diff --git a/contrib/munin-node-debug b/contrib/munin-node-debug
index 06f39cd31..eecb78344 100755
--- a/contrib/munin-node-debug
+++ b/contrib/munin-node-debug
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ use warnings;
 use IO::Socket;
 use IO::Select;
 use Getopt::Long;
+use POSIX;
 
 # No buffering
 $| = 1;
@@ -149,7 +150,7 @@ while (my @ready = $select->can_read()) {
 			service($client);
 			# Exit the child
 			debug("[$$] Finished");
-			exit;
+			POSIX::_exit(0);
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/doc/architecture/index.rst b/doc/architecture/index.rst
index 2c1870158..5da391771 100644
--- a/doc/architecture/index.rst
+++ b/doc/architecture/index.rst
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ We have some more standard arguments, which play a role in the process of automa
         ../plugin/multigraphing.rst
         ../plugin/protocol-dirtyconfig.rst
         ../plugin/protocol-multigraph.rst
+        ../plugin/protocol-cap.rst
         ../plugin/snmp.rst
         ../plugin/use.rst
         ../plugin/writing-tips.rst
diff --git a/doc/plugin/protocol-cap.rst b/doc/plugin/protocol-cap.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d6468f841
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/plugin/protocol-cap.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+.. index::
+   triple: protocol; extension; cap
+   pair: capability; cap
+
+.. _plugin-protocol-dirtyconfig:
+
+=================================
+ Protocol extension: cap
+=================================
+
+The "config cap" capability is implemented in munin 3.0 and later.
+
+Objective
+---------
+
+Reduce plugin execution time for node startup.
+
+Description
+-----------
+
+When the node starts up, it launches every plugin once in order to
+discover their capabilities:
+
+#. if it is part of a virtual host (for example SNMP plugins)
+#. if it requires a multigraph master (for example the diskstats plugin)
+
+That information is almost always known immediatly to the plugin,
+as item 1 is usually either set by the environment or the plugin symlink name
+and item 2 is usually hardcoded in the plugin code.
+
+Plugins therefore don't have to any time doing autoconfiguration yet to provide
+that information. This is important as during its startup, the node will loop
+sequentially over all the active plugins.  Any speedup is welcome, specially if
+the node has thousands of plugins, such as a SNMP-rich one.
+
+Network protocol
+----------------
+
+The network protocol is fully unchanged. It is purely a node-scoped
+optimisation.
+
+Plugin protocol
+----------------
+
+During the node startup, the plugin will be called with a "config cap" argument instead of "config".
+The plugin can then reply with a reduced set of information, as the node will not use the full output.
+
+Old behavior is still fully supported as we want to preserve backwards compatibility. It will simply not
+benefit from any speedup.
+
+sample plugin output
+--------------------
+
+When the `cap` subcommand is asked, the output can be *very* small.
+
+::
+
+   $ munin-run my_plugin config cap
+   host_name remote.host.lan
+   multigraph dummy
+
+   $ munin-run my_plugin config
+   host_name remote.host.lan
+   multigraph my_plugin_1
+   graph_title My Plugin 1
+   graph_category sample
+   field.label My Field
+   multigraph my_plugin_2
+   graph_title My Plugin 2
+   graph_category sample
+   field.label My Field
diff --git a/doc/plugin/protocol-dirtyconfig.rst b/doc/plugin/protocol-dirtyconfig.rst
index b4da2db75..1543d01e0 100644
--- a/doc/plugin/protocol-dirtyconfig.rst
+++ b/doc/plugin/protocol-dirtyconfig.rst
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
  Protocol extension: dirtyconfig
 =================================
 
-The dirtyconfig capability is implemented in munin 2.0 and on.
+The dirtyconfig capability is implemented in munin 2.0 and later.
 
 Objective
 ---------
diff --git a/doc/plugin/protocol-multigraph.rst b/doc/plugin/protocol-multigraph.rst
index 1411af7f0..3af4ec299 100644
--- a/doc/plugin/protocol-multigraph.rst
+++ b/doc/plugin/protocol-multigraph.rst
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
  Protocol extension: multiple graphs from one plugin
 =====================================================
 
-Multigraph plugins are implemented in 1.4.0 and on.
+Multigraph plugins are implemented in 1.4.0 and later.
 
