diff --git a/conf-convert.pl b/conf-convert.pl
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..4f8e913
--- /dev/null
+++ b/conf-convert.pl
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+#!/usr/bin/perl -w
+
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+
+# migrate gitosis.conf to gitosis-lite.conf format
+
+# not very smart, but there shouldn't be any errors for simple configurations.
+# the biggest thing you'll find is probably some comments rearranged or
+# something, due to the "flush" thing below
+
+# for stuff it can't handle, it'll ignore the trivial ones (like gitweb and
+# daemon), and put in an obviously syntax error-ed line for "repositories" and
+# "map" statements.
+
+my @repos;
+my @RO_repos;
+my @comments;
+my @users;
+my $groupname;
+
+# a gitosis.conf stanza ends when a new "[group name]" line shows up, so you
+# can't write as you go; you have to accumulate and flush
+sub flush {
+    die "repos but no users?" if (not @users and (@repos or @RO_repos));
+    # just a groupname
+    if (@users and not (@repos or @RO_repos)) {
+        print "\@$groupname = ", join(" ", @users), "\n";
+    }
+    # RW repos
+    if (@repos)
+    {
+        print "repo ", join(" ", @repos), "\n";
+        print "    RW = ", join(" ", @users), "\n";
+    }
+    # RO repos
+    if (@RO_repos)
+    {
+        print "repo ", join(" ", @RO_repos), "\n";
+        print "    R  = ", join(" ", @users), "\n";
+    }
+    # comments; yes there'll be some reordering, sorry!
+    print @comments if @comments;
+
+    # empty out for next round
+    @users = ();
+    @repos = ();
+    @RO_repos = ();
+    @comments = ();
+}
+
+while (<>)
+{
+    # pure comment lines or blank lines
+    if (/^\s*#/ or /^\s*$/) {
+        push @comments, $_;
+        next;
+    }
+
+    # not supported
+    if (/^repositories *=/ or /^map /) {
+        print STDERR "not supported: $_";
+        s/^/NOT SUPPORTED: /;
+        print;
+        next;
+    }
+
+    chomp;
+
+    # normalise whitespace to help later regexes
+    s/\s+/ /g;
+    s/ ?= ?/ = /;
+    s/^ //;
+    s/ $//;
+
+    # the chaff...
+    next if     /^\[(gitosis|repo)\]$/
+            or  /^(gitweb|daemon|loglevel|description|owner) =/;
+
+    # the wheat...
+    if (/^members = (.*)/) {
+        push @users, split(' ', $1);
+        next;
+    }
+    if (/^write?able = (.*)/) {
+        push @repos, split(' ', $1);
+        next;
+    }
+    if (/^readonly = (.*)/) {
+        push @RO_repos, split(' ', $1);
+        next;
+    }
+
+    # new group starts
+    if (/^\[group (.*?) ?\]/) {
+        flush();
+        $groupname = $1;
+    }
+}
+
+flush();