diff --git a/make-gnucash-patch.in b/make-gnucash-patch.in
index f013c6c7ab..211fe88a3a 100644
--- a/make-gnucash-patch.in
+++ b/make-gnucash-patch.in
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 use strict;
 
 use File::Basename;
+use Getopt::Long;
 
 $::ask_description = 1;
 $::should_uuencode = 1;
@@ -53,6 +54,40 @@ if($ENV{'GNC_MAKEPATCH_HOME_DIR'}) {
   $gnc_home = $ENV{'GNC_MAKEPATCH_HOME_DIR'};
 }
 
+###########################################################
+# Now, check if anything specified on command line        #
+###########################################################
+
+my $result;
+my $help;
+my $zip = 1;     # defaults to on
+my $diffname = undef;
+my $ignorename = undef;
+
+$result = GetOptions("old=s" => \$old, "new=s" => \$new, 
+            "prefix=s" => \$gnc_home, "help" => \$help,
+            "diff=s" => \$diffname, "uuencode!" => \$::should_uuencode,
+            "zip!" => \$zip, "ignore=s" => \$ignorename);
+
+if ($help or $result == 0) {
+  printf "Help information\n\n";
+  printf "make-gnucash-patch accepts the following arguments:\n";
+  printf "--old \"olddir\"     Directory of \"pristine\" copy\n";
+  printf "--new \"newdir\"     Directory with modified copy\n";
+  printf "--prefex \"homedir\" Full path of parent directory\n";
+  printf "--diff \"diffname\"  Output name for diff file\n";
+  printf "--ignore \"igname\"  File containing file matches to ignore\n";
+  printf "--(no)uuencode     Enable or disable uuencoded output\n";
+  printf "                   (Defaults to enabled)\n";
+  printf "--(no)zip          Enable or disable gzipped output\n";
+  printf "                   (Defaults to enabled)\n";
+  printf "and of course:\n";
+  printf "--help             Displays this text\n";
+  printf "\nAll options can be abbreviated to their shortest unique\n";
+  printf "  form: --o, --ne, --p, --d, --i, --u/--nou, --z/--noz, and --h\n";
+  printf "\n";
+  exit 1;
+}
 
 # Switch to the home directory
 print "Changing directory to $gnc_home\n";
@@ -88,6 +123,17 @@ sub push_exclusions {
     chomp($pat);
     push(@{$args}, '-exclude', $pat) if $pat;
   }
+  if (defined ($ignorename)) {
+    $ignorename = "../" . $ignorename;
+    if (-e $ignorename) {
+      open (IG, $ignorename) or die "Couldn't open $ignorename";
+      foreach my $igf (<IG>) {
+        chomp ($igf);
+        push(@{$args}, '-exclude', $igf) if $igf;
+      }
+      close (IG);
+    }
+  }
   my @cvsignores = `find . -name '.cvsignore'`;
   foreach my $one_ignore (@cvsignores) {
     my ($name, $path) = fileparse($one_ignore);
@@ -113,12 +159,19 @@ if (not -d "diffs") {
   mkdir "diffs", 0755;
 }
 
-my $date = `date '+%s'`;
-chomp($date);
-my $who = `whoami`;
-chomp($who);
+my $outfilename;
 
-my $outfilename = "gnucash-$date-$who.diff";
+if (not defined($diffname)) {
+  my $date = `date '+%s'`;
+  chomp($date);
+  my $who = `whoami`;
+  chomp($who);
+
+  $outfilename = "gnucash-$date-$who.diff";
+}
+else {
+  $outfilename = $diffname;
+}
 
 # Invoke makepatch with standard out redirected to 'gnucash.diff'
 open(OLDOUT, ">&STDOUT");
@@ -128,19 +181,26 @@ close(STDOUT);
 open(STDOUT, ">&OLDOUT");
 print "makepatch done\n";
 
-# Compress the patch
-if (-f "diffs/$outfilename") {
-  system("gzip", "-9vf", "diffs/$outfilename");
+# Compress the patch if required
+if ($zip) {
+  if (-f "diffs/$outfilename") {
+    system("gzip", "-9vf", "diffs/$outfilename");
+  }
 }
 
-# UU encode the compressed patch
+# UU encode the patch if required
+
+# if $zip is true, then
 # 'gnucash.diff.gz.uue' is the file you send.
-if (-f "diffs/$outfilename.gz" and $::should_uuencode) {
+if ($zip and -f "diffs/$outfilename.gz" and $::should_uuencode) {
   system("uuencode diffs/$outfilename.gz $outfilename.gz > diffs/$outfilename.gz.uue");
   print "diffs/$outfilename.gz.uue\n";
 }
 else {
-  print "diffs/$outfilename.gz\n";
+  if (not $zip and -f "diffs/$outfilename" and $::should_uuencode) {
+    system("uuencode diffs/$outfilename $outfilename > diffs/$outfilename.uue");
+    print "diffs/$outfilename.uue\n";
+  }
 }