11 @@ class SoloCook < Knife
         :long        => '--override-runlist',
         :description => 'Replace current run list with specified items'
 
-      def run
-        @solo_config = KnifeSolo::Config.new
+      option :provisioning_path,
+        :long        => '--provisioning-path path',
+        :description => 'Where to store kitchen data on the node'
 
+      def run
         time('Run') do
 
           if config[:skip_chef_check]
@@ -70,21 +73,45 @@ def run
           check_chef_version if config[:chef_check]
           generate_node_config
           librarian_install if config_value(:librarian, true)
-          rsync_kitchen
-          add_patches
-          add_solo_config unless using_custom_solorb?
+          sync_kitchen
+          generate_solorb
           cook unless config[:sync_only]
         end
       end
 
-      def_delegators :@solo_config,
-        :chef_path,
-        :using_custom_solorb?,
-        :patch_path
-
       def validate!
         validate_ssh_options!
-        @solo_config.validate!
+
+        if File.exist? 'solo.rb'
+          ui.warn "solo.rb found, but since knife-solo v0.3.0 it is not used any more"
+          ui.warn "Please read the upgrade instructions: https://github.com/matschaffer/knife-solo/wiki/Upgrading-to-0.3.0"
+        end
+      end
+
+      def provisioning_path
+        # TODO ~ will likely break on cmd.exe based windows sessions
+        config_value(:provisioning_path, '~/chef-solo')
+      end
+
+      def sync_kitchen
+        ui.msg "Uploading the kitchen..."
+        run_portable_mkdir_p(provisioning_path, '0700')
+
+        cookbook_paths.each_with_index do |path, i|
+          upload_to_provision_path(path, "/cookbooks-#{i + 1}", 'cookbook_path')
+        end
+        upload_to_provision_path(nodes_path, 'nodes')
+        upload_to_provision_path(:role_path, 'roles')
+        upload_to_provision_path(:data_bag_path, 'data_bags')
+        upload_to_provision_path(:encrypted_data_bag_secret, 'data_bag_key')
+      end
+
+      def cookbook_paths
+        Array(Chef::Config[:cookbook_path]) + [KnifeSolo.resource('patch_cookbooks').to_s]
+      end
+
+      def nodes_path
+        'nodes'
       end
 
       def chefignore
@@ -136,10 +163,10 @@ def librarian_install
           ui.warn "Librarian-Chef could not be loaded"
           ui.warn "Please add the librarian gem to your Gemfile or install it manually with `gem install librarian`"
         else
-          ui.msg "Installing Librarian cookbooks..."
-          Librarian::Action::Resolve.new(librarian_env).run
-          Librarian::Action::Install.new(librarian_env).run
-        end
+        ui.msg "Installing Librarian cookbooks..."
+        Librarian::Action::Resolve.new(librarian_env).run
+        Librarian::Action::Install.new(librarian_env).run
+      end
       end
 
       def load_librarian
@@ -157,29 +184,43 @@ def librarian_env
         @librarian_env ||= Librarian::Chef::Environment.new
       end
 
-      def rsync_kitchen
-        ui.msg "Syncing kitchen..."
-        time('Rsync kitchen') do
-          rsync('./', chef_path, '--delete')
-        end
+      def generate_solorb
+        ui.msg "Generating solo config..."
+        template = Erubis::Eruby.new(KnifeSolo.resource('solo.rb.erb').read)
+        write(template.result(binding), provisioning_path + '/solo.rb')
       end
 
-      def add_patches
-        ui.msg "Adding patches..."
-        run_portable_mkdir_p(patch_path)
-        Dir[Pathname.new(__FILE__).dirname.join("patches", "*.rb").to_s].each do |patch|
-          time(patch) do
-            rsync(patch, patch_path)
-          end
+      def upload(src, dest)
+        rsync(src, dest)
+      end
+
+      def upload_to_provision_path(src, dest, key_name = 'path')
+        if src.is_a? Symbol
+          key_name = src.to_s
+          src = Chef::Config[src]
+        end
+
+        if src.nil?
+          Chef::Log.debug "'#{key_name}' not set"
+        elsif !File.exist?(src)
+          ui.warn "Local #{key_name} '#{src}' does not exist"
+        else
+          src << '/' if File.directory? src
+          upload(src, File.join(provisioning_path, dest))
         end
       end
 
-      def add_solo_config
-        ui.msg "Syncing solo config..."
-        rsync(KnifeSolo.resource('solo.rb'), chef_path)
+      # TODO probably can get Net::SSH to do this directly
+      def write(content, dest)
+        file = Tempfile.new(File.basename(dest))
+        file.write(content)
+        file.close
+        upload(file.path, dest)
+      ensure
+        file.unlink
       end
 
