diff --git a/conf/cf-lex.l b/conf/cf-lex.l
index 797dbeac..5959e701 100644
--- a/conf/cf-lex.l
+++ b/conf/cf-lex.l
@@ -9,14 +9,14 @@
 %{
 #undef REJECT     /* Avoid name clashes */
 
-#include "filter/filter.h"
-
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <stdarg.h>
 
 #include "nest/bird.h"
+#include "nest/route.h"
+#include "filter/filter.h"
 #include "conf/conf.h"
 #include "conf/cf-parse.tab.h"
 
@@ -119,7 +119,15 @@ WHITE [ \t]
   while (k)
     {
       if (!strcmp(k->name, yytext))
-	return k->value;
+	{
+	  if (k->value > 0)
+	    return k->value;
+	  else
+	    {
+	      cf_lval.i = -k->value;
+	      return ENUM;
+	    }
+	}
       k=k->next;
     }
   cf_lval.s = cf_find_sym(yytext, h);
diff --git a/conf/confbase.Y b/conf/confbase.Y
index 0ec74538..bf4ed331 100644
--- a/conf/confbase.Y
+++ b/conf/confbase.Y
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ CF_DECLS
 }
 
 %token END CLI_MARKER
-%token <i> NUM
+%token <i> NUM ENUM
 %token <i32> RTRID
 %token <a> IPA
 %token <s> SYM
diff --git a/conf/gen_keywords.m4 b/conf/gen_keywords.m4
index 37b882b5..1c77cd5c 100644
--- a/conf/gen_keywords.m4
+++ b/conf/gen_keywords.m4
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@ m4_define(CF_KEYWORDS, `m4_define([[CF_toks]],[[]])CF_iterate([[CF_keywd]], [[$@
 m4_define(CF_CLI, `CF_KEYWORDS(m4_translit($1, [[ ]], [[,]]))
 ')
 
+# Enums are translated to C initializers: use CF_ENUM(typename, prefix, values)
+m4_define(CF_enum, `m4_divert(0){ "CF_enum_prefix[[]]$1", -((CF_enum_type<<16) | CF_enum_prefix[[]]$1) },
+m4_divert(-1)')
+m4_define(CF_ENUM, `m4_define([[CF_enum_type]],$1)m4_define([[CF_enum_prefix]],$2)CF_iterate([[CF_enum]], [[m4_shift(m4_shift($@))]])DNL')
+
 # As we are processing C source, we must access all M4 primitives via
 # m4_* and also set different quoting convention: `[[' and ']]'
 m4_changequote([[,]])
diff --git a/conf/gen_parser.m4 b/conf/gen_parser.m4
index 8441c83b..d38df21e 100644
--- a/conf/gen_parser.m4
+++ b/conf/gen_parser.m4
@@ -44,6 +44,9 @@ m4_divert(2)CF_KEYWORDS(m4_translit($1, [[ ]], [[,]]))
 m4_divert(3)CF_ADDTO(cli_cmd, CF_cmd)
 CF_cmd: $1 ')
 
+# ENUM declarations are ignored
+m4_define(CF_ENUM, `')
+
 # After all configuration templates end, we finally generate the grammar file.
 m4_m4wrap(`
 m4_divert(0)DNL