diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index f839170..5946c90 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ add_custom_command( OUTPUT signames.lua
 set( DEFAULT_CODE
 	${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/default/default.lua
 	${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/default/signal.lua
+	${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/default/proto.lua
 	${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/default/rsync.lua
 	${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/default/rsyncssh.lua
 	${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/default/direct.lua
diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index e12e8f6..1900fd5 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -3,14 +3,17 @@
 	change: dropping /dev/fsevents hack (OSX support)
 	change: dropping exclude and excludeFrom (replaced by filter and filterFrom)
 	change: "insist" by default
-	change: removed _extra (if someone is hacky enough to really need it, they can hack Lsyncd itself)
-	change: user scripts run in each of their own global lua environment
+	change: removed _extra (if someone is hacky enough to really need it,
+		they can hack Lsyncd itself)
+	change: user scripts run in their own global lua environment
+	change: removed _merge
+	change: moved the default layer 1 functions to default.proto
 
 2018-03-09: 2.2.3
 	enhaencement: supporting includes with new filter and filterFrom options
 	change: needing now at least Lua 5.2 (Lua 5.1 no longer supported, Lua5.3 supported)
 	change: if the target/targetdir ends with a ':' do not append
-			a trailing '/' to it, since that would change it from homedir to rootdir!
+	.       a trailing '/' to it, since that would change it from homedir to rootdir!
 	add: example for Amazon S3 Bucket (Daniel Miranda)
 	fix: setting stdout/stderr to linebuffer mode.
 	fix: Lua5.3 compatiblity, using load() instead of loadstring()
diff --git a/default/default.lua b/default/default.lua
index 5608ea4..e2ed1ff 100644
--- a/default/default.lua
+++ b/default/default.lua
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 --============================================================================
 -- default.lua   Live (Mirror) Syncing Demon
 --
--- The default table for the user to access.
--- This default layer 1 functions provide the higher layer functionality.
+-- The default global.
 --
 -- License: GPLv2 (see COPYING) or any later version
 -- Authors: Axel Kittenberger <axkibe@gmail.com>
@@ -13,327 +12,3 @@ if default then error( 'default already loaded' ) end
 
