diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2ba640d5b..339793a71 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,133 +1,135 @@
 TMPL_DIR := templates-cfg
 OP_TMPL_DIR := templates-op
 BUILD_DIR := build
 DATA_DIR := data
 SHIM_DIR := src/shim
 XDP_DIR := src/xdp
 CC := gcc
 LIBS := -lzmq
 CFLAGS :=
 
 config_xml_src = $(wildcard interface-definitions/*.xml.in)
 config_xml_obj = $(config_xml_src:.xml.in=.xml)
 op_xml_src = $(wildcard op-mode-definitions/*.xml.in)
 op_xml_obj = $(op_xml_src:.xml.in=.xml)
 
 %.xml: %.xml.in
 	@echo Generating $(BUILD_DIR)/$@ from $<
 	# -ansi      This turns off certain features of GCC that are incompatible
 	#            with ISO C90. Without this regexes containing '/' as in an URL
 	#            won't work
 	# -x c       By default GCC guesses the input language from its file extension,
 	#            thus XML is unknown. Force it to C language
 	# -E         Stop after the preprocessing stage
 	# -undef     Do not predefine any system-specific or GCC-specific macros.
 	# -nostdinc  Do not search the standard system directories for header files
 	# -P         Inhibit generation of linemarkers in the output from the
 	#            preprocessor
 	mkdir -p $(BUILD_DIR)/$(dir $@)
 	@$(CC) -x c-header -E -undef -nostdinc -P -I$(CURDIR)/$(dir $<) -o $(BUILD_DIR)/$@ -c $<
 
 .PHONY: interface_definitions
 .ONESHELL:
 interface_definitions: $(config_xml_obj)
 	mkdir -p $(TMPL_DIR)
 
+	$(CURDIR)/scripts/override-default $(BUILD_DIR)/interface-definitions
+
 	find $(BUILD_DIR)/interface-definitions -type f -name "*.xml" | xargs -I {} $(CURDIR)/scripts/build-command-templates {} $(CURDIR)/schema/interface_definition.rng $(TMPL_DIR) || exit 1
 
 	# XXX: delete top level node.def's that now live in other packages
 	rm -f $(TMPL_DIR)/firewall/node.def
 	rm -f $(TMPL_DIR)/interfaces/node.def
 	rm -f $(TMPL_DIR)/protocols/node.def
 	rm -f $(TMPL_DIR)/protocols/static/node.def
 	rm -f $(TMPL_DIR)/policy/node.def
 	rm -f $(TMPL_DIR)/system/node.def
 	rm -f $(TMPL_DIR)/vpn/node.def
 	rm -f $(TMPL_DIR)/vpn/ipsec/node.def
 	rm -rf $(TMPL_DIR)/vpn/nipsec
 	rm -rf $(TMPL_DIR)/vpn/nospf
 
 	# XXX: required until OSPF and RIP is migrated from vyatta-cfg-quagga to vyos-1x
 	mkdir $(TMPL_DIR)/interfaces/loopback/node.tag/ipv6
 	mkdir $(TMPL_DIR)/interfaces/dummy/node.tag/ipv6
 	mkdir $(TMPL_DIR)/interfaces/openvpn/node.tag/ip
 	mkdir -p $(TMPL_DIR)/interfaces/vti/node.tag/ip
 	mkdir -p $(TMPL_DIR)/interfaces/vti/node.tag/ipv6
 	cp $(TMPL_DIR)/interfaces/ethernet/node.tag/ipv6/node.def $(TMPL_DIR)/interfaces/loopback/node.tag/ipv6
 	cp $(TMPL_DIR)/interfaces/ethernet/node.tag/ipv6/node.def $(TMPL_DIR)/interfaces/dummy/node.tag/ipv6
 	cp $(TMPL_DIR)/interfaces/ethernet/node.tag/ip/node.def $(TMPL_DIR)/interfaces/openvpn/node.tag/ip
 	cp $(TMPL_DIR)/interfaces/ethernet/node.tag/ip/node.def $(TMPL_DIR)/interfaces/vti/node.tag/ip
 	cp $(TMPL_DIR)/interfaces/ethernet/node.tag/ipv6/node.def $(TMPL_DIR)/interfaces/vti/node.tag/ipv6
 
 .PHONY: op_mode_definitions
 .ONESHELL:
 op_mode_definitions: $(op_xml_obj)
 	mkdir -p $(OP_TMPL_DIR)
 
 	find $(BUILD_DIR)/op-mode-definitions/ -type f -name "*.xml" | xargs -I {} $(CURDIR)/scripts/build-command-op-templates {} $(CURDIR)/schema/op-mode-definition.rng $(OP_TMPL_DIR) || exit 1
 
