diff --git a/hal/.md5sum b/hal/.md5sum
index 400ff9b97..e1ad99587 100644
--- a/hal/.md5sum
+++ b/hal/.md5sum
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 750cf074e88b6fb7012f26d99cd39b9b  hal-0.5.11.tar.gz
+7cb56ce5687fa8dcdc870821844240eb  hal.conf
 cc3d04e7ac09e15f33c530725f43e641  rc.hald
diff --git a/hal/Pkgfile b/hal/Pkgfile
index e67178415..62e562acf 100644
--- a/hal/Pkgfile
+++ b/hal/Pkgfile
@@ -6,8 +6,9 @@
 
 name=hal
 version=0.5.11
-release=2
+release=3
 source=(http://hal.freedesktop.org/releases/$name-$version.tar.gz \
+	hal.conf
 	rc.hald)
 
 build() {
@@ -30,10 +31,9 @@ build() {
 	install -D -o root -g root -m 0755 $SRC/rc.hald \
 		$PKG/etc/rc.d/hald
 	rm -rf $PKG/usr/share/{doc,locale}
-	# enable plugdev group policies in place of uid 0
-	sed -i 's/user="root"/group="pludev"/' $PKG/usr/etc/dbus-1/system.d/hal.conf
 	rm -rf $PKG/usr/share/gtk-doc
 	mv $PKG/usr/etc/udev $PKG/etc/
+	cp $SRC/hal.conf $PKG/usr/etc/dbus-1/system.d/
 	mkdir -p $PKG/var/lib/hal
 	chown haldaemon:haldaemon $PKG/var/lib/hal
 }
diff --git a/hal/pre-install b/hal/pre-install
index f99d34823..b28a6cc3f 100755
--- a/hal/pre-install
+++ b/hal/pre-install
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
 # check for haldaemon group or add one
 getent group haldaemon || /usr/sbin/groupadd -g 82 haldaemon
 
+# check for plugdev group or add one
+getent group plugdev || /usr/sbin/groupadd plugdev
+
 # check for haldaemon user or add one
 getent passwd haldaemon || /usr/sbin/useradd -g haldaemon -u 82 -d /var/empty -s /bin/false -c "HAL Daemon User" haldaemon