 
 default = { }
-
-
---
--- Only this items are inherited from the default
--- table
---
-default._merge =
-{
-	action          = true,
-	checkgauge      = true,
-	collect         = true,
-	delay           = true,
-	init            = true,
-	maxDelays       = true,
-	maxProcesses    = true,
-	prepare         = true,
-}
-
---
--- used to ensure there aren't typos in the keys
---
-default.checkgauge =
-{
-	action        =  true,
-	checkgauge    =  true,
-	collect       =  true,
-	delay         =  true,
-	exitcodes     =  true,
-	init          =  true,
-	maxDelays     =  true,
-	maxProcesses  =  true,
-	onAttrib      =  true,
-	onCreate      =  true,
-	onModify      =  true,
-	onDelete      =  true,
-	onStartup     =  true,
-	onMove        =  true,
-	prepare       =  true,
-	source        =  true,
-	target        =  true,
-}
-
---
--- On default action the user's on*** scripts are called.
---
-default.action = function
-(
-	inlet -- the inlet of the active sync.
-)
-	-- in case of moves getEvent returns the origin and dest of the move
-	local event, event2 = inlet.getEvent( )
-
-	local config = inlet.getConfig( )
-
-	local func = config[ 'on'.. event.etype ]
-
-	if type( func ) == 'function'
-	then
-		func( event, event2 )
-	end
-
-	-- if function didnt change the wait status its not interested
-	-- in this event -> drop it.
-	if event.status == 'wait'
-	then
-		inlet.discardEvent( event )
-	end
-
-end
-
-
---
--- Default collector.
---
--- Called when collecting a finished child process
---
-default.collect = function
-(
-	agent,    -- event or event list being collected
-	exitcode  -- the exitcode of the spawned process
-)
-	local config = agent.config
-
-	local rc
-
-	if agent.syncStopped
-	then
-		log( 'Normal', 'Sync stopped, ignoring exitcode of finished child' )
-		return 'ok'
-	end
-
-	if config.exitcodes
-	then
-		rc = config.exitcodes[ exitcode ]
-	elseif exitcode == 0
-	then
-		rc = 'ok'
-	else
-		rc = 'die'
-	end
-
-	-- TODO synchronize with similar code before
-	if not agent.isList and agent.etype == 'Init'
-	then
-		if rc == 'ok'
-		then
-			log(
-				'Normal',
-				'Startup of ',agent.source, ' -> ',agent.target,' finished.'
-			)
-
-			return 'ok'
-		elseif rc == 'again'
-		then
-			if settings( 'insist' )
-			then
-				log(
-					'Normal',
-					'Retrying startup of ',
-					agent.source, ' -> ', agent.target,
-					': ', exitcode
-				)
-
-				return 'again'
-			end
-		elseif rc == 'die'
-		then
-			log(
-				'Error',
-				'Failure on startup of ',
-				agent.source, ' -> ', agent.target
-			)
-
-			terminate( -1 )
-		else
-			log(
-				'Error',
-				'Unknown exitcode "', exitcode,
-				'" on startup of ',
-				agent.source, ' -> ', agent.target
-			)
-			return 'die'
-		end
-	end
-
-	if agent.isList
-	then
-		if rc == 'ok'
-		then
-			log( 'Normal', 'Finished a list after exitcode: ', exitcode )
-		elseif rc == 'again'
-		then
-			log( 'Normal', 'Retrying a list after exitcode = ', exitcode )
-		elseif rc == 'die'
-		then
-			log( 'Error', 'Failure with a list with exitcode = ', exitcode )
-		else
-			log( 'Error', 'Unknown exitcode "', exitcode, '" with a list' )
-
-			rc = 'die'
-		end
-	else
-		if rc == 'ok'
-		then
-			log(
-				'Normal',
-				'Finished ', agent.etype,
-				' on ', agent.sourcePath, ' = ', exitcode
-			)
-		elseif rc == 'again'
-		then
-			log(
-				'Normal',
-				'Retrying ', agent.etype,
-				' on ', agent.sourcePath, ' = ', exitcode
-			)
-		elseif rc == 'die'
-		then
-			log( 'Error',
-				'Failure with ', agent.etype,
-				' on ', agent.sourcePath, ' = ', exitcode
-			)
-		else
-			log(
-				'Normal',
-				'Unknown exitcode "', exitcode,
-				'" with ', agent.etype,
-				' on ', agent.sourcePath, ' = ', exitcode
-			)
-
-			rc = 'die'
-		end
-	end
-
-	return rc
-end
-
-
---
--- Called on the Init event sent
--- on (re)initialization of Lsyncd for every sync
---
-default.init = function
-(
-	event -- the precreated init event.
-)
-	local config = event.config
-
-	local inlet = event.inlet
-
-	-- user functions
-	-- calls a startup if given by user script.
-	if type( config.onStartup ) == 'function'
-	then
-		config.onStartup( event )
-		-- TODO honor some return codes of startup like "warmstart".
-	end
-
-	if event.status == 'wait'
-	then
-		-- user script did not spawn anything
-		-- thus the blanket event is deleted again.
-		inlet.discardEvent( event )
-	end
-end
-
-
---
--- The collapsor tries not to have more than these delays.
--- So the delay queue does not grow too large
--- since calculation for stacking events is n*log( n ) (or so)
---
-default.maxDelays = 1000
-
-
---
--- The maximum number of processes Lsyncd will
--- simultanously spawn for this sync.
---
-default.maxProcesses = 1
-
-
-
---
--- Exitcodes of ssh and what to do.
---
-default.sshExitCodes =
-{
-	--
-	-- if another config provides the same table
-	-- this will not be inherited (merged) into that one
-	--
-	-- if it does not, integer keys are to be copied
-	-- verbatim
-	--
-	_merge = false,
-	_verbatim = true,
-
-	[   0 ] = 'ok',
-	[ 255 ] = 'again',
-}
-
-
---
--- Minimum seconds between two writes of the status file.
---
-default.statusInterval = 10
-
-
---
--- Checks all keys to be in the checkgauge.
---
-local function check
-(
-	config,
-	gauge,
-	subtable,
-	level
-)
-	for k, v in pairs( config )
-	do
-		if not gauge[ k ]
-		then
-			error(
-				'Parameter "' .. subtable .. k .. '" unknown.'
-				.. ' ( if this is not a typo add it to checkgauge )',
-				level
-			);
-		end
-
-		if type( gauge [ k ] ) == 'table'
-		then
-			if type( v ) ~= 'table'
-			then
-				error(
-					'Parameter "' .. subtable .. k .. '" must be a table.',
-					level
-				)
-			end
-
-			check(
-				config[ k ],
-				gauge[ k ],
-				subtable .. k .. '.',
-				level + 1
-			)
-		end
-	end
-end
-
-
-default.prepare = function
-(
-	config, -- the config to prepare for
-	level   -- current callback level for error reporting
-)
-
-	local gauge = config.checkgauge
-
-	if not gauge then return end
-
-	check( config, gauge, '', level + 1 )
-end
-
diff --git a/default/rsync.lua b/default/rsync.lua
index 347f49b..5f72c68 100644
--- a/default/rsync.lua
+++ b/default/rsync.lua
@@ -393,23 +393,17 @@ rsync.prepare = function
 	skipTarget -- used by rsyncssh, do not check for target
 )
 	-- First let default.prepare test the checkgauge
-	default.prepare( config, level + 6 )
+	default.proto.prepare( config, level + 6 )
 