 	# XXX: delete top level op mode node.def's that now live in other packages
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/add/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/clear/interfaces/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/clear/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/delete/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/generate/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/monitor/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/reset/vpn/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/set/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/show/interfaces/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/show/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/show/system/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/show/vpn/node.def
 
 	# XXX: ping must be able to recursivly call itself as the
 	# options are provided from the script itself
 	ln -s ../node.tag $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/ping/node.tag/node.tag/
 
 .PHONY: component_versions
 .ONESHELL:
 component_versions: interface_definitions
 	$(CURDIR)/scripts/build-component-versions $(BUILD_DIR)/interface-definitions $(DATA_DIR)
 
 .PHONY: vyshim
 vyshim:
 	$(MAKE) -C $(SHIM_DIR)
 
 .PHONY: vyxdp
 vyxdp:
 	$(MAKE) -C $(XDP_DIR)
 
 .PHONY: all
 all: clean interface_definitions op_mode_definitions component_versions vyshim vyxdp
 
 .PHONY: clean
 clean:
 	rm -rf $(BUILD_DIR)
 	rm -rf $(TMPL_DIR)
 	rm -rf $(OP_TMPL_DIR)
 	$(MAKE) -C $(SHIM_DIR) clean
 	$(MAKE) -C $(XDP_DIR) clean
 
 .PHONY: test
 test:
 	set -e; python3 -m compileall -q .
 	PYTHONPATH=python/ python3 -m "nose" --with-xunit src --with-coverage --cover-erase --cover-xml --cover-package src/conf_mode,src/op_mode,src/completion,src/helpers,src/validators,src/tests --verbose
 
 .PHONY: sonar
 sonar:
 	sonar-scanner -X -Dsonar.login=${SONAR_TOKEN}
 
 .PHONY: docs
 .ONESHELL:
 docs:
 	sphinx-apidoc -o sphinx/source/  python/
 	cd sphinx/
 	PYTHONPATH=../python make html
 
 deb:
 	dpkg-buildpackage -uc -us -tc -b
 
 .PHONY: schema
 schema:
 	trang -I rnc -O rng schema/interface_definition.rnc schema/interface_definition.rng
 	trang -I rnc -O rng schema/op-mode-definition.rnc schema/op-mode-definition.rng
diff --git a/scripts/override-default b/scripts/override-default
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..d91b89426
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/override-default
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+#
+# override-default: preprocessor for XML interface definitions to interpret
+# redundant entries (relative to path) with tag 'defaultValue' as an override
+# directive. Must be called before build-command-templates, as the schema
+# disallows redundancy.
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2021 VyOS maintainers and contributors
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 or later as
+# published by the Free Software Foundation.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+#
+
+# Use lxml xpath capability to find multiple elements with tag defaultValue
+# relative to path; replace and remove to override the value.
+
+import sys
+import glob
+import logging
+from lxml import etree
+
+debug = False
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+logs_handler = logging.StreamHandler()
+logger.addHandler(logs_handler)
+
+if debug:
+    logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
+else:
+    logger.setLevel(logging.INFO)
+
+def override_element(l: list):
+    """
+    Allow multiple override elements; use the final one (in document order).
+    """
+    if len(l) < 2:
+        logger.debug("passing list of single element to override_element")
+        return
+
+    # assemble list of leafNodes of overriding defaultValues, for later removal
+    parents = []
+    for el in l[1:]:
+        parents.append(el.getparent())
+
+    # replace element with final override
+    l[0].getparent().replace(l[0], l[-1])
+
+    # remove all but overridden element
+    for el in parents:
+        el.getparent().remove(el)
+
+def collect_and_override(dir_name):
+    """
+    Collect elements with defaultValue tag into dictionary indexed by tuple
+    of (name, str(ancestor path)); the second component must be immutable for
+    tuple to act as key, hence str().
+    """
+    for fname in glob.glob(f'{dir_name}/*.xml'):
+        tree = etree.parse(fname)
+        root = tree.getroot()
+        defv = {}
+
+        xpath_str = f'//defaultValue'
+        xp = tree.xpath(xpath_str)
+
+        for element in xp:
+            ap = element.xpath('ancestor::*[@name]')
+            defv.setdefault((ap[-1].get("name"), str(ap[:-1])), []).append(element)
+
+        for k, v in defv.items():
+            if len(v) > 1:
+                logger.debug(f'overridding default in {k[0]}')
+                override_element(v)
+
+        revised_str = etree.tostring(root, encoding='unicode', pretty_print=True)
+
+        with open(f'{fname}', 'w') as f:
+            f.write(revised_str)
+
+def main():
+    if len(sys.argv) < 2:
+        logger.critical('Must specify XML directory!')
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+    dir_name = sys.argv[1]
+
+    collect_and_override(dir_name)
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()