diff --git a/osquery/config/config.cpp b/osquery/config/config.cpp
index d08d0779db6..3546b58666c 100644
--- a/osquery/config/config.cpp
+++ b/osquery/config/config.cpp
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 #include <mutex>
 #include <random>
 
+#include <boost/algorithm/string/trim.hpp>
 #include <boost/property_tree/json_parser.hpp>
 #include <boost/thread/shared_mutex.hpp>
 
@@ -206,14 +207,39 @@ Status Config::load() {
   return Status(0, "OK");
 }
 
+/**
+ * @brief Boost's 1.59 property tree based JSON parser does not accept comments.
+ *
+ * For semi-compatibility with existing configurations we will attempt to strip
+ * hash and C++ style comments. It is OK for the config update to be latent
+ * as it is a single event. But some configuration plugins may update running
+ * configurations.
+ */
+inline void stripConfigComments(std::string& json) {
+  std::string sink;
+  for (auto& line : osquery::split(json, "\n")) {
+    boost::trim(line);
+    if (line.size() > 0 && line[0] == '#') {
+      continue;
+    }
+    if (line.size() > 1 && line[0] == '/' && line[1] == '/') {
+      continue;
+    }
+    sink += line + '\n';
+  }
+  json = sink;
+}
+
 Status Config::updateSource(const std::string& name, const std::string& json) {
   hashSource(name, json);
 
   // load the config (source.second) into a pt::ptree
-  std::stringstream json_stream;
-  json_stream << json;
   pt::ptree tree;
   try {
+    auto clone = json;
+    stripConfigComments(clone);
+    std::stringstream json_stream;
+    json_stream << clone;
     pt::read_json(json_stream, tree);
   } catch (const pt::json_parser::json_parser_error& e) {
     return Status(1, "Error parsing the config JSON");
diff --git a/osquery/config/tests/config_tests.cpp b/osquery/config/tests/config_tests.cpp
index 75d5bf391f3..1a6c93142f2 100644
--- a/osquery/config/tests/config_tests.cpp
+++ b/osquery/config/tests/config_tests.cpp
@@ -29,7 +29,9 @@ namespace osquery {
 
 // Blacklist testing methods, internal to config implementations.
 extern void restoreScheduleBlacklist(std::map<std::string, size_t>& blacklist);
-extern void saveScheduleBlacklist(const std::map<std::string, size_t>& blacklist);
+extern void saveScheduleBlacklist(
+    const std::map<std::string, size_t>& blacklist);
+extern void stripConfigComments(std::string& json);
 
 class ConfigTests : public testing::Test {
  protected:
@@ -85,6 +87,20 @@ TEST_F(ConfigTests, test_bad_config_update) {
   ASSERT_NO_THROW(Config::getInstance().update({{"bad_source", bad_json}}));
 }
 
+TEST_F(ConfigTests, test_strip_comments) {
+  std::string json_comments =
+      "// Comment\n // Comment //\n  # Comment\n# Comment\n{\"options\":{}}";
+
+  // Test support for stripping C++ and hash style comments from config JSON.
+  auto actual = json_comments;
+  stripConfigComments(actual);
+  std::string expected = "{\"options\":{}}\n";
+  EXPECT_EQ(actual, expected);
+
+  // Make sure the config update source logic applies the stripping.
+  EXPECT_TRUE(Config::getInstance().update({{"data", json_comments}}));
+}
+
 class TestConfigParserPlugin : public ConfigParserPlugin {
  public:
   std::vector<std::string> keys() {
@@ -158,9 +174,8 @@ TEST_F(ConfigTests, test_get_scheduled_queries) {
   auto c = Config();
   c.addPack("unrestricted_pack", "", getUnrestrictedPack());
   c.scheduledQueries(
-      ([&queries](const std::string&, const ScheduledQuery& query) {
-        queries.push_back(query);
-      }));
+      ([&queries](const std::string&,
+                  const ScheduledQuery& query) { queries.push_back(query); }));
   EXPECT_EQ(queries.size(), getUnrestrictedPack().get_child("queries").size());
 }
 
diff --git a/tools/deployment/osquery.example.conf b/tools/deployment/osquery.example.conf
index 26d20e73ffd..7938284c83e 100644
--- a/tools/deployment/osquery.example.conf
+++ b/tools/deployment/osquery.example.conf
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
-  /* Configure the daemon below */
+  // Configure the daemon below:
   "options": {
     // Select the osquery config plugin.
     "config_plugin": "filesystem",
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@
     "enable_monitor": "true"
   },
 
-  /* Define a schedule of queries */
+  // Define a schedule of queries:
   "schedule": {
     // This is a simple example query that outputs basic system information.
     "system_info": {
@@ -63,17 +63,16 @@
     }
   },
 
-  /**
-   * Add default osquery packs or install your own.
-   *
-   * There are several 'default' packs installed with 'make install' or via
-   * packages and/or Homebrew.
-   *
-   * Linux:        /usr/share/osquery/packs
-   * OS X:         /var/osquery/packs
-   * Homebrew:     /usr/local/share/osquery/packs
-   * make install: {PREFIX}/share/osquery/packs
-   */
+  // Add default osquery packs or install your own.
+  //
+  // There are several 'default' packs installed with 'make install' or via
+  // packages and/or Homebrew.
+  //
+  // Linux:        /usr/share/osquery/packs
+  // OS X:         /var/osquery/packs
+  // Homebrew:     /usr/local/share/osquery/packs
+  // make install: {PREFIX}/share/osquery/packs
+  //
   "packs": {
     // "osquery-monitoring": "/usr/share/osquery/packs/osquery-monitoring.conf",
     // "incident-response": "/usr/share/osquery/packs/incident-response.conf",
diff --git a/tools/provision/lib.sh b/tools/provision/lib.sh
index d0c1d68604d..f9e7360a377 100755
--- a/tools/provision/lib.sh
+++ b/tools/provision/lib.sh
@@ -477,6 +477,7 @@ function package() {
       unset HOMEBREW_BUILD_FROM_SOURCE
       export HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS=$THREADS
       export HOMEBREW_NO_EMOJI=1
+      HOMEBREW_ARGS=""
       if [[ $1 = "rocksdb" ]]; then
         # Build RocksDB from source in brew
         export LIBNAME=librocksdb_lite