diff --git a/src/Gitolite/Rc.pm b/src/Gitolite/Rc.pm
index 1202449..79ec246 100644
--- a/src/Gitolite/Rc.pm
+++ b/src/Gitolite/Rc.pm
@@ -271,6 +271,7 @@ __DATA__
         {
             'help'              =>  1,
             'info'              =>  1,
+            'desc'              =>  1,
             'perms'             =>  1,
             'writes'            =>  1,
         },
diff --git a/src/commands/desc b/src/commands/desc
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..32d0a94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/commands/desc
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# Usage:    ssh git@host desc <repo>
+#           ssh git@host desc <repo> <description string>
+#
+# Show or set description for user-created ("wild") repo.
+
+die() { echo "$@" >&2; exit 1; }
+usage() { perl -lne 'print substr($_, 2) if /^# Usage/../^$/' < $0; exit 1; }
+[ -z "$1" ] && usage
+[ "$1" = "-h" ] && usage
+[ -z "$GL_USER" ] && die GL_USER not set
+
+# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+repo=$1; shift
+
+# this shell script takes arguments that are completely under the user's
+# control, so make sure you quote those suckers!
+
+gitolite creator "$repo" $GL_USER || die You are not authorised
+descfile=`gitolite query-rc GL_REPO_BASE`/"$repo".git/description
+
+if [ -z "$1" ]
+then
+    [ -r $descfile ] && cat $descfile
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+echo "$*" > $descfile
diff --git a/t/glt b/t/glt
index bc8f719..3b3daf8 100755
--- a/t/glt
+++ b/t/glt
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ my $rc;
 my %extcmds = (
     help        => 1,
     info        => 1,
+    desc        => 1,
     perms       => 1,
     writes      => 1,
 );