diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index b9e61c3..031cc2f 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -90,9 +90,9 @@ checksum = "7c02d123df017efcdfbd739ef81735b36c5ba83ec3c59c80a9d7ecc718f92e50"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "async-compression"
-version = "0.4.41"
+version = "0.4.42"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "d0f9ee0f6e02ffd7ad5816e9464499fba7b3effd01123b515c41d1697c43dad1"
+checksum = "e79b3f8a79cccc2898f31920fc69f304859b3bd567490f75ebf51ae1c792a9ac"
 dependencies = [
  "compression-codecs",
  "compression-core",
@@ -161,9 +161,9 @@ checksum = "1e748733b7cbc798e1434b6ac524f0c1ff2ab456fe201501e6497c8417a4fc33"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "cc"
-version = "1.2.60"
+version = "1.2.61"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "43c5703da9466b66a946814e1adf53ea2c90f10063b86290cc9eb67ce3478a20"
+checksum = "d16d90359e986641506914ba71350897565610e87ce0ad9e6f28569db3dd5c6d"
 dependencies = [
  "find-msvc-tools",
  "jobserver",
@@ -218,9 +218,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "clap_complete"
-version = "4.6.2"
+version = "4.6.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "3ff7a1dccbdd8b078c2bdebff47e404615151534d5043da397ec50286816f9cb"
+checksum = "660c0520455b1013b9bcb0393d5f643d7e4454fb69c915b8d6d2aa0e9a45acc3"
 dependencies = [
  "clap",
  "clap_lex",
@@ -254,9 +254,9 @@ checksum = "1d07550c9036bf2ae0c684c4297d503f838287c83c53686d05370d0e139ae570"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "compression-codecs"
-version = "0.4.37"
+version = "0.4.38"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "eb7b51a7d9c967fc26773061ba86150f19c50c0d65c887cb1fbe295fd16619b7"
+checksum = "ce2548391e9c1929c21bf6aa2680af86fe4c1b33e6cea9ac1cfeec0bd11218cf"
 dependencies = [
  "compression-core",
  "zstd",
@@ -265,9 +265,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "compression-core"
-version = "0.4.31"
+version = "0.4.32"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "75984efb6ed102a0d42db99afb6c1948f0380d1d91808d5529916e6c08b49d8d"
+checksum = "cc14f565cf027a105f7a44ccf9e5b424348421a1d8952a8fc9d499d313107789"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "constant_time_eq"
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "rust-argon2",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
- "serde_yaml",
+ "serde_yaml_ng",
  "signal-hook",
  "tabled",
  "thiserror",
@@ -820,9 +820,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "idna_adapter"
-version = "1.2.1"
+version = "1.2.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "3acae9609540aa318d1bc588455225fb2085b9ed0c4f6bd0d9d5bcd86f1a0344"
+checksum = "cb68373c0d6620ef8105e855e7745e18b0d00d3bdb07fb532e434244cdb9a714"
 dependencies = [
  "icu_normalizer",
  "icu_properties",
@@ -885,9 +885,9 @@ checksum = "8f42a60cbdf9a97f5d2305f08a87dc4e09308d1276d28c869c684d7777685682"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "jiff"
-version = "0.2.23"
+version = "0.2.24"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "1a3546dc96b6d42c5f24902af9e2538e82e39ad350b0c766eb3fbf2d8f3d8359"
+checksum = "f00b5dbd620d61dfdcb6007c9c1f6054ebd75319f163d886a9055cec1155073d"
 dependencies = [
  "jiff-static",
  "log",
@@ -898,9 +898,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "jiff-static"
-version = "0.2.23"
+version = "0.2.24"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "2a8c8b344124222efd714b73bb41f8b5120b27a7cc1c75593a6ff768d9d05aa4"
+checksum = "e000de030ff8022ea1da3f466fbb0f3a809f5e51ed31f6dd931c35181ad8e6d7"
 dependencies = [
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
@@ -919,9 +919,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "js-sys"
