diff --git a/tools/README b/tools/README
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/tools/README
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+This directory contains a set of tools for preparing auto-updates.
+
+ * create-packages.rb
+
+	Given a directory containing the set of files that make up a release,
+	laid out as they are when installed and a JSON file mapping files
+	to packages, this tool generates a set of packages for the release
+	and a file_list.xml listing all the files that make up the release.
+
+ * single-package-map.json
+
+    This is the simplest possible package map, where all files for
+	a release are placed in a single package.  This means that the whole
+	package will need to be downloaded to install the update.
diff --git a/tools/create-packages.rb b/tools/create-packages.rb
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..aa83ddf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/create-packages.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,317 @@
+#!/usr/bin/ruby
+
+require 'rubygems'
+require 'find'
+require 'json'
+require 'rexml/document'
+require 'optparse'
+
+# syntax:
+#
+# create-packages.rb <input directory> <package map> <output directory>
+#
+#  Takes the set of files that make up a release and splits them up into
+#  a set of .zip packages
+#
+#  Outputs:
+#
+#   <output-dir>/$PACKAGE_NAME.zip
+#     These are packages containing the files in this version of the software.
+#
+#   <output-dir>/file_list.xml
+#     This file lists all the files contained in this version of the software and
+#     the packages which they are contained in.
+#
+
+# Represents a group of updates in a release
+class UpdateScriptPackage
+	# name - The name of the package (without any extension)
+	# hash - The SHA-1 hash of the package
+	# size - The size of the package in bytes
+	attr_reader :name,:hash,:size
+	attr_writer :name,:hash,:size
+end
+
+# Represents a single file in a release
+class UpdateScriptFile
+	# path - The path of the file relative to the installation directory
+	# hash - The SHA-1 hash of the file
+	# permissions - The permissions of the file expressed using
+	#               flags from the QFile::Permission enum in Qt
+	# size - The size of the file in bytes
+	# package - The name of the package containing this file
+	attr_reader :path,:hash,:permissions,:size,:package,:target
+	attr_writer :path,:hash,:permissions,:size,:package,:target
+end
+
+# Utility method - convert a hash map to an REXML element
+#
+# Hash keys are converted to elements and hash values either
+# to text contents or child elements (if the value is a Hash)
+#
+# 'root' - the root REXML::Element
+# 'map' - a hash mapping element names to text contents or
+#         hash maps
+#
+def hash_to_xml(root,map)
+	map.each do |key,value|
+		element = REXML::Element.new(key)
+		if value.instance_of?(String)
+			element.text = value
+		elsif value.instance_of?(Hash)
+			hash_to_xml(element,value)
+		elsif !value.nil?
+			raise "Unsupported value type #{value.class}"
+		end
+		root.add_element element
+	end
+	return root
+end
+
+def strip_prefix(string,prefix)
+	if (!string.start_with?(prefix))
+		raise "String does not start with prefix"
+	end
+	return string.sub(prefix,"")
+end
+
+class UpdateScriptGenerator
+	def initialize(input_dir,output_dir, file_list, package_file_map)
+		# List of files to install in this version
+		@files_to_install = []
+		file_list.each do |path|
+			file = UpdateScriptFile.new
+			file.path = strip_prefix(path,input_dir)
+			
+			if (File.symlink?(path))
+				file.target = File.readlink(path)
+			else
+				file.hash = file_sha1(path)
+				file.permissions = get_file_permissions(path)
+				file.size = File.size(path)
+				package_file_map.each do |package,files|
+					if files.include?(path)
+						file.package = package
+						break
+					end
+				end
+			end
+
+			@files_to_install << file
+		end
+
+		# List of packages containing files for this version
+		@packages = []
+		package_file_map.each do |package_name,files|
+			path = "#{output_dir}/#{package_name}.zip"
+			package = UpdateScriptPackage.new
+			package.name = package_name
+			package.size = File.size(path)
+			package.hash = file_sha1(path)
+			@packages << package
+		end
+	end
+
+	def toXML()
+		doc = REXML::Document.new
+		update_elem = REXML::Element.new("update")
+		doc.add_element update_elem
+
+		update_elem.add_element deps_to_xml()
+		update_elem.add_element packages_to_xml()
+		update_elem.add_element install_to_xml()
+
+		output = ""
+		doc.write output
+		return output
+	end
+
+	def deps_to_xml()
+		deps_elem = REXML::Element.new("dependencies")
+		deps = ["updater.exe"]
+		deps.each do |dependency|
+			dep_elem = REXML::Element.new("file")
+			dep_elem.text = dependency
+			deps_elem.add_element dep_elem
+		end