 Objective
 ---------
diff --git a/lib/Munin/Master/UpdateWorker.pm b/lib/Munin/Master/UpdateWorker.pm
index a4f1c1b63..b3856bc6e 100644
--- a/lib/Munin/Master/UpdateWorker.pm
+++ b/lib/Munin/Master/UpdateWorker.pm
@@ -919,7 +919,7 @@ sub _create_rrd_file {
     );
 
     INFO "[INFO] RRDs::create @args";
-    RRDs::create @args;
+    RRDs::create @args unless $ENV{NO_UPDATE_RRD};
     if (my $ERROR = RRDs::error) {
         ERROR "[ERROR] Unable to create '$rrd_file': $ERROR";
     }
@@ -1069,14 +1069,14 @@ sub _update_rrd_file {
 		# https://lists.oetiker.ch/pipermail/rrd-users/2011-October/018196.html
 		for my $update_rrd_data (@update_rrd_data) {
 			DEBUG "RRDs::update($rrd_file, $update_rrd_data)";
-			RRDs::update($rrd_file, $update_rrd_data);
+			RRDs::update($rrd_file, $update_rrd_data) unless $ENV{NO_UPDATE_RRD};
 			# Break on error.
 			last if RRDs::error;
 		}
 	} else {
 		# normal vector-update the RRD
 		DEBUG "RRDs::update($rrd_file, @update_rrd_data)";
-		RRDs::update($rrd_file, @update_rrd_data);
+		RRDs::update($rrd_file, @update_rrd_data) unless $ENV{NO_UPDATE_RRD};
 	}
 
 	if (my $ERROR = RRDs::error) {
diff --git a/lib/Munin/Node/Server.pm b/lib/Munin/Node/Server.pm
index 22ce462ef..8909740f0 100644
--- a/lib/Munin/Node/Server.pm
+++ b/lib/Munin/Node/Server.pm
@@ -74,7 +74,10 @@ sub _add_services_to_nodes
     for my $service (@services) {
         DEBUG("Configuring $service\n") if $config->{DEBUG};
 
-        my @response = _run_service($service, 'config');
+        # Adding a 'cap' sub-argument to 'config' to signal 3.0+ plugins that
+        # they don't need to do any expensive stuff, they are only called for
+        # the initial node config
+        my @response = _run_service($service, [ 'config', 'cap', ]);
 
         if (!@response or grep(/# Timed out/, @response)) {
             DEBUG("Error running $service.  Dropping it.") if $config->{DEBUG};
diff --git a/lib/Munin/Node/Service.pm b/lib/Munin/Node/Service.pm
index c54966e97..81b910af0 100644
--- a/lib/Munin/Node/Service.pm
+++ b/lib/Munin/Node/Service.pm
@@ -262,7 +262,10 @@ sub exec_service
 
     Munin::Node::OS::set_umask();
 
-    my @command = grep defined, _service_command($self->{servicedir}, $service, $arg);
+    # Dereference $argument if ARRAYREF
+    my @arguments = ref($arg) ? @$arg : ( $arg );
+
+    my @command = grep defined, _service_command($self->{servicedir}, $service, @arguments);
     print STDERR "# About to run '", join (' ', @command), "'\n"
         if $config->{DEBUG};
 
@@ -275,7 +278,9 @@ sub exec_service
 # <http://munin-monitoring.org/wiki/plugin-conf.d>).
 sub _service_command
 {
-    my ($dir, $service, $argument) = @_;
+    my $dir = shift;
+    my $service = shift;
+    my @arguments = @_;
 
     my @run;
     my $sconf = $config->{sconf};
@@ -290,14 +295,14 @@ sub _service_command
             # though, since who will ever need to pass "%c" in a place
             # like that?
             if ($t =~ s/%c/$dir\/$service/g) {
-                push @run, ($t, $argument);
+                push @run, ($t, @arguments);
             } else {
                 push @run, ($t);
             }
         }
     }
     else {
-        @run = ("$dir/$service", $argument);
+        @run = ("$dir/$service", @arguments);
     }
 
     return @run;
diff --git a/lib/Munin/Plugin/SNMP.pm b/lib/Munin/Plugin/SNMP.pm
index f18ec784d..e28c8f049 100644
--- a/lib/Munin/Plugin/SNMP.pm
+++ b/lib/Munin/Plugin/SNMP.pm
@@ -531,6 +531,29 @@ sub get_by_regex
     return \%result;
 }
 
+=head2 handle_caps() - Emit relevant "config" output for node
+
+This emits the relevant config lines for the initial run of the node
+
+=cut
+sub handle_caps
+{
+	# XXX - Should handle this way better !
+	return unless ($ARGV[1] && $ARGV[0] eq "config" && $ARGV[1] eq "cap" );
+
+	# Only asking for "cap"
+	my ($host,undef,$version) = config_session();
+
+	# We are a virtualhost enabled plugin
+	print "host_name $host\n" unless $host eq 'localhost';
+
+	# We are a multigraph enabled plugin
+	print "multigraph dummy\n"; 
+
+	# Stopping here
+	exit(0);
+}
+
 1;
 