-      def rsync(source_path, target_path, extra_opts = '')
+      def rsync(source_path, target_path, extra_opts = '--delete')
         cmd = %Q{rsync -rl #{rsync_permissions} --rsh="ssh #{ssh_args}" #{extra_opts} #{rsync_excludes.collect{ |ignore| "--exclude #{ignore} " }.join} #{adjust_rsync_path_on_client(source_path)} :#{adjust_rsync_path_on_node(target_path)}}
         ui.msg cmd if debug?
         system! cmd
@@ -200,7 +241,7 @@ def chef_version
 
       def cook
         ui.msg "Running Chef..."
-        cmd = "sudo chef-solo -c #{chef_path}/solo.rb -j #{chef_path}/#{node_config}"
+        cmd = "sudo chef-solo -c #{provisioning_path}/solo.rb -j #{provisioning_path}/#{node_config}"
         cmd << " -l debug" if debug?
         cmd << " -N #{config[:chef_node_name]}" if config[:chef_node_name]
         cmd << " -W" if config[:why_run]
diff --git a/lib/chef/knife/solo_init.rb b/lib/chef/knife/solo_init.rb
index f249c6a4..2c6cc6a0 100644
--- a/lib/chef/knife/solo_init.rb
+++ b/lib/chef/knife/solo_init.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 require 'chef/knife'
+require 'fileutils'
 
 class Chef
   class Knife
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@ def run
         @base = @name_args.first
         validate!
         create_kitchen
+        create_config
         create_cupboards %w[nodes roles data_bags site-cookbooks cookbooks]
         librarian_init if config[:librarian]
       end
@@ -52,6 +54,15 @@ def create_kitchen
         mkdir @base unless @base == '.'
       end
 
+      def create_config
+        ui.msg "Creating knife.rb in kitchen..."
+        mkdir_p File.join(@base, '.chef')
+        knife_rb = File.join(@base, '.chef', 'knife.rb')
+        unless File.exist?(knife_rb)
+          cp KnifeSolo.resource('knife.rb'), knife_rb
+        end
+      end
+
       def librarian_init
         ui.msg "Setting up Librarian..."
         cheffile = File.join(@base, 'Cheffile')
diff --git a/lib/knife-solo/config.rb b/lib/knife-solo/config.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 190503fa..00000000
--- a/lib/knife-solo/config.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,39 +0,0 @@
-require 'chef/config'
-
-module KnifeSolo
-  # Encapsulates some logic for checking and extracting
-  # path configuration from the structure of the
-  # current kitchen
-  class Config
-    def solo_path
-      Chef::Config.knife[:solo_path]
-    end
-
-    def chef_path
-      solo_path || './chef-solo'
-    end
-
-    def cookbook_path
-      if using_custom_solorb?
-        Chef::Config.from_file('solo.rb')
-        Array(Chef::Config.cookbook_path).first
-      else
-        chef_path + '/cookbooks'
-      end
-    end
-
-    def patch_path
-      cookbook_path + "/chef_solo_patches/libraries"
-    end
-
-    def using_custom_solorb?
-      File.exist?('solo.rb')
-    end
-
-    def validate!
-      raise Error, "You have a solo.rb file, but knife[:solo_path] is not set. You probably need to delete solo.rb unless you've customized it. See https://github.com/matschaffer/knife-solo/wiki/Upgrading-to-0.3.0 for more information." if using_custom_solorb? && solo_path.nil?
-    end
-
-    class Error < StandardError; end
-  end
-end
diff --git a/lib/knife-solo/resources/knife.rb b/lib/knife-solo/resources/knife.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a22053b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/knife-solo/resources/knife.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+cookbook_path ["cookbooks", "site-cookbooks"]
+role_path     "roles"
+data_bag_path "data_bags"
+#encrypted_data_bag_secret "data_bag_key"
diff --git a/lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search b/lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search
new file mode 160000
index 00000000..5ba022d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/knife-solo/resources/patch_cookbooks/chef-solo-search
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 5ba022d02c51cafc7b5323c1209fbb7936e4f60b
diff --git a/lib/knife-solo/resources/solo.rb b/lib/knife-solo/resources/solo.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index ea2b1cfd..00000000
--- a/lib/knife-solo/resources/solo.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-base = File.expand_path('..', __FILE__)
-
-data_bag_path             base + '/data_bags'
-encrypted_data_bag_secret base + '/data_bag_key'
-role_path                 base + '/roles'
-cookbook_path             [ base + '/site-cookbooks', base + '/cookbooks' ]
diff --git a/lib/knife-solo/resources/solo.rb.erb b/lib/knife-solo/resources/solo.rb.erb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ed1606df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/knife-solo/resources/solo.rb.erb
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+base = File.expand_path('..', __FILE__)
+
+role_path                 File.join(base, 'roles')
+data_bag_path             File.join(base, 'data_bags')
+encrypted_data_bag_secret File.join(base, 'data_bag_key')
+
+cookbook_path []
+<% cookbook_paths.each_with_index do |path, i| -%>
+cookbook_path << File.join(base, 'cookbooks-<%= i+1 %>') # <%= path %>
+<% end -%>
diff --git a/lib/knife-solo/ssh_command.rb b/lib/knife-solo/ssh_command.rb
index 88002f7a..33567b7c 100644
--- a/lib/knife-solo/ssh_command.rb
+++ b/lib/knife-solo/ssh_command.rb
@@ -257,12 +257,13 @@ def run_command(command, options={})
     # TODO:
     # - move this to a dedicated "portability" module?
     # - use ruby in all cases instead?
-    def run_portable_mkdir_p(folder)
+    def run_portable_mkdir_p(folder, mode = nil)
       if windows_node?
         # no mkdir -p on windows - fake it
-        run_command %Q{ruby -e "require 'fileutils'; FileUtils.mkdir_p('#{folder}')"}
+        run_command %Q{ruby -e "require 'fileutils'; FileUtils.mkdir_p('#{folder}', :mode => #{mode})"}
       else
-        run_command "mkdir -p #{folder}"
+        mode_option = (mode.nil? ? "" : "-m #{mode}")
+        run_command "mkdir -p #{mode_option} #{folder}"
       end
     end
 
