diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a6d3c16e20..08392d7f65 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -149,16 +149,16 @@ up around the library scripts, and you can easily write your own.
 
 Current modules include:
 
-   * command -- runs commands, giving output, return codes, and run time info
+   * command - runs commands, giving output, return codes, and run time info
    * ping - just returns if the system is up or not
    * facter - retrieves facts about the host OS
    * ohai - similar to facter, but returns structured data
    * copy - add files to remote systems
    * setup - pushes key/value data onto the system for use in templating
    * template - takes a local template file and saves a templated version remotely
+   * git - deploy simple apps directly from source control
 
-Service, package, and user modules, supporting puppet-like ensure semantics
-are coming soon.
+More coming soon!  Contributions welcome!
 
 Playbooks
 =========
diff --git a/docs/man/man5/ansible-modules.5 b/docs/man/man5/ansible-modules.5
index 5ab7966999..132ddba00b 100644
--- a/docs/man/man5/ansible-modules.5
+++ b/docs/man/man5/ansible-modules.5
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 '\" t
 .\"     Title: ansible-modules
 .\"    Author: [see the "AUTHOR" section]
-.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.76.1 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
+.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.75.2 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
 .\"      Date: 02/26/2012
 .\"    Manual: System administration commands
 .\"    Source: Ansible-modules 0.0.1
@@ -9,15 +9,6 @@
 .\"
 .TH "ANSIBLE\-MODULES" "5" "02/26/2012" "Ansible\-modules 0\&.0\&.1" "System administration commands"
 .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
-.\" * Define some portability stuff
-.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
-.\" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-.\" http://bugs.debian.org/507673
-.\" http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/groff/2009-02/msg00013.html
-.\" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-.ie \n(.g .ds Aq \(aq
-.el       .ds Aq '
-.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
 .\" * set default formatting
 .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
 .\" disable hyphenation
@@ -101,7 +92,7 @@ This module is informative only \- it takes no parameters & does not support cha
 .sp
 Controls services on remote machines\&.
 .PP
-\fBensure=\fR
+\fBstate=\fR
 .RS 4
 Values are
 \fIstarted\fR,
diff --git a/docs/man/man5/ansible-modules.5.asciidoc b/docs/man/man5/ansible-modules.5.asciidoc
index f82ae6ed5c..cde62b0ba9 100644
--- a/docs/man/man5/ansible-modules.5.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/man/man5/ansible-modules.5.asciidoc
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ service
 
 Controls services on remote machines.
 
-*ensure=*::
+*state=*::
 
 Values are 'started', 'stopped', or 'restarted'.   Started/stopped
 are idempotent actions that will not run commands unless neccessary.
diff --git a/docs/man/man5/ansible-playbook.5 b/docs/man/man5/ansible-playbook.5
index 02904edc2c..aabea67071 100644
--- a/docs/man/man5/ansible-playbook.5
+++ b/docs/man/man5/ansible-playbook.5
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 '\" t
 .\"     Title: ansible-modules
 .\"    Author: [see the "AUTHOR" section]
-.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.76.1 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
+.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.75.2 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
 .\"      Date: 02/26/2012
 .\"    Manual: System administration commands
 .\"    Source: Ansible-playbook 0.0.1
@@ -9,15 +9,6 @@
 .\"
 .TH "ANSIBLE\-MODULES" "5" "02/26/2012" "Ansible\-playbook 0\&.0\&.1" "System administration commands"
 .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
-.\" * Define some portability stuff
-.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
-.\" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-.\" http://bugs.debian.org/507673
-.\" http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/groff/2009-02/msg00013.html
-.\" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-.ie \n(.g .ds Aq \(aq
-.el       .ds Aq '
-.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
 .\" * set default formatting
 .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
 .\" disable hyphenation
@@ -37,29 +28,27 @@ Ansible ships with a ansible\-playbook tool for running playbooks\&. Playbooks c
 Playbooks are currently writeable in YAML\&. Other formats (JSON?) may be supported in the future\&.
 .SH "EXAMPLE"
 .sp
+FIXME: verify this is correct below
+.sp
 .if n \{\
 .RS 4
 .\}
 .nf
 \-\-\-
-\- pattern: \*(Aq*\*(Aq
-  hosts: \*(Aq/etc/ansible/hosts\*(Aq
+\- pattern: \'*\'
+  hosts: \'/etc/ansible/hosts\'
   tasks:
-  \- do:
-    \- configure template & module variables for future template calls
-    \- setup http_port=80 max_clients=200
-  \- do:
-    \- write the apache config file
-    \- template src=/srv/mytemplates/httpd\&.j2 dest=/etc/httpd/conf
+  \- name:configure template & module variables for future template calls
+    action: setup http_port=80 max_clients=200
+  \- name: write the apache config file
+    action: template src=/srv/mytemplates/httpd\&.j2 dest=/etc/httpd/conf
     notify:
     \- restart apache
-  \- do
-    \- ensure apache is running
-    \- service name=httpd ensure=started
+  \- name: ensure apache is running
+    action: service name=httpd ensure=started
   handlers:
-    \- do:
-      \- restart apache
-      \- service name=httpd ensure=restarted
+    \- name: restart apache
+    \- action: service name=httpd ensure=restarted
 .fi
 .if n \{\
 .RE
@@ -81,9 +70,7 @@ Playbooks are executed top down and can contain multiple references to patterns\
 .sp
 For each pattern, the tasks in the \fItasks\fR list are executed in order for all hosts in the host file matching the pattern\&.
 .sp
-For each task, a "do" statement describes what the task is and what ansible module to use to accomplish the task, along with any arguments\&. The first line in the "do" is the name of the task \(em this will appear in any log output\&.
-.sp
-The second line in each "do" is the module name followed by module arguments\&.
+For each task, a name/action pair describes what the task is and what ansible module to use to accomplish the task, along with any arguments\&. Additional fields like \fIcomment:\fR can be added and will be ignored\&.
 .sp
 Most modules accept key=value format arguments\&.
 .sp
diff --git a/docs/man/man5/ansible-playbook.5.asciidoc b/docs/man/man5/ansible-playbook.5.asciidoc
index a01025a85a..6509dfd6c7 100644
--- a/docs/man/man5/ansible-playbook.5.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/man/man5/ansible-playbook.5.asciidoc
@@ -29,26 +29,24 @@ be supported in the future.
 EXAMPLE
 -------
 