-version = "0.3.95"
+version = "0.3.97"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "2964e92d1d9dc3364cae4d718d93f227e3abb088e747d92e0395bfdedf1c12ca"
+checksum = "a1840c94c045fbcf8ba2812c95db44499f7c64910a912551aaaa541decebcacf"
 dependencies = [
  "cfg-if",
  "futures-util",
@@ -937,9 +937,9 @@ checksum = "09edd9e8b54e49e587e4f6295a7d29c3ea94d469cb40ab8ca70b288248a81db2"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "libc"
-version = "0.2.185"
+version = "0.2.186"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "52ff2c0fe9bc6cb6b14a0592c2ff4fa9ceb83eea9db979b0487cd054946a2b8f"
+checksum = "68ab91017fe16c622486840e4c83c9a37afeff978bd239b5293d61ece587de66"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "linux-raw-sys"
@@ -1047,9 +1047,9 @@ checksum = "384b8ab6d37215f3c5301a95a4accb5d64aa607f1fcb26a11b5303878451b4fe"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "openssl"
-version = "0.10.77"
+version = "0.10.78"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "bfe4646e360ec77dff7dde40ed3d6c5fee52d156ef4a62f53973d38294dad87f"
+checksum = "f38c4372413cdaaf3cc79dd92d29d7d9f5ab09b51b10dded508fb90bb70b9222"
 dependencies = [
  "bitflags",
  "cfg-if",
@@ -1079,9 +1079,9 @@ checksum = "7c87def4c32ab89d880effc9e097653c8da5d6ef28e6b539d313baaacfbafcbe"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "openssl-sys"
-version = "0.9.113"
+version = "0.9.114"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "ad2f2c0eba47118757e4c6d2bff2838f3e0523380021356e7875e858372ce644"
+checksum = "13ce1245cd07fcc4cfdb438f7507b0c7e4f3849a69fd84d52374c66d83741bb6"
 dependencies = [
  "cc",
  "libc",
@@ -1142,9 +1142,9 @@ checksum = "c33a9471896f1c69cecef8d20cbe2f7accd12527ce60845ff44c153bb2a21b49"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "portable-atomic-util"
-version = "0.2.6"
+version = "0.2.7"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "091397be61a01d4be58e7841595bd4bfedb15f1cd54977d79b8271e94ed799a3"
+checksum = "c2a106d1259c23fac8e543272398ae0e3c0b8d33c88ed73d0cc71b0f1d902618"
 dependencies = [
  "portable-atomic",
 ]
@@ -1251,9 +1251,9 @@ checksum = "dc897dd8d9e8bd1ed8cdad82b5966c3e0ecae09fb1907d58efaa013543185d0a"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "reqwest"
-version = "0.13.2"
+version = "0.13.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "ab3f43e3283ab1488b624b44b0e988d0acea0b3214e694730a055cb6b2efa801"
+checksum = "62e0021ea2c22aed41653bc7e1419abb2c97e038ff2c33d0e1309e49a97deec0"
 dependencies = [
  "base64",
  "bytes",
@@ -1289,20 +1289,20 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "rpassword"
-version = "7.4.0"
+version = "7.5.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "66d4c8b64f049c6721ec8ccec37ddfc3d641c4a7fca57e8f2a89de509c73df39"
+checksum = "2501c67132bd19c3005b0111fba298907ef002c8c1cf68e25634707e38bf66fe"
 dependencies = [
  "libc",
  "rtoolbox",
- "windows-sys 0.59.0",
+ "windows-sys 0.61.2",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "rtoolbox"
-version = "0.0.4"
+version = "0.0.5"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "327b72899159dfae8060c51a1f6aebe955245bcd9cc4997eed0f623caea022e4"
+checksum = "50a0e551c1e27e1731aba276dbeaeac73f53c7cd34d1bda485d02bd1e0f36844"
 dependencies = [
  "libc",
  "windows-sys 0.59.0",
@@ -1335,9 +1335,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "rustls-pki-types"
-version = "1.14.0"
+version = "1.14.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "be040f8b0a225e40375822a563fa9524378b9d63112f53e19ffff34df5d33fdd"
+checksum = "30a7197ae7eb376e574fe940d068c30fe0462554a3ddbe4eca7838e049c937a9"
 dependencies = [
  "zeroize",
 ]
@@ -1436,10 +1436,10 @@ dependencies = [
 ]
 