 =head1 TODO
diff --git a/plugins/node.d/snmp__if_multi b/plugins/node.d/snmp__if_multi
index 68ebc1e3e..439de24ac 100755
--- a/plugins/node.d/snmp__if_multi
+++ b/plugins/node.d/snmp__if_multi
@@ -822,6 +822,8 @@ sub do_fetch {
 
 # ############################## MAIN ################################
 
+Munin::Plugin::SNMP::handle_caps();
+
 do_collect;
 do_preprocess;
 
diff --git a/plugins/node.d/snmp__uptime b/plugins/node.d/snmp__uptime
index cb46c8712..4368228ac 100755
--- a/plugins/node.d/snmp__uptime
+++ b/plugins/node.d/snmp__uptime
@@ -72,6 +72,8 @@ GPLv2 or (at your option) any later version.
 use strict;
 use Munin::Plugin::SNMP;
 
+Munin::Plugin::SNMP::handle_caps();
+
 if (defined $ARGV[0] and $ARGV[0] eq "snmpconf") {
         print "require 1.3.6.1.2.1.1.3.0 [0-9]\n"; # Number
         exit 0;
diff --git a/script/munin-run b/script/munin-run
index 5a2161a18..85799a569 100755
--- a/script/munin-run
+++ b/script/munin-run
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ my $config = Munin::Node::Config->instance();
 sub main
 {
     my @original_argv = @ARGV;
-    my ($plugin, $arg) = parse_args();
+    my ($plugin, $args) = parse_args();
 
     # Loads the settings from munin-node.conf.
     # Ensures that, where options can be set both in the config and in
@@ -123,12 +123,12 @@ sub main
         return execute_plugin($plugin, $arg);
     } elsif (!check_systemd_run_permissions()) {
         print STDERR "# Skipping systemd properties simulation due to lack of permissions.\n" if $config->{DEBUG};
-        return execute_plugin($plugin, $arg);
+        return execute_plugin($plugin, $args);
     } else {
         my $systemd_version = get_systemd_version();
         if ((not defined $systemd_version) or ($systemd_version < $REQUIRED_SYSTEMD_VERSION)) {
             print STDERR "# Skipping systemd properties simulation due to required systemd version ($REQUIRED_SYSTEMD_VERSION)\n" if $config->{DEBUG};
-            return execute_plugin($plugin, $arg);
+            return execute_plugin($plugin, $args);
         } else {
             my @munin_node_hardening_flags;
             my $parse_flags_success = 0;
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ sub main
                 # Failed to retrieve systemd properties of munin-node service.
                 # Probable causes: systemd is not installed/enabled or the
                 # service unit does not exist.
-                return execute_plugin($plugin, $arg);
+                return execute_plugin($plugin, $args);
             }
         }
     }
@@ -329,7 +329,7 @@ sub parse_args
     my $sconfdir   = "$Munin::Common::Defaults::MUNIN_CONFDIR/plugin-conf.d";
     my $sconffile;
 
-    my ($plugin, $arg);
+    my ($plugin, $args);
 
     print_usage_and_exit() unless GetOptions(
             "config=s"     => \$conffile,
@@ -348,10 +348,14 @@ sub parse_args
     print_usage_and_exit() unless $ARGV[0];
 
     # Detaint the plugin name
-    ($plugin) = ($ARGV[0] =~ m/^([-\w.:]+)$/) or die "# ERROR: Invalid plugin name '$ARGV[0].\n";
-    if ($ARGV[1]) {
-        ($arg) = ($ARGV[1] =~ m/^(\w+)$/)
-            or die "# ERROR: Invalid characters in argument '$ARGV[1]'.\n";
+    my $dirty_plugin = shift @ARGV;
+    ($plugin) = ($dirty_plugin =~ m/^([-\w.:]+)$/) or die "# ERROR: Invalid plugin name '$dirty_plugin.\n";
+
+    # Detaint the plugin args
+    for my $dirty_arg (@ARGV) {
+        my ($arg) = ($dirty_arg =~ m/^(\w+)$/)
+            or die "# ERROR: Invalid characters in argument '$dirty_arg'.\n";
+       push @$args, $arg;
     }
 
     # Detaint service directory.  FIXME: do more strict detainting?
@@ -372,7 +376,7 @@ sub parse_args
         paranoia   => $paranoia,
     });
 
-    return ($plugin, $arg);
+    return ($plugin, $args);
 }