diff --git a/dahdi_span_types b/dahdi_span_types
index 9fa3ff1..38dc347 100755
--- a/dahdi_span_types
+++ b/dahdi_span_types
@@ -77,11 +77,12 @@ usage() {
 	echo >&2 "         -v|--verbose'  - Show debugging messages (on stderr)"
 	echo >&2 "         -n|--dry-run'  - During 'set', only show what would be done"
 	echo >&2 "         -k|--key <k>   - Override prefered key during dumpconfig action"
+	echo >&2 "         --line-mode <m> - Set default line mode to <m> (E1/T1/J1)"
 	exit 1
 }
 
 # Parse command line options
-TEMP=`getopt -o hnvk: --long help,dry-run,verbose,key: -n "$0" -- "$@"`
+TEMP=`getopt -o hnvk: --long help,dry-run,verbose,key:,line-mode: -n "$0" -- "$@"`
 if [ $? != 0 ]; then
 	echo >&2 "Bad options"
 	usage
@@ -108,6 +109,11 @@ while true ; do
 		shift
 		shift
 		;;
+	--line-mode)
+		DEFAULT_LINE_MODE="$2"
+		shift
+		shift
+		;;
 	--)
 		shift
 		break
@@ -131,7 +137,17 @@ case "$SPAN_ASSIGNMENTS_KEY" in
 hwid|location|devpath)
 	;;
 *)
-	echo >&2 "Bad SPAN_ASSIGNMENTS_KEY='$SPAN_ASSIGNMENTS_KEY' (should be: hwid|location|devpath)"
+	echo >&2 "Bad --key='$SPAN_ASSIGNMENTS_KEY' (should be: hwid|location|devpath)"
+	usage
+	;;
+esac
+
+# Validate DEFAULT_LINE_MODE
+case "$DEFAULT_LINE_MODE" in
+E1|T1|J1|'')
+	;;
+*)
+	echo >&2 "Bad --line-mode='$DEFAULT_LINE_MODE' (should be: E1|T1|J1)"
 	usage
 	;;
 esac
@@ -176,9 +192,24 @@ dump_config() {
 	echo '#'
 	echo "# Autogenerated by $0 on `date`"
 	echo "# Map PRI DAHDI devices to span types for E1/T1/J1"
+	if [ "$DEFAULT_LINE_MODE" != '' ]; then
+		echo "# Was run with '--line-mode=$DEFAULT_LINE_MODE' -- so will:"
+		echo "#     * Generate default wildcard entry"
+		echo "#     * Generate commented-out device list (for overrides)"
+	fi
 	echo ''
 	fmt="%-65s %s\n"
 	printf "$fmt" '# @location/hardware_id' 'span_type'
+
+	if [ "$DEFAULT_LINE_MODE" != '' ]; then
+		echo ""
+		echo "# Wildcard line-mode $DEFAULT_LINE_MODE".
+		printf "$fmt" "*" "*:$DEFAULT_LINE_MODE"
+		echo ""
+		echo "# A list of commented out configurations for spans."
+		echo "# Each item may be un-commented to provide an override."
+		echo ""
+	fi
 	for device in $DEVICES
 	do
 		devpath=`cd "$device" && pwd -P`
@@ -195,7 +226,11 @@ dump_config() {
 		cat "$device/spantype" | while read st; do
 			case "$st" in
 			*:[ETJ]1)
-				printf "$fmt" "$id" "$st"
+				if [ "$DEFAULT_LINE_MODE" != '' ]; then
+					printf "#$fmt" "$id" "$st"
+				else
+					printf "$fmt" "$id" "$st"
+				fi
 				;;
 			*)
 				#echo "#    Skipped local span `echo $st | sed 's/:/ -- /'`"
diff --git a/doc/dahdi_span_types.8 b/doc/dahdi_span_types.8
index 4f39bf5..f11054a 100644
--- a/doc/dahdi_span_types.8
+++ b/doc/dahdi_span_types.8
@@ -40,6 +40,16 @@ changing anything.
 During \fB"set"\fR operation, show the actions that are being performed.
 .RE
 
+.BI \-\-line\-mode= <E1|T1|J1>
+.RS
+During \fB"dumpconfig"\fR operation, force special generation mode:
+.IP \(bu 3
+First, generates a "wildcard" entry with the fiven \fBline\-mode\fR.
+.IP \(bu 3
+Comment out all span entries. Each of them may be manually un-commented
+to override the "wildcard".
+.RE
+
 .SH SUB-COMMANDS
 .B set
 .RS
diff --git a/xpp/dahdi_genconf b/xpp/dahdi_genconf
index a4acfa8..842084d 100755
--- a/xpp/dahdi_genconf
+++ b/xpp/dahdi_genconf
@@ -11,17 +11,30 @@ use strict;
 use File::Basename;
 BEGIN { my $dir = dirname($0); unshift(@INC, "$dir", "$dir/perl_modules"); }
 
-use Getopt::Std;
+use Getopt::Long;
 use Dahdi;
 use Dahdi::Xpp;
 use Dahdi::Config::Gen;
 use Dahdi::Config::Params;
 
+Getopt::Long::Configure ("bundling");
+
 my $version = '1';	# Functionality version (integer)
 my $revision = '$Revision$';
 
 my %opts;
 
