diff --git a/tesseract/genconf/env.go b/tesseract/genconf/env.go
index 935e5fa..2ae2ef5 100644
--- a/tesseract/genconf/env.go
+++ b/tesseract/genconf/env.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"io"
 	"log"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -25,11 +24,10 @@ func generateEnv(yamlFile string) {
 
 		// Create combined roots.pem file
 		rootsPemPath := filepath.Join(logEntry.LocalDirectory, "roots.pem")
-		err := createCombinedRootsPem(config.Roots, logEntry.ExtraRoots, rootsPemPath)
+		err := createCombinedRootsPemWithStatus(config.Roots, logEntry.ExtraRoots, rootsPemPath)
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Fatalf("Failed to create %s: %v", rootsPemPath, err)
 		}
-		fmt.Printf("Generated %s\n", rootsPemPath)
 
 		// Build TESSERACT_ARGS string
 		args := []string{
@@ -47,50 +45,32 @@ func generateEnv(yamlFile string) {
 		tesseractArgs := strings.Join(args, " ")
 		envContent := fmt.Sprintf("TESSERACT_ARGS=\"%s\"\nOTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:4318\n", tesseractArgs)
 
-		err = os.WriteFile(envPath, []byte(envContent), 0644)
+		err = writeFileWithStatus(envPath, []byte(envContent))
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Fatalf("Failed to write %s: %v", envPath, err)
 		}
-
-		fmt.Printf("Generated %s\n", envPath)
 	}
 }
 
-func createCombinedRootsPem(rootsFile, extraRootsFile, outputPath string) error {
-	// Create output file
-	outputFile, err := os.Create(outputPath)
-	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create output file: %v", err)
-	}
-	defer outputFile.Close()
-
-	// Copy main roots file
+func createCombinedRootsPemWithStatus(rootsFile, extraRootsFile, outputPath string) error {
+	// Read main roots file
+	var combinedContent []byte
 	if rootsFile != "" {
-		rootsData, err := os.Open(rootsFile)
+		rootsData, err := os.ReadFile(rootsFile)
 		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("failed to open roots file %s: %v", rootsFile, err)
-		}
-		defer rootsData.Close()
-
-		_, err = io.Copy(outputFile, rootsData)
-		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("failed to copy roots file: %v", err)
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed to read roots file %s: %v", rootsFile, err)
 		}
+		combinedContent = append(combinedContent, rootsData...)
 	}
 
 	// Append extra roots file if it exists
 	if extraRootsFile != "" {
-		extraRootsData, err := os.Open(extraRootsFile)
+		extraRootsData, err := os.ReadFile(extraRootsFile)
 		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("failed to open extra roots file %s: %v", extraRootsFile, err)
-		}
-		defer extraRootsData.Close()
-
-		_, err = io.Copy(outputFile, extraRootsData)
-		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("failed to copy extra roots file: %v", err)
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed to read extra roots file %s: %v", extraRootsFile, err)
 		}
+		combinedContent = append(combinedContent, extraRootsData...)
 	}
 
-	return nil
+	return writeFileWithStatus(outputPath, combinedContent)
 }
diff --git a/tesseract/genconf/html.go b/tesseract/genconf/html.go
index 4738299..4426629 100644
--- a/tesseract/genconf/html.go
+++ b/tesseract/genconf/html.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"crypto/sha256"
 	"crypto/x509"
 	"encoding/base64"
@@ -136,27 +137,25 @@ func generateHTML(yamlFile string) {
 	for _, logEntry := range config.Logs {
 		indexPath := fmt.Sprintf("%s/index.html", logEntry.LocalDirectory)
 
-		file, err := os.Create(indexPath)
+		// Execute template to buffer
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		err := tmpl.Execute(&buf, config)
 		if err != nil {
-			log.Fatalf("Failed to create %s: %v", indexPath, err)
+			log.Fatalf("Failed to execute HTML template for %s: %v", indexPath, err)
 		}
 
-		err = tmpl.Execute(file, config)
+		// Write file with status
+		err = writeFileWithStatus(indexPath, buf.Bytes())
 		if err != nil {
-			file.Close()
 			log.Fatalf("Failed to write HTML to %s: %v", indexPath, err)
 		}
 
-		file.Close()
-		fmt.Printf("Generated %s\n", indexPath)
-
 		// Generate log.v3.json for this log
 		jsonPath := filepath.Join(logEntry.LocalDirectory, "log.v3.json")
-		err = generateLogJSON(logEntry, jsonPath)
+		err = generateLogJSONWithStatus(logEntry, jsonPath)
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Fatalf("Failed to generate %s: %v", jsonPath, err)
 		}
-		fmt.Printf("Generated %s\n", jsonPath)
 	}
 }
 
