diff --git a/genders.changes b/genders.changes
index fc5e148..9b03206 100644
--- a/genders.changes
+++ b/genders.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Tue Feb 20 14:31:39 UTC 2018 - jjolly@suse.com
+
+- Added new package genders-base for the configuration file common
+  to the libraries (bsc#1081479)
+  * genders, libgenders, and libgendersplusplus now require
+    geners-base
+- %install comments out sample configuration using sed
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Thu Feb  1 11:35:21 UTC 2018 - eich@suse.com
 
diff --git a/genders.spec b/genders.spec
index 01825ac..ce886d5 100644
--- a/genders.spec
+++ b/genders.spec
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ BuildRequires:  python
 BuildRequires:  python-devel
 BuildRequires:  perl(ExtUtils::MakeMaker)
 BuildRoot:      %{_tmppath}/%{name}-%{version}-build
+Requires:       %{name}-base
 
 %description
 Genders is a static cluster configuration database used for cluster
@@ -52,6 +53,13 @@ sense the variations of cluster nodes. By abstracting this information
 into a plain text file, it becomes possible to change the
 configuration of a cluster by modifying only one file.
 
+%package base
+Summary:        Base configuration for gender programs and libraries
+Group:          System/Management
+
+%description base
+Base configuration files needed by the gender and libgender packages
+
 %package perl-compat
 Summary:        Perl compatibility Library
 Group:          Development/Languages/Perl
@@ -88,6 +96,7 @@ Necessary files for using genders with Perl.
 %package -n lib%{name}%{c_api}
 Summary:        C library API for genders
 Group:          System/Libraries
+Requires:       %{name}-base
 
 %description -n  lib%{name}%{c_api}
 This package contains the library needed to run programs dynamically linked
@@ -96,6 +105,7 @@ with genders. This is the C API.
 %package -n lib%{name}plusplus%{cpp_api}
 Summary:        C++ library API for genders
 Group:          System/Libraries
+Requires:       %{name}-base
 
 %description -n lib%{name}plusplus%{cpp_api} 
 This package contains the library needed to run programs dynamically linked
@@ -171,9 +181,14 @@ cat > %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/genders <<EOF
 # lines. However, no single node may have duplicate attributes. Genders database 
 # accepts ranges of nodenames in the general form: prefix[n-m,l-k,...], 
 # where n < m and l < k, etc., as an alternative to explicit lists of nodenames.
+#
+# Following is a sample genders configuration setup
+#
 EOF
 LD_PRELOAD=%{buildroot}%{_libdir}/libgenders.so.0 %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/nodeattr -f genders.sample --compress >> %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/genders
 
+sed -i -e 's/^\([^#]\)/## \1/' %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/genders
+
 %post -n lib%{name}plusplus%{cpp_api} -p /sbin/ldconfig 
 
 %postun -n lib%{name}plusplus%{cpp_api} -p /sbin/ldconfig 
@@ -184,11 +199,14 @@ LD_PRELOAD=%{buildroot}%{_libdir}/libgenders.so.0 %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/nodeatt
 
 %files
 %defattr(-,root,root)
-%doc README NEWS ChangeLog DISCLAIMER DISCLAIMER.UC COPYING TUTORIAL genders.sample
 # It doesn't matter if the user chooses a 32bit or 64bit target.  The
 # packaging must work off whatever Perl is installed.
 %{_mandir}/man1/*
 %{_bindir}/*
+
+%files base
+%defattr(-,root,root)
+%doc README NEWS ChangeLog DISCLAIMER DISCLAIMER.UC COPYING TUTORIAL genders.sample
 %config(noreplace) %{_sysconfdir}/genders
 
 %files perl-compat