 [[package]]
-name = "serde_yaml"
-version = "0.9.34+deprecated"
+name = "serde_yaml_ng"
+version = "0.10.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "6a8b1a1a2ebf674015cc02edccce75287f1a0130d394307b36743c2f5d504b47"
+checksum = "7b4db627b98b36d4203a7b458cf3573730f2bb591b28871d916dfa9efabfd41f"
 dependencies = [
  "indexmap",
  "itoa",
@@ -1617,9 +1617,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "tokio"
-version = "1.52.0"
+version = "1.52.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "a91135f59b1cbf38c91e73cf3386fca9bb77915c45ce2771460c9d92f0f3d776"
+checksum = "b67dee974fe86fd92cc45b7a95fdd2f99a36a6d7b0d431a231178d3d670bbcc6"
 dependencies = [
  "bytes",
  "libc",
@@ -1806,11 +1806,11 @@ checksum = "ccf3ec651a847eb01de73ccad15eb7d99f80485de043efb2f370cd654f4ea44b"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wasip2"
-version = "1.0.2+wasi-0.2.9"
+version = "1.0.3+wasi-0.2.9"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "9517f9239f02c069db75e65f174b3da828fe5f5b945c4dd26bd25d89c03ebcf5"
+checksum = "20064672db26d7cdc89c7798c48a0fdfac8213434a1186e5ef29fd560ae223d6"
 dependencies = [
- "wit-bindgen",
+ "wit-bindgen 0.57.1",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -1819,14 +1819,14 @@ version = "0.4.0+wasi-0.3.0-rc-2026-01-06"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "5428f8bf88ea5ddc08faddef2ac4a67e390b88186c703ce6dbd955e1c145aca5"
 dependencies = [
- "wit-bindgen",
+ "wit-bindgen 0.51.0",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wasm-bindgen"
-version = "0.2.118"
+version = "0.2.120"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "0bf938a0bacb0469e83c1e148908bd7d5a6010354cf4fb73279b7447422e3a89"
+checksum = "df52b6d9b87e0c74c9edfa1eb2d9bf85e5d63515474513aa50fa181b3c4f5db1"
 dependencies = [
  "cfg-if",
  "once_cell",
@@ -1837,9 +1837,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wasm-bindgen-futures"
-version = "0.4.68"
+version = "0.4.70"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "f371d383f2fb139252e0bfac3b81b265689bf45b6874af544ffa4c975ac1ebf8"
+checksum = "af934872acec734c2d80e6617bbb5ff4f12b052dd8e6332b0817bce889516084"
 dependencies = [
  "js-sys",
  "wasm-bindgen",
@@ -1847,9 +1847,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wasm-bindgen-macro"
-version = "0.2.118"
+version = "0.2.120"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "eeff24f84126c0ec2db7a449f0c2ec963c6a49efe0698c4242929da037ca28ed"
+checksum = "78b1041f495fb322e64aca85f5756b2172e35cd459376e67f2a6c9dffcedb103"
 dependencies = [
  "quote",
  "wasm-bindgen-macro-support",
@@ -1857,9 +1857,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wasm-bindgen-macro-support"
-version = "0.2.118"
+version = "0.2.120"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "9d08065faf983b2b80a79fd87d8254c409281cf7de75fc4b773019824196c904"
+checksum = "9dcd0ff20416988a18ac686d4d4d0f6aae9ebf08a389ff5d29012b05af2a1b41"
 dependencies = [
  "bumpalo",
  "proc-macro2",
@@ -1870,9 +1870,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wasm-bindgen-shared"
-version = "0.2.118"
+version = "0.2.120"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "5fd04d9e306f1907bd13c6361b5c6bfc7b3b3c095ed3f8a9246390f8dbdee129"
+checksum = "49757b3c82ebf16c57d69365a142940b384176c24df52a087fb748e2085359ea"
 dependencies = [
  "unicode-ident",
 ]
@@ -1926,9 +1926,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "web-sys"
-version = "0.3.95"
+version = "0.3.97"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "4f2dfbb17949fa2088e5d39408c48368947b86f7834484e87b73de55bc14d97d"
+checksum = "2eadbac71025cd7b0834f20d1fe8472e8495821b4e9801eb0a60bd1f19827602"
 dependencies = [
  "js-sys",
  "wasm-bindgen",
@@ -2180,6 +2180,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "wit-bindgen-rust-macro",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "wit-bindgen"
+version = "0.57.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "1ebf944e87a7c253233ad6766e082e3cd714b5d03812acc24c318f549614536e"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "wit-bindgen-core"
 version = "0.51.0"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index cf22841..ec857d2 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ rpassword = "7.4.0"
 rust-argon2 = "3.0.0"
 serde = { version = "1.0.219", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = "1.0.140"
-serde_yaml = "0.9.34"
+serde_yaml = { version = "0.10.0", package = "serde_yaml_ng" }
 signal-hook = "0.4.4"
 tabled = "0.20.0"
 thiserror = "2.0.12"
diff --git a/src/apply.rs b/src/apply.rs
index 7c3f91c..a475483 100644
--- a/src/apply.rs
+++ b/src/apply.rs
@@ -1,12 +1,20 @@
-use eyre::Result;
+use eyre::{Result, format_err};
 use log::info;
 use std::path::Path;
 use tokio::fs;
 