+FIXME: verify this is correct below
+
 [literal]
 ---
 - pattern: '*'
   hosts: '/etc/ansible/hosts'
   tasks:
-  - do:
-    - configure template & module variables for future template calls
-    - setup http_port=80 max_clients=200
-  - do:
-    - write the apache config file
-    - template src=/srv/mytemplates/httpd.j2 dest=/etc/httpd/conf
+  - name:configure template & module variables for future template calls
+    action: setup http_port=80 max_clients=200
+  - name: write the apache config file
+    action: template src=/srv/mytemplates/httpd.j2 dest=/etc/httpd/conf
     notify:
     - restart apache
-  - do
-    - ensure apache is running
-    - service name=httpd ensure=started
+  - name: ensure apache is running
+    action: service name=httpd ensure=started
   handlers:
-    - do:
-      - restart apache
-      - service name=httpd ensure=restarted
+    - name: restart apache
+    - action: service name=httpd ensure=restarted
 
 
 WHAT THE EXAMPLE MEANS
@@ -82,13 +80,10 @@ something different to all webservers again.
 For each pattern, the tasks in the 'tasks' list are executed in order
 for all hosts in the host file matching the pattern.
 
-For each task, a "do" statement describes what the task is and what
+For each task, a name/action pair describes what the task is and what
 ansible module to use to accomplish the task, along with any
-arguments.  The first line in the "do" is the name of the task -- this
-will appear in any log output.
-
-The second line in each "do" is the module name followed by module
-arguments.
+arguments.   Additional fields like 'comment:' can be added and will
+be ignored.
 
 Most modules accept key=value format arguments.
 
diff --git a/examples/playbook.yml b/examples/playbook.yml
index 31e2c7fbbe..527c7bf1aa 100644
--- a/examples/playbook.yml
+++ b/examples/playbook.yml
@@ -17,4 +17,4 @@
     action: command /bin/false
   handlers:
     - name: restart apache
-      action: service name=httpd ensure=restarted
+      action: service name=httpd state=restarted
diff --git a/library/copy b/library/copy
index a7514fe27b..bd8c86ccb3 100644
--- a/library/copy
+++ b/library/copy
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ except ImportError:
     import simplejson as json
 
 # ===========================================
-# convert arguments of form ensure=running name=foo
+# convert arguments of form a=b c=d
 # to a dictionary
 # FIXME: make more idiomatic
 
diff --git a/library/git b/library/git
index 9d85eba299..873d8a1638 100755
--- a/library/git
+++ b/library/git
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ import shlex
 import subprocess
 
 # ===========================================
-# convert arguments of form ensure=running name=foo
+# convert arguments of form a=b c=d
 # to a dictionary
 # FIXME: make more idiomatic
 
diff --git a/library/service b/library/service
index 4a20193d51..e28aa8ff8e 100755
--- a/library/service
+++ b/library/service
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import shlex
 import subprocess
 
 # ===========================================
-# convert arguments of form ensure=running name=foo
+# convert arguments of form a=b c=d
 # to a dictionary
 # FIXME: make more idiomatic
 
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ for x in items:
     params[k] = v
 
 name = params['name']
-ensure = params.get('ensure','running')
+state = params.get('state','running')
 
 # ===========================================
 # get service status
@@ -43,11 +43,11 @@ elif name == 'iptables' and status.find("ACCEPT") != -1:
     running = True
 
 changed = False
-if not running and ensure == "started":
+if not running and state == "started":
     changed = True
-elif running and ensure == "stopped":
+elif running and state == "stopped":
     changed = True
-elif ensure == "restarted":
+elif state == "restarted":
     changed = True
 
 # ===========================================
@@ -61,11 +61,11 @@ def _run(cmd):
 
 rc = 0
 if changed:
-    if ensure == 'started':
+    if state == 'started':
         rc = _run("/sbin/service %s start" %  name)
-    elif ensure == 'stopped':
+    elif state == 'stopped':
         rc = _run("/sbin/service %s stop" % name)
-    elif ensure == 'restarted':
+    elif state == 'restarted':
         rc1 = _run("/sbin/service %s stop" % name)
         rc2 = _run("/sbin/service %s start" % name)
         rc  = rc1 and rc2
diff --git a/library/template b/library/template
index 4ce579c78b..8868350ae8 100644
--- a/library/template
+++ b/library/template
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ except ImportError:
     import simplejson as json
 
 # ===========================================
-# convert arguments of form ensure=running name=foo
+# convert arguments of form a=b c=d
 # to a dictionary
 # FIXME: make more idiomatic