diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 99bcc5f3..dc024f82 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -163,9 +163,6 @@ Potery uses `pyproject.toml` and `poetry.lock` to lock dependencies
         // this indicates which builder must be used
         "buildSystem": "python",
 
-        // versioning the format to ensure builder compatibility
-        "buildSystemFormatVersion": 1,
-
         // translator which generated this file
         // (not relevant for building)
         "producedBy": "translator-poetry-1",
diff --git a/specifications/generic-lock-example.json b/specifications/generic-lock-example.json
index a8210146..f8aa85d2 100644
--- a/specifications/generic-lock-example.json
+++ b/specifications/generic-lock-example.json
@@ -14,9 +14,9 @@
 
   "generic": {
     "buildSystem": "python",
-    "buildSystemFormatVersion": 1,
-    "producedBy": "translator-poetry-1",
-    "rootPackage": "requests",
+    "translatedBy": "python.pure.poetry",
+    "translatorParams": "--flag_application",
+    "mainPackage": "requests",
     "dependencyGraph": {
       "requests": [
         "certifi"
diff --git a/specifications/generic-lock-schema.json b/specifications/generic-lock-schema.json
index e24e291f..960f7193 100644
--- a/specifications/generic-lock-schema.json
+++ b/specifications/generic-lock-schema.json
@@ -74,7 +74,6 @@
       "type": "object",
       "properties": {
         "buildSystem": { "type": "string" },
-        "buildSystemFormatVersion": { "type": "integer" },
         "producedBy": { "type": "string" },
         "dependencyGraph": {
           "type": "object",
diff --git a/src/apps/cli.py b/src/apps/cli.py
index 91055805..22e5bd7c 100644
--- a/src/apps/cli.py
+++ b/src/apps/cli.py
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@ def strip_hashes_from_lock(lock):
     del source['hash']
 
 
+def order_dict(d):
+  return {k: order_dict(v) if isinstance(v, dict) else v
+    for k, v in sorted(d.items())}
+
+
 def list_translators(args):
   out = "Available translators per build system"
   for subsystem, trans_types in translators.items():
@@ -30,11 +35,20 @@ def list_translators(args):
             f"\n      special args:",
           )
           for argName, argData in translator.items():
-            lines += (
-              f"\n        --arg_{argName} {{value}}",
-              f"\n            default: {argData['default']}",
-              f"\n            examples: {', '.join(argData['examples'])}",
-            )
+            if argData['type'] == 'argument':
+              lines += (
+                f"\n        --arg_{argName} {{value}}",
+                f"\n            description: {argData['description']}",
+                f"\n            default: {argData['default']}",
+                f"\n            examples: {', '.join(argData['examples'])}",
+              )
+            elif argData['type'] == 'flag':
+              lines += (
+                f"\n        --flag_{argName}",
+                f"\n            description: {argData['description']}",
+              )
+            else:
+              raise Exception(f"Unknown type '{argData['type']}' of argument '{arg_Name}'")
         displayed.append(''.join(lines))
     nl = '\n'
     out += f"\n\n  - {subsystem}.{f'{nl}  - {subsystem}.'.join(displayed)}"
@@ -52,6 +66,8 @@ def translate(args):
   for argName, argVal in vars(args).items():
     if argName.startswith("arg_"):
       specialArgs[argName[4:]] = argVal
+    elif argName.startswith("flag_"):
+      specialArgs[argName[5:]] = True
 
   # check if all inputs exist
   for path in inputPaths:
@@ -141,8 +157,12 @@ def translate(args):
   # read produced lock file
   with open(output) as f:
     lock = json.load(f)
+  
+  # write translator information to lock file
+  lock['generic']['translatedBy'] = f"{subsystem}.{trans_type}.{trans_name}"
+  lock['generic']['translatorParams'] = " ".join(sys.argv[2:])
 