+sub usage {
+	warn "Usage: $0 [options] <generators>\n";
+	warn "          Options:\n";
+	warn "            --line-mode=<E1|T1|J1>   - Also generate span-types.conf with default line mode\n";
+	warn "            -F|--freepbx             - Modify configuration for Freepbx (skip FXS channels)\n";
+	warn "            -v|--verbose             - Be versbose, show generated files\n";
+	warn "            -V|--version             - Show version and exit\n";
+	warn "            -h|--help                - Show this message\n";
+	exit 1;
+}
+
 sub set_defaults {
 	my $default_file = $ENV{GENCONF_PARAMETERS} || "/etc/dahdi/genconf_parameters";
 	my $params = Dahdi::Config::Params->new($default_file);
@@ -44,12 +57,24 @@ sub spans_prep($@) {
 	}
 }
 
+sub munge_spantypes {
+	if ($opts{'line-mode'}) {
+		print "Will generate span-types.conf with line-mode=$opts{'line-mode'}\n"
+			if $opts{'verbose'};
+		return "spantypes=line-mode=$opts{'line-mode'}";
+	} else {
+		print "Will generate span-types.conf\n" if $opts{'verbose'};
+		return "spantypes";
+	}
+}
+
 sub generator_list($) {
 	my $gconfig = shift || die;
 	my @genlist;
 
 	if (@ARGV) {
 		for my $gen (@ARGV) {
+			$gen = munge_spantypes() if $gen eq 'spantypes';
 			push @genlist, $gen;
 		}
 	} else {
@@ -58,6 +83,7 @@ sub generator_list($) {
 		if($gconfig->{'pri_connection_type'} eq 'R2') {
 			push @genlist, 'unicall';
 		}
+		push(@genlist, munge_spantypes()) if $opts{'line-mode'};
 	}
 	return @genlist;
 }
@@ -93,7 +119,16 @@ sub generate_files($@) {
 	}
 }
 
-getopts('vVF', \%opts) || die "$0: Bad option\n";
+GetOptions(\%opts,
+		"line-mode=s",
+		"h|help",
+		"v|verbose",
+		"V|version",
+		"F|freepbx",
+	) or usage;
+
+usage if $opts{h};
+
 if($opts{'V'}) {
 	my $revstr = $revision;
 	$revstr =~ s/[^$]*\$[^:]+:\s*//;
@@ -156,19 +191,27 @@ a comma separated list of options to the generator name. E.g:
 
 =over 4
 
-=item -V
+=item -V --version
 
 Version -- print version string and exit.
 
-=item -v
+=item -v --verbose
 
 Verbose -- sets the C<'verbose'> option for all generators.
 
-=item -F
+=item -F --freepbx
 
 Freepbx -- sets the C<'freepbx'> option for all generators.
 Currently, chandahdi is affected.
 
+=item --line-mode=I<mode>
+
+I<mode> may be E1, J1 or T1.
+
+Enables the generator B<spantypes> and the option B<line-mode> to it.
+(Equivalent to the option C<--line-mode> to C<dahdi_span_types>). This
+will generate a C<span-types.conf> file with a single wildcard line
+setting the line mode to I<mode>.
 
 =back
 
diff --git a/xpp/perl_modules/Dahdi/Config/Gen/Spantypes.pm b/xpp/perl_modules/Dahdi/Config/Gen/Spantypes.pm
index 6579685..dfa0608 100644
--- a/xpp/perl_modules/Dahdi/Config/Gen/Spantypes.pm
+++ b/xpp/perl_modules/Dahdi/Config/Gen/Spantypes.pm
@@ -29,13 +29,17 @@ sub generate($$$) {
 	system "which dahdi_span_types > /dev/null 2>&1";
 	return if $?;
 
+	my $line_mode = $genopts->{'line-mode'};
+	$line_mode = 'E1' unless defined $line_mode;
+	$line_mode =~ /^[ETJ]1$/ or die "Bad line-mode='$line_mode'\n";
 	warn "Empty configuration -- no spans\n" unless @spans;
 	rename "$file", "$file.bak"
 		or $! == 2	# ENOENT (No dependency on Errno.pm)
 		or die "Failed to backup old config: $!\n";
 	#$gconfig->dump;
-	print "Generating $file\n" if $genopts->{verbose};
-	my $cmd = "dahdi_span_types dumpconfig > $file";
+	printf("Generating $file (with default line-mode %s)\n", $line_mode)
+		if $genopts->{verbose};
+	my $cmd = "dahdi_span_types --line-mode=$line_mode dumpconfig > $file";
 	system $cmd;
 	die "Command failed (status=$?): '$cmd'" if $?;
 }
@@ -61,3 +65,17 @@ Generate the F</etc/dahdi/span-types.conf>.
 This is the configuration for dahdi_span_types.
 
 Its location may be overriden via the environment variable F<SPAN_TYPES_CONF_FILE>.
+
+You would normally run:
+
+  dahdi_genconf --line-mode=<line_mode>
+
+which is a short for:
+
+  dahdi_genconf spantypes=line-mode=<line_mode>
+
+This is done by running:
+  dahdi_span_types dumpconfig --line-mode=line_mode>
+
+where I<line_mode> is the module parameter, and defaults to B<E1> if not
+given (running C<dahdi_genconf spantypes>).