diff --git a/apps/emqx/rebar.config b/apps/emqx/rebar.config
index 1dd82ceaa..24a0544c8 100644
--- a/apps/emqx/rebar.config
+++ b/apps/emqx/rebar.config
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
     , {ekka, {git, "https://github.com/emqx/ekka", {tag, "0.10.2"}}}
     , {gen_rpc, {git, "https://github.com/emqx/gen_rpc", {tag, "2.5.1"}}}
     , {cuttlefish, {git, "https://github.com/emqx/cuttlefish", {tag, "v4.0.1"}}} %% todo delete when plugins use hocon
-    , {hocon, {git, "https://github.com/emqx/hocon.git", {tag, "0.9.0"}}}
+    , {hocon, {git, "https://github.com/emqx/hocon.git", {tag, "0.9.6"}}}
     , {pbkdf2, {git, "https://github.com/emqx/erlang-pbkdf2.git", {branch, "2.0.4"}}}
     , {recon, {git, "https://github.com/ferd/recon", {tag, "2.5.1"}}}
     , {snabbkaffe, {git, "https://github.com/kafka4beam/snabbkaffe.git", {tag, "0.13.0"}}}
diff --git a/bin/emqx b/bin/emqx
index a5f76ac72..f0a53cd45 100755
--- a/bin/emqx
+++ b/bin/emqx
@@ -3,6 +3,11 @@
 # ex: ts=4 sw=4 et
 
 set -e
+set -o pipefail
+
+if [ -n "$DEBUG" ]; then
+    set -x
+fi
 
 ROOT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$(readlink "$0" || echo "$0")")"/..; pwd -P)"
 # shellcheck disable=SC1090
@@ -196,6 +201,7 @@ call_hocon() {
     export RUNNER_ROOT_DIR
     export REL_VSN
     "$ERTS_DIR/bin/escript" "$ROOTDIR/bin/nodetool" hocon "$@"
+    return $?
 }
 
 # Run an escript in the node's environment
@@ -251,7 +257,7 @@ generate_config() {
         ARG_KEY=$(echo "$ARG_LINE" | awk '{$NF="";print}')
         ARG_VALUE=$(echo "$ARG_LINE" | awk '{print $NF}')
         ## use the key to look up in vm.args file for the value
-        TMP_ARG_VALUE=$(grep "^$ARG_KEY" "$TMP_ARG_FILE" | awk '{print $NF}')
+        TMP_ARG_VALUE=$(grep "^$ARG_KEY" "$TMP_ARG_FILE" || true | awk '{print $NF}')
         ## compare generated (to override) value to original (to be overriden) value
         if [ "$ARG_VALUE" != "$TMP_ARG_VALUE" ] ; then
             ## if they are different
@@ -365,7 +371,7 @@ if [ -z "$COOKIE" ]; then
 fi
 
 # Support for IPv6 Dist. See: https://github.com/emqtt/emqttd/issues/1460
-PROTO_DIST=$(grep -E '^[ \t]*cluster.proto_dist[ \t]*=[ \t]*' "$RUNNER_ETC_DIR/emqx.conf" 2> /dev/null | tail -1 | awk -F"= " '{print $NF}')
+PROTO_DIST="$(call_hocon -s emqx_schema -c "$RUNNER_ETC_DIR"/emqx.conf get cluster.proto_dist | tr -d \")"
 if [ -z "$PROTO_DIST" ]; then
     PROTO_DIST_ARG=""
 else
diff --git a/rebar.config b/rebar.config
index ae87d37bd..c932362c6 100644
--- a/rebar.config
+++ b/rebar.config
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@
     , {observer_cli, "1.6.1"} % NOTE: depends on recon 2.5.1
     , {getopt, "1.0.1"}
     , {snabbkaffe, {git, "https://github.com/kafka4beam/snabbkaffe.git", {tag, "0.13.0"}}}
-    , {hocon, {git, "https://github.com/emqx/hocon.git", {tag, "0.9.0"}}}
+    , {hocon, {git, "https://github.com/emqx/hocon.git", {tag, "0.9.6"}}}
     , {emqx_http_lib, {git, "https://github.com/emqx/emqx_http_lib.git", {tag, "0.2.1"}}}
     ]}.