diff --git a/test/integration/cases/encrypted_data_bag.rb b/test/integration/cases/encrypted_data_bag.rb
index 0056b603..7ec5311a 100644
--- a/test/integration/cases/encrypted_data_bag.rb
+++ b/test/integration/cases/encrypted_data_bag.rb
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ def setup
     super
     FileUtils.cp $base_dir.join('support', 'data_bag_key'), 'data_bag_key'
     FileUtils.cp_r $base_dir.join('support', 'secret_cookbook'), 'cookbooks/secret_cookbook'
+    File.open('.chef/knife.rb', 'a') do |f|
+      f.puts 'encrypted_data_bag_secret "data_bag_key"'
+    end
     @password = "essential particles busy loud"
     create_data_bag
   end
diff --git a/test/knife-solo/config_test.rb b/test/knife-solo/config_test.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index f5baba6c..00000000
--- a/test/knife-solo/config_test.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,38 +0,0 @@
-require 'test_helper'
-require 'knife-solo/config'
-
-class KnifeSoloConfigTest < TestCase
-  def setup
-    super
-    @config = KnifeSolo::Config.new
-  end
-
-  def teardown
-    super
-    FileUtils.rm_f 'solo.rb'
-  end
-
-  def test_uses_cookbook_path_from_solo_rb_if_available
-    write_file('solo.rb', <<-RUBY)
-      knife[:solo_path] = "./custom"
-      cookbook_path ["./custom/path"]
-    RUBY
-    assert_equal "./custom/path", @config.cookbook_path
-  end
-
-  def test_reads_chef_root_path_from_knife_config_or_defaults_to_home
-    assert_equal './chef-solo', @config.chef_path
-    Chef::Config.knife[:solo_path] = "/tmp/custom-chef-solo"
-    assert_equal "/tmp/custom-chef-solo", @config.chef_path
-  end
-
-  def test_fails_validation_if_user_has_solo_rb_and_no_solo_path
-    Chef::Config.knife[:solo_path] = nil
-    write_file('solo.rb', <<-RUBY)
-        cookbook_path ["custom/path"]
-    RUBY
-    assert_raises KnifeSolo::Config::Error do
-      @config.validate!
-    end
-  end
-end
diff --git a/test/solo_cook_test.rb b/test/solo_cook_test.rb
index 9d651ac7..a1c5557e 100644
--- a/test/solo_cook_test.rb
+++ b/test/solo_cook_test.rb
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ def assert_chef_solo_option(cook_option, chef_solo_option)
   def command(*args)
     cmd = knife_command(Chef::Knife::SoloCook, *args)
     cmd.stubs(:check_chef_version)
-    cmd.stubs(:add_patches)
+    cmd.stubs(:run_portable_mkdir_p)
     cmd.stubs(:rsync)
     cmd.stubs(:stream_command).returns(SuccessfulResult.new)
     cmd