@@ -210,7 +209,7 @@ func computeKeyInfo(logEntry *Log) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func generateLogJSON(logEntry Log, outputPath string) error {
+func generateLogJSONWithStatus(logEntry Log, outputPath string) error {
 	logJSON := LogV3JSON{
 		Description:   fmt.Sprintf("%s.log.ct.ipng.ch", logEntry.ShortName),
 		SubmissionURL: fmt.Sprintf("%s/", logEntry.SubmissionPrefix),
@@ -229,10 +228,5 @@ func generateLogJSON(logEntry Log, outputPath string) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal JSON: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	err = os.WriteFile(outputPath, jsonData, 0644)
-	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write JSON file: %v", err)
-	}
-
-	return nil
+	return writeFileWithStatus(outputPath, jsonData)
 }
diff --git a/tesseract/genconf/main.go b/tesseract/genconf/main.go
index 404e1d7..b872806 100644
--- a/tesseract/genconf/main.go
+++ b/tesseract/genconf/main.go
@@ -97,6 +97,26 @@ func loadConfig(yamlFile string) Config {
 	return config
 }
 
+func writeFileWithStatus(filename string, content []byte) error {
+	existingContent, err := os.ReadFile(filename)
+	if os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		fmt.Printf("Creating %s\n", filename)
+	} else if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to read existing file %s: %v", filename, err)
+	} else if string(existingContent) == string(content) {
+		fmt.Printf("Unchanged %s\n", filename)
+		return nil
+	} else {
+		fmt.Printf("Updating %s\n", filename)
+	}
+
+	err = os.WriteFile(filename, content, 0644)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write file %s: %v", filename, err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 func showHelp() {
 	fmt.Printf("Usage: %s [options] <command>\n\n", os.Args[0])
 	fmt.Printf("Options:\n")
diff --git a/tesseract/genconf/nginx.go b/tesseract/genconf/nginx.go
index 19c69e2..090eac7 100644
--- a/tesseract/genconf/nginx.go
+++ b/tesseract/genconf/nginx.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
 	"net/url"
 	"os"
@@ -113,22 +114,20 @@ func generateNginx(yamlFile string) {
 		outputFilename := fmt.Sprintf("%s.conf", hostname)
 		outputPath := filepath.Join(log.LocalDirectory, outputFilename)
 
-		// Create output file
-		file, err := os.Create(outputPath)
-		if err != nil {
-			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Failed to create nginx config file %s: %v\n", outputPath, err)
-			continue
-		}
-		defer file.Close()
-
-		// Execute template
-		err = tmpl.Execute(file, data)
+		// Execute template to buffer
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		err = tmpl.Execute(&buf, data)
 		if err != nil {
 			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Failed to execute nginx template for %s: %v\n", outputPath, err)
 			continue
 		}
 
-		fmt.Printf("Generated nginx config: %s\n", outputPath)
+		// Write file with status
+		err = writeFileWithStatus(outputPath, buf.Bytes())
+		if err != nil {
+			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Failed to write nginx config file %s: %v\n", outputPath, err)
+			continue
+		}
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/tesseract/genconf/roots.go b/tesseract/genconf/roots.go
index 3a46ae4..89a1c4c 100644
--- a/tesseract/genconf/roots.go
+++ b/tesseract/genconf/roots.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"crypto/x509"
 	"encoding/base64"
 	"encoding/json"
@@ -8,7 +9,6 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"net/http"
-	"os"
 	"strings"
 )
 
@@ -67,15 +67,10 @@ func generateRoots(args []string) {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to parse JSON response: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	// Create output file
-	outFile, err := os.Create(outputFile)
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Fatalf("Failed to create output file %s: %v", outputFile, err)
-	}
-	defer outFile.Close()
-
-	// Write each certificate as PEM
+	// Collect all valid certificates in a buffer
+	var pemBuffer bytes.Buffer
 	validCertCount := 0
+
 	for _, certBase64 := range rootsResp.Certificates {
 		// Decode base64 certificate
 		certBytes, err := base64.StdEncoding.DecodeString(certBase64)
@@ -102,14 +97,20 @@ func generateRoots(args []string) {
 			Bytes: certBytes,
 		}
 
-		// Write PEM to file
-		err = pem.Encode(outFile, pemBlock)
+		// Write PEM to buffer
+		err = pem.Encode(&pemBuffer, pemBlock)
 		if err != nil {
-			log.Fatalf("Failed to write PEM certificate: %v", err)
+			log.Fatalf("Failed to encode PEM certificate: %v", err)
 		}
 
 		validCertCount++
 	}
 
+	// Write all certificates to file with status
+	err = writeFileWithStatus(outputFile, pemBuffer.Bytes())
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatalf("Failed to write output file %s: %v", outputFile, err)
+	}
+
 	fmt.Printf("Successfully wrote %d certificates to %s (out of %d total)\n", validCertCount, outputFile, len(rootsResp.Certificates))
 }