Index: main/config.c
===================================================================
--- main/config.c	(revision 191559)
+++ main/config.c	(working copy)
@@ -747,9 +747,17 @@
 
 		if (!(newer = ast_variable_new(variable, value, cur->file)))
 			return -1;
-	
+
 		newer->next = cur->next;
 		newer->object = cur->object || object;
+
+		/* Preserve everything */
+		newer->lineno = cur->lineno;
+		newer->blanklines = cur->blanklines;
+		newer->precomments = cur->precomments; cur->precomments = NULL;
+		newer->sameline = cur->sameline; cur->sameline = NULL;
+		newer->trailing = cur->trailing; cur->trailing = NULL;
+
 		if (prev)
 			prev->next = newer;
 		else
@@ -1565,16 +1573,30 @@
 	int i;
 
 	/* I don't have to worry about those ;! comments, they are
-	   stored in the precomments, but not printed back out.
-	   I did have to make sure that comments following
-	   the ;! header comments were not also deleted in the process */
-	if (lineno - precomment_lines - fi->lineno < 0) { /* insertions can mess up the line numbering and produce negative numbers that mess things up */
+	 * stored in the precomments, but not printed back out.
+	 * I did have to make sure that comments following
+	 * the ;! header comments were not also deleted in the process.
+	 */
+	if (lineno - precomment_lines - fi->lineno < 0) {
+		/* insertions can mess up the line numbering and produce negative
+		 * numbers that mess things up */
 		return;
+	} else if (lineno == 0) {
+		/* Line replacements also mess things up */
+		return;
+	} else if (lineno - precomment_lines - fi->lineno < 5) {
+		/* Only insert less than 5 blank lines; if anything more occurs,
+		 * it's probably due to context deletion. */
+		for (i = fi->lineno; i < lineno - precomment_lines; i++) {
+			fprintf(fp, "\n");
+		}
+	} else {
+		/* Deletion occurred - insert a single blank line, for separation of
+		 * contexts. */
+		fprintf(fp, "\n");
 	}
-	for (i=fi->lineno; i<lineno - precomment_lines; i++) {
-		fprintf(fp,"\n");
-	}
-	fi->lineno = lineno+1; /* Advance the file lineno */
+
+	fi->lineno = lineno + 1; /* Advance the file lineno */
 }
 
 int config_text_file_save(const char *configfile, const struct ast_config *cfg, const char *generator)