 	if not skipTarget and not config.target
 	then
-		error(
-			'default.rsync needs "target" configured',
-			level
-		)
+		error( 'default.rsync needs "target" configured', level )
 	end
 
 	-- checks if the _computed argument exists already
 	if config.rsync._computed
 	then
-		error(
-			'please do not use the internal rsync._computed parameter',
-			level
-		)
+		error( 'please do not use the internal rsync._computed parameter', level )
 	end
 
 	-- computes the rsync arguments into one list
diff --git a/default/rsyncssh.lua b/default/rsyncssh.lua
index 04c6101..d9746d9 100644
--- a/default/rsyncssh.lua
+++ b/default/rsyncssh.lua
@@ -568,12 +568,26 @@ rsyncssh.exitcodes = false
 --
 -- rsync exit codes
 --
-rsyncssh.rsyncExitCodes = rsync.exitCodes
+rsyncssh.rsyncExitCodes = default.rsync.exitCodes
 
 --
--- ssh exit codes
+-- Exitcodes of ssh and what to do.
 --
-rsyncssh.sshExitCodes = default.sshExitCodes
+rsyncssh.sshExitCodes =
+{
+	--
+	-- if another config provides the same table
+	-- this will not be inherited (merged) into that one
+	--
+	-- if it does not, integer keys are to be copied
+	-- verbatim
+	--
+	_merge = false,
+	_verbatim = true,
+
+	[   0 ] = 'ok',
+	[ 255 ] = 'again',
+}
 
 
 --
diff --git a/mantle/mci.lua b/mantle/mci.lua
index e320a4d..10b06e0 100644
--- a/mantle/mci.lua
+++ b/mantle/mci.lua
@@ -25,6 +25,12 @@ now       = core.now
 readdir   = core.readdir
 
 
+--
+-- Minimum seconds between two writes of the status file.
+--
+local defaultStatusInterval = 10
+
+
 --
 -- Global: total number of processess running.
 --
@@ -432,7 +438,7 @@ function mci.initialize
 	--
 	if uSettings.statusInterval == nil
 	then
-		uSettings.statusInterval = userenv.default.statusInterval
+		uSettings.statusInterval = defaultStatusInterval
 	end
 
 	-- makes sure the user gave Lsyncd anything to do
diff --git a/mantle/syncmaster.lua b/mantle/syncmaster.lua
index bb8b429..f30e904 100644
--- a/mantle/syncmaster.lua
+++ b/mantle/syncmaster.lua
@@ -108,14 +108,9 @@ local function inherit
 	-- non-integer keys
 	for k, v in pairs( cs )
 	do
-		if (
-			type( k ) ~= 'number'
-			or verbatim
-			or cs._verbatim == true
-		) and (
-			type( cs._merge ) ~= 'table'
-			or cs._merge[ k ] == true
-		)
+		if type( k ) ~= 'number'
+		or verbatim
+		or cs._verbatim == true
 		then
 			inheritKV( cd, k, v )
 		end
@@ -149,7 +144,7 @@ inheritKV =
 	)
 
 	-- don't merge inheritance controls
-	if k == '_merge' or k == '_verbatim' then return end
+	if k == '_verbatim' then return end
 
 	local dtype = type( cd [ k ] )
 
@@ -159,9 +154,7 @@ inheritKV =
 		then
 			cd[ k ] = { }
 			inherit( cd[ k ], v, k == 'exitcodes' )
-		elseif
-			dtype == 'table' and
-			v._merge ~= false
+		elseif dtype == 'table'
 		then
 			inherit( cd[ k ], v, k == 'exitcodes' )
 		end
@@ -187,8 +180,8 @@ local function add
 
 	inherit( config, uconfig )
 
-	-- last and least defaults are inherited
-	inherit( config, userenv.default )
+	-- last and least default prototype is inherited
+	inherit( config, userenv.default.proto )
 
 	local inheritSettings =
 	{