diff --git a/src/Gitolite/Conf/Sugar.pm b/src/Gitolite/Conf/Sugar.pm
index 881cbcf..dbf0926 100644
--- a/src/Gitolite/Conf/Sugar.pm
+++ b/src/Gitolite/Conf/Sugar.pm
@@ -1,3 +1,16 @@
+# and now for something completely different...
+
+package SugarBox;
+
+sub run_sugar_script {
+    my ($ss, $lref) = @_;
+    do $ss if -x $ss;
+    $lref = sugar_script($lref);
+    return $lref;
+}
+
+# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
 package Gitolite::Conf::Sugar;
 
 # syntactic sugar for the conf file, including site-local macros
@@ -35,9 +48,14 @@ sub sugar {
             _warn "bad syntax for specifying sugar scripts; see docs";
         } else {
             for my $s (@{ $rc{SYNTACTIC_SUGAR} }) {
-                _warn "ignoring unreadable sugar script $s" if not -r $s;
-                do $s if -r $s;
-                $lines = sugar_script($lines);
+
+                # perl-ism; apart from keeping the full path separate from the
+                # simple name, this also protects %rc from change by implicit
+                # aliasing, which would happen if you touched $s itself
+                my $sfp = "$ENV{GL_BINDIR}/syntactic-sugar/$s";
+
+                _warn("skipped sugar script '$s'"), next if not -x $sfp;
+                $lines = SugarBox::run_sugar_script($sfp, $lines);
                 $lines = [ grep /\S/, map { cleanup_conf_line($_) } @$lines ];
             }
         }
diff --git a/src/Gitolite/Rc.pm b/src/Gitolite/Rc.pm
index 18cc6c5..0b81bf8 100644
--- a/src/Gitolite/Rc.pm
+++ b/src/Gitolite/Rc.pm
@@ -158,11 +158,18 @@ __DATA__
 # PLEASE READ THE DOCUMENTATION BEFORE EDITING OR ASKING QUESTIONS
 
 # this file is in perl syntax.  However, you do NOT need to know perl to edit
-# it; it should be fairly self-explanatory and easy to maintain
+# it; it should be fairly self-explanatory and easy to maintain.  Just mind
+# the commas, make sure the brackets and braces stay matched up!
 
 %RC = (
     UMASK                       =>  0077,
     GL_GITCONFIG_KEYS           =>  "",
+
+    # uncomment as needed
+    SYNTACTIC_SUGAR             =>
+        [
+            # 'continuation-lines',
+        ]
 );
 
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/syntactic-sugar/continuation-lines b/src/syntactic-sugar/continuation-lines
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..1d25379
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/syntactic-sugar/continuation-lines
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+# vim: syn=perl:
+
+# "sugar script" (syntactic sugar helper) for gitolite3
+
+# Enabling this script in the rc file allows you to use back-slash escaped
+# continuation lines, like in C or shell etc.
+
+# This script also serves as an example "sugar script" if you want to write
+# your own (and maybe send them to me).  A "sugar script" in gitolite will be
+# executed via a perl 'do' and is expected to contain one function called
+# 'sugar_script'.  This function should take a listref and return a listref.
+# Each item in the list is one line.  There are NO newlines; g3 kills them off
+# fairly early in the process.
+
+# If you're not familiar with perl please do not try this.  Ask me to write
+# you a sugar script instead.
+
+sub sugar_script {
+    my $lines = shift;
+
+    my @out = ();
+    my $keep = '';
+    for my $l (@$lines) {
+        if ($l =~ s/\\$//) {
+            $keep .= $l;
+        } else {
+            $l = $keep . $l if $keep;
+            $keep = '';
+            push @out, $l;
+        }
+    }
+
+    return \@out;
+}