diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 8bff77fa..cd84eae1 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ tmp/
 tests/repo/icons*
 
 # files used in manual testing
+/buildserver/Vagrantfile.yaml
 /config.py
 /tmp/
 /logs/
diff --git a/buildserver/provision-apt-proxy b/buildserver/provision-apt-proxy
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ec9a5ee8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/buildserver/provision-apt-proxy
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+echo $0
+set -e
+
+rm -f /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/02proxy
+echo "Acquire::ftp::Proxy \"$1\";" >> /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/02proxy
+echo "Acquire::http::Proxy \"$1\";" >> /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/02proxy
+echo "Acquire::https::Proxy \"$1\";" >> /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/02proxy
+
+apt-get update
diff --git a/makebuildserver b/makebuildserver
index 0a0e0d43..15a29868 100755
--- a/makebuildserver
+++ b/makebuildserver
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import sys
 import subprocess
 import time
 import hashlib
+import yaml
 from clint.textui import progress
 from optparse import OptionParser
 
@@ -61,6 +62,7 @@ config = {
     'cachedir': cachedir,
     'cpus': 1,
     'memory': 1024,
+    'hwvirtex': 'off',
 }
 
 # load config file, if present
@@ -85,6 +87,9 @@ cachedir = config['cachedir']
 if not os.path.exists(cachedir):
     os.makedirs(cachedir, 0o755)
 
+if config['apt_package_cache']:
+    config['aptcachedir'] = cachedir + '/apt/archives'
+
 cachefiles = [
     ('https://dl.google.com/android/repository/tools_r25.1.7-linux.zip',
      '3ca053600a86a5a64d5571edfbb1dad27f2bda3bfd2d38e2fe54322610b1ef0b'),
@@ -302,29 +307,29 @@ for srcurl, shasum in cachefiles:
         print("Invalid shasum of '" + v + "' detected for " + local_filename)
         sys.exit(1)
 
-# allow specifying a list/tuple that includes cached local copy
-if type(config['baseboxurl']) in (list, tuple) or config['baseboxurl'][0] in ('(', '['):
-    baseboxurl = config['baseboxurl']
-else:
-    baseboxurl = '"{0}"'.format(config['baseboxurl'])
-
 # use VirtualBox software virtualization if hardware is not available,
 # like if this is being run in kvm or some other VM platform, like
 # http://jenkins.debian.net, the values are 'on' or 'off'
-hwvirtex = 'off'
 if sys.platform.startswith('darwin'):
     # all < 10 year old Macs work, and OSX servers as VM host are very
     # rare, but this could also be auto-detected if someone codes it
-    hwvirtex = 'on'
+    config['hwvirtex'] = 'on'
 elif os.path.exists('/proc/cpuinfo'):
     with open('/proc/cpuinfo') as f:
         contents = f.read()
     if 'vmx' in contents or 'svm' in contents:
-        hwvirtex = 'on'
+        config['hwvirtex'] = 'on'
+
+del(config['__builtins__'])  # added by compile/exec
+with open(os.path.join(serverdir, 'Vagrantfile.yaml'), 'w') as f:
+    yaml.dump(config, f)
 
 # Generate an appropriate Vagrantfile for the buildserver, based on our
 # settings...
 vagrantfile = """
+require 'yaml'
+configfile = YAML.load_file('Vagrantfile.yaml')
+
 Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
 
   if Vagrant.has_plugin?("vagrant-cachier")
@@ -334,51 +339,41 @@ Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
     config.cache.enable :chef
   end
 
-  config.vm.box = "{0}"
-  config.vm.box_url = {1}
+  config.vm.box = configfile['basebox']
+  config.vm.box_url = configfile['baseboxurl']
 
   config.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |v|
-    v.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--memory", "{2}"]
-    v.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--cpus", "{3}"]
-    v.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--hwvirtex", "{4}"]
+    v.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--memory", configfile['memory']]
+    v.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--cpus", configfile['cpus']]
+    v.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--hwvirtex", configfile['hwvirtex']]
   end
 
-  config.vm.boot_timeout = {5}
+  config.vm.boot_timeout = configfile['boot_timeout']
 
   config.vm.provision :shell, :path => "fixpaths.sh"
-""".format(config['basebox'],
-           baseboxurl,
-           config['memory'],
-           config.get('cpus', 1),
-           hwvirtex,
-           config['boot_timeout'])
-if 'aptproxy' in config and config['aptproxy']:
-    vagrantfile += """
-  config.vm.provision :shell, :inline => 'sudo echo "Acquire::http {{ Proxy \\"{0}\\"; }};" > /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/02proxy && sudo apt-get update'
-""".format(config['aptproxy'])
 
-# buildserver/ is shared to the VM's /vagrant by default so the old default
-# does not need a custom mount
-if cachedir != 'buildserver/cache':
-    vagrantfile += """
-  config.vm.synced_folder '{0}', '/vagrant/cache',
-    owner: 'root', group: 'root', create: true
-""".format(cachedir)
+  if configfile.has_key? "aptproxy"
+    config.vm.provision :shell, path: "provision-apt-proxy",
+      args: [configfile["aptproxy"]]
+  end
 
-# cache .deb packages on the host via a mount trick
-if config['apt_package_cache']:
-    aptcachedir = cachedir + '/apt/archives'
-    vagrantfile += """
-  config.vm.synced_folder "{0}", "/var/cache/apt/archives",
-    owner: 'root', group: 'root', create: true
-""".format(aptcachedir)
+  # buildserver/ is shared to the VM's /vagrant by default so the old
+  # default does not need a custom mount
+  if configfile["cachedir"] != "buildserver/cache"
+    config.vm.synced_folder configfile["cachedir"], '/vagrant/cache',
+      owner: 'root', group: 'root', create: true
+  end
 
-vagrantfile += """
+  # cache .deb packages on the host via a mount trick
+  if configfile.has_key? "aptcachedir"
+    config.vm.synced_folder configfile["aptcachedir"], "/var/cache/apt/archives",
+      owner: 'root', group: 'root', create: true
+  end
 
   config.vm.provision "shell", path: "setup-env-vars",
     args: ["/home/vagrant/android-sdk"]
   config.vm.provision "shell", path: "provision-apt-get-install",
-    args: ["{0}"]
+    args: [configfile['debian_mirror']]
 
   config.vm.provision :chef_solo do |chef|
     chef.cookbooks_path = "cookbooks"
@@ -401,7 +396,7 @@ vagrantfile += """
   end
 
 end
-""".format(config['debian_mirror'])
+"""
 
 
 # Check against the existing Vagrantfile, and if they differ, we need to