-  # calculate combined hash
+  # calculate combined hash if --combined was specified
   if args.combined:
 
     print("Building FOD of combined sources to retrieve output hash")
@@ -174,7 +194,7 @@ def translate(args):
     # store the hash in the lock
     lock['generic']['sourcesCombinedHash'] = hash
     with open(output, 'w') as f:
-      json.dump(lock, f, indent=2)
+      json.dump(order_dict(lock), f, indent=2)
     
 
   print(f"Created {output}")
@@ -241,6 +261,8 @@ def parse_args():
   for arg in unknown:
     if arg.startswith("--arg_"):
       translate_parser.add_argument(arg.split('=')[0])
+    if arg.startswith("--flag_"):
+      translate_parser.add_argument(arg.split('=')[0], action='store_true')
 
   args = parser.parse_args()
 
diff --git a/src/default.nix b/src/default.nix
index 84508e9e..3e09cff7 100644
--- a/src/default.nix
+++ b/src/default.nix
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ let
   externals = {
     npmlock2nix = pkgs.callPackage "${externalSources}/npmlock2nix/internal.nix" {};
   };
+
 in
 
 rec {
diff --git a/src/translators/default.nix b/src/translators/default.nix
index 6ca8df16..0aea3e68 100644
--- a/src/translators/default.nix
+++ b/src/translators/default.nix
@@ -171,7 +171,12 @@ let
       data = {
         SpecialArgsDefaults =
           lib.mapAttrs
-            (name: def: def.default)
+            (name: def:
+              if def.type == "flag" then
+                false
+              else
+                def.default
+            )
             translator.specialArgs or {};
         inherit (translator) subsystem type name;
       };
diff --git a/src/translators/nodejs/pure/npmlock2nix/default.nix b/src/translators/nodejs/pure/npmlock2nix/default.nix
index 5788ab6b..0a5d51d6 100644
--- a/src/translators/nodejs/pure/npmlock2nix/default.nix
+++ b/src/translators/nodejs/pure/npmlock2nix/default.nix
@@ -26,8 +26,8 @@
 
       generic = {
         buildSystem = "nodejs";
-        buildSystemFormatVersion = 1;
         producedBy = translatorName;
+        mainPackage = null;
         dependencyGraph = null;
         sourcesCombinedHash = null;
       };
diff --git a/src/translators/python/impure/pip/default.nix b/src/translators/python/impure/pip/default.nix
index d6399d88..4317f769 100644
--- a/src/translators/python/impure/pip/default.nix
+++ b/src/translators/python/impure/pip/default.nix
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
       -r ''${inputFiles/$'\n'/$' -r '}
 
     # generate the generic lock from the downloaded list of files
-    $tmpBuild/python/bin/python ${./generate-generic-lock.py} $tmp $outputFile
+    $tmpBuild/python/bin/python ${./generate-generic-lock.py} $tmp $jsonInput
 
     rm -rf $tmp $tmpBuild
   '';
@@ -75,6 +75,22 @@
         "python39"
         "python310"
       ];
+      type = "argument";
     };
+
+    main = {
+      default = "";
+      description = "name of the main package";
+      examples = [
+        "some-package"
+      ];
+      type = "argument";
+    };
+
+    application = {
+      description = "build application instead of package";
+      type = "flag";
+    };
+
   };
 }
diff --git a/src/translators/python/impure/pip/generate-generic-lock.py b/src/translators/python/impure/pip/generate-generic-lock.py
index 9e79541d..8284955a 100644
--- a/src/translators/python/impure/pip/generate-generic-lock.py
+++ b/src/translators/python/impure/pip/generate-generic-lock.py
@@ -7,7 +7,9 @@ import sys
 
 def main():
   directory = sys.argv[1]
-  output_file = sys.argv[2]
+
+  with open(sys.argv[2]) as f:
+    jsonInput = json.load(f)
 
   packages = {}
 
@@ -46,8 +48,7 @@ def main():
     sources={},
     generic={
       "buildSystem": "python",
-      "buildSystemFormatVersion": 1,
-      "producedBy": "external-pip",
+      "mainPackage": None,
 
       # This translator is not aware of the exact dependency graph.
       # This restricts us to use a single derivation builder later,
@@ -57,6 +58,8 @@ def main():
       "sourcesCombinedHash": None,
     },
     buildSystem={
+      "main": jsonInput['main'],
+      "application": jsonInput['application'],
       "pythonAttr": f"python{sys.version_info.major}{sys.version_info.minor}",
       "sourceFormats":
         {pname: data['format'] for pname, data in packages.items()}
@@ -72,7 +75,8 @@ def main():
     )
 
   # dump generic lock to stdout (json)
-  with open(output_file, 'w') as lock:
+  print(jsonInput['outputFile'])
+  with open(jsonInput['outputFile'], 'w') as lock:
     json.dump(generic_lock, lock, indent=2)