+		return deps_elem
+	end
+
+	def packages_to_xml()
+		packages_elem = REXML::Element.new("packages")
+		@packages.each do |package|
+			package_elem = REXML::Element.new("package")
+			packages_elem.add_element package_elem
+			hash_to_xml(package_elem,{
+				"name" => package.name,
+				"size" => package.size.to_s,
+				"hash" => package.hash
+			})
+		end
+		return packages_elem
+	end
+
+	def install_to_xml()
+		install_elem = REXML::Element.new("install")
+		@files_to_install.each do |file|
+			file_elem = REXML::Element.new("file")
+			install_elem.add_element(file_elem)
+
+			attributes = {"name" => file.path}
+			if (file.target)
+				attributes["target"] = file.target
+			else
+				attributes["size"] = file.size.to_s
+				attributes["permissions"] = file.permissions.to_s
+				attributes["hash"] = file.hash
+				attributes["package"] = file.package
+			end
+			hash_to_xml(file_elem,attributes)
+		end
+		return install_elem
+	end
+
+	def file_sha1(path)
+		return `sha1sum "#{path}"`.split(' ')[0]
+	end
+
+	# Unix permission flags
+	# from <sys/stat.h>
+	S_IRUSR = 0400
+	S_IWUSR = 0200
+	S_IXUSR = 0100
+	S_IRGRP = (S_IRUSR >> 3)
+	S_IWGRP = (S_IWUSR >> 3)
+	S_IXGRP = (S_IXUSR >> 3)
+	S_IROTH = (S_IRGRP >> 3)
+	S_IWOTH = (S_IWGRP >> 3)
+	S_IXOTH = (S_IXGRP >> 3)
+
+	# Qt permission flags
+	# (taken from QFile::Permission)
+	QT_READ_OWNER  = 0x4000
+	QT_WRITE_OWNER = 0x2000
+	QT_EXEC_OWNER  = 0x1000
+	QT_READ_USER   = 0x0400
+	QT_WRITE_USER  = 0x0200
+	QT_EXEC_USER   = 0x0100
+	QT_READ_GROUP  = 0x0040
+	QT_WRITE_GROUP = 0x0020
+	QT_EXEC_GROUP  = 0x0010
+	QT_READ_OTHER  = 0x0004
+	QT_WRITE_OTHER = 0x0002
+	QT_EXEC_OTHER  = 0x0001
+
+	def get_file_permissions(path)
+		unix_to_qt = {
+			S_IRUSR => QT_READ_USER  | QT_READ_OWNER,
+			S_IWUSR => QT_WRITE_USER | QT_WRITE_OWNER,
+			S_IXUSR => QT_EXEC_USER  | QT_EXEC_OWNER,
+			S_IRGRP => QT_READ_GROUP,
+			S_IWGRP => QT_WRITE_GROUP,
+			S_IXGRP => QT_EXEC_GROUP,
+			S_IROTH => QT_READ_OTHER,
+			S_IWOTH => QT_WRITE_OTHER,
+			S_IXOTH => QT_EXEC_OTHER
+		}
+
+		qt_permissions = 0
+		unix_permissions = File.stat(path).mode
+		unix_to_qt.each do |unix_flag,qt_flags|
+			qt_permissions |= qt_flags if ((unix_permissions & unix_flag) != 0)
+		end
+
+		return qt_permissions.to_i
+	end
+end
+
+class PackageMap
+	def initialize(map_file)
+		@rule_map = {}
+		map_json = JSON.parse(File.read(map_file))
+		map_json.each do |package,rules|
+			rules.each do |rule|
+				rule_regex = Regexp.new(rule)
+				@rule_map[rule_regex] = package
+			end
+		end
+	end
+
+	def package_for_file(file)
+		@rule_map.each do |rule,package|
+			if (file =~ rule)
+				return package
+			end
+		end
+		return nil
+	end
+end
+
+OptionParser.new do |parser|
+	parser.banner = "#{$0} <input dir> <package map file> <output dir>"
+end.parse!
+
+if ARGV.length < 3
+	raise "Missing arguments"
+end
+
+input_dir = ARGV[0]
+package_map_file = ARGV[1]
+output_dir = ARGV[2]
+
+# get the details of each input file
+input_file_list = []
+Find.find(input_dir) do |path|
+	next if (File.directory?(path))
+	input_file_list << path
+end
+
+# map each input file to a corresponding package
+
+# read the package map
+package_map = PackageMap.new(package_map_file)
+
+# map of package name -> array of files
+package_file_map = {}
+input_file_list.each do |file|
+	next if File.symlink?(file)
+
+	package = package_map.package_for_file(file)
+	if (!package)
+		raise "Unable to find package for file #{file}"
+	end
+	package_file_map[package] = [] if !package_file_map[package]
+	package_file_map[package] << file
+end
+
+# generate each package
+package_file_map.each do |package,files|
+	puts "Generating package #{package}"
+
+	quoted_files = []
+	files.each do |file|
+		quoted_files << "\"#{strip_prefix(file,input_dir)}\""
+	end
+	quoted_file_list = quoted_files.join(" ")
+
+	output_path = File.expand_path(output_dir)
+	Dir.chdir(input_dir) do
+#if (!system("zip #{output_path}/#{package}.zip #{quoted_file_list}"))
+#			raise "Failed to generate package #{package}"
+#		end
+	end
+end
+
+# output the file_list.xml file
+update_script = UpdateScriptGenerator.new(input_dir,output_dir,input_file_list,package_file_map)
+output_xml_file = "#{output_dir}/file_list.unformatted.xml"
+File.open(output_xml_file,'w') do |file|
+	file.write update_script.toXML()
+end
+
+# xmllint generates more readable formatted XML than REXML, so write unformatted
+# XML first and then format it with xmllint.
+system("xmllint --format #{output_xml_file} > #{output_dir}/file_list.xml")
+File.delete(output_xml_file)
+
+
diff --git a/tools/single-package-map.json b/tools/single-package-map.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..97ed49e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/single-package-map.json
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+{
+	"app" : [
+		".*"
+	]
+}