-use crate::base64_decode;
+use crate::{base64_decode, File};
 
-pub async fn files(files: &[crate::File], root: &str, dry_run: bool) -> Result<()> {
-    for file in files {
+pub async fn files(files: &[File], root: &str, dry_run: bool) -> Result<()> {
+    for f in files {
+        if let Err(e) = file(f, root, dry_run).await {
+            return Err(format_err!("{}: {e}", f.path))
+        }
+    }
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+pub async fn file(file: &File, root: &str, dry_run: bool) -> Result<()> {
         let path = chroot(root, &file.path);
         let path = Path::new(&path);
 
@@ -15,7 +23,11 @@ pub async fn files(files: &[crate::File], root: &str, dry_run: bool) -> Result<(
         }
 
         use crate::{FileKind as K, FilePart as P};
-        match &file.kind {
+        match file.kind().as_ref() {
+            K::Skip => {
+                info!("{}: kind is skip", file.path);
+                return Ok(())
+            },
             K::Content(content) => {
                 if dry_run {
                     info!(
@@ -57,38 +69,35 @@ pub async fn files(files: &[crate::File], root: &str, dry_run: bool) -> Result<(
                     fs::write(path, assembly).await?
                 }
             }
-            K::Dir(true) => {
+            K::Dir => {
                 if dry_run {
                     info!("would create {} (directory)", file.path);
                 } else {
                     fs::create_dir(path).await?;
                 }
             }
-            K::Dir(false) => {} // shouldn't happen, but semantic is to ignore
             K::Symlink(tgt) => {
                 if dry_run {
                     info!("would create {} (symlink to {})", file.path, tgt);
                 } else {
+                    let _ = fs::remove_file(path).await; // we're ln --force
                     fs::symlink(tgt, path).await?;
                 }
             }
         }
 
         if dry_run {
-            continue;
+            return Ok(());
         }
 
-        match file.kind {
-            K::Symlink(_) => {}
-            _ => set_perms(path, file.mode).await?,
+        if !file.is_symlink() {
+             set_perms(path, file.mode).await?;
         }
 
         info!("created {}", file.path);
+        Ok(())
     }
 
-    Ok(())
-}
-
 pub async fn set_perms(path: impl AsRef<Path>, mode: Option<u32>) -> std::io::Result<()> {
     if let Some(mode) = mode.filter(|m| *m != 0) {
         use std::os::unix::fs::PermissionsExt;
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 6c90062..08be54b 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+use std::borrow::Cow;
+
 pub mod apply;
 pub mod bootstrap;
 pub mod cgroup;
@@ -56,26 +58,41 @@ pub struct User {
     pub gid: Option<u32>,
 }
 
-#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Eq, serde::Deserialize, serde::Serialize)]
+#[derive(Default, Debug, PartialEq, Eq, serde::Deserialize, serde::Serialize)]
 pub struct File {
     pub path: String,
     #[serde(skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
     pub mode: Option<u32>,
-    #[serde(flatten)]
-    pub kind: FileKind,
+    pub kind: Option<FileKind>,
+    #[serde(skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub content: Option<String>,
+    #[serde(skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub content64: Option<String>,
+    #[serde(skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub symlink: Option<String>,
+    #[serde(skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub parts: Option<Vec<FilePart>>,
+    #[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "is_false")]
+    pub dir: bool,
 }
 
-#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Eq, serde::Deserialize, serde::Serialize)]
+fn is_false(b: &bool) -> bool {
+    !b
+}
+
+#[derive(Default, Debug, Clone, PartialEq, Eq, serde::Deserialize, serde::Serialize)]
 #[serde(rename_all = "lowercase")]
 pub enum FileKind {
+    #[default]
+    Skip,
     Content(String),
     Content64(String),
-    Symlink(String),
-    Dir(bool),
     Parts(Vec<FilePart>),
+    Symlink(String),
+    Dir,
 }
 
-#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Eq, serde::Deserialize, serde::Serialize)]
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq, Eq, serde::Deserialize, serde::Serialize)]
 #[serde(rename_all = "lowercase")]
 pub enum FilePart {
     Content(String),
@@ -102,3 +119,32 @@ pub fn base64_encode(b: &[u8]) -> String {
     use base64::{prelude::BASE64_STANDARD as B64, Engine as _};
     B64.encode(b)
 }
+
+impl<'t> File {
+    pub fn kind(&'t self) -> Cow<'t, FileKind> {
+        self.kind.as_ref().map(Cow::Borrowed).unwrap_or_else(|| {
+            use FileKind::*;
+            Cow::Owned(if let Some(ref s) = self.content {
+                Content(s.clone())
+            } else if let Some(ref s) = self.content64 {
+                Content64(s.clone())
+            } else if let Some(ref s) = self.symlink {
+                Symlink(s.clone())
+            } else if let Some(ref p) = self.parts {
+                Parts(p.clone())
+            } else if self.dir {
+                Dir
+            } else {
+                Skip
+            })
+        })
+    }
+
+    pub fn is_symlink(&self) -> bool {
+        if let Some(ref kind) = self.kind {
+            matches!(kind, FileKind::Symlink(_))
+        } else {
+            self.symlink.is_some()
+        }
+    }
+}