diff --git a/git-topic.perl b/git-topic.perl
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..4c2a83db16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/git-topic.perl
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+#!/usr/bin/perl -w
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2006 Junio C Hamano
+#
+
+use strict;
+use Getopt::Long;
+
+my $topic_pattern = '??/*';
+my $base = 'next';
+my @stage = qw(next pu);
+my @mark = ('.', '?', '-', '+');
+my $all = 0;
+
+my @custom_stage;
+my @custom_mark;
+GetOptions("topic=s" => \$topic_pattern,
+	   "base=s" => \$base,
+	   "stage=s" => \@custom_stage,
+	   "mark=s" => \@custom_mark,
+	   "all!" => \$all)
+    or die;
+
+if (@custom_stage) { @stage = @custom_stage; }
+if (@custom_mark) { @mark = @custom_mark; }
+
+sub read_revs_short {
+	my ($bottom, $top) = @_;
+	my @revs;
+	open(REVS, '-|', qw(git rev-list --no-merges), "$bottom..$top")
+	    or die;
+	while (<REVS>) {
+		chomp;
+		push @revs, $_;
+	}
+	close(REVS);
+	return @revs;
+}
+
+sub read_revs {
+	my ($bottom, $top, $mask) = @_;
+	my @revs;
+	open(REVS, '-|', qw(git rev-list --pretty=oneline --no-merges),
+	     "$bottom..$top")
+	    or die;
+	while (<REVS>) {
+		chomp;
+		my ($sha1, $topic) = /^([0-9a-f]{40}) (.*)$/;
+		push @revs, [$sha1, $topic, $mask];
+	}
+	close(REVS);
+	return @revs;
+}
+
+sub wrap_print {
+	my ($prefix, $string) = @_;
+	format STDOUT =
+  @ ^<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
+	$prefix, $string
+  ~~^<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
+	$string
+.
+	write;
+}
+
+open(TOPIC, '-|', qw(git for-each-ref),
+	'--sort=-authordate',
+	'--format=%(objectname) %(authordate) %(refname)',
+	"refs/heads/$topic_pattern")
+	or die;
+
+while (<TOPIC>) {
+	chomp;
+	my ($sha1, $date, $topic) = m|^([0-9a-f]{40})\s(.*?)\srefs/heads/(.+)$|
+		or next;
+	my @revs = read_revs($base, $sha1, (1<<@stage)-1);
+	next unless (@revs || $all);
+
+	my %revs = map { $_->[0] => $_ } @revs; # fast index
+	for (my $i = 0; $i < @stage; $i++) {
+		for my $item (read_revs_short($stage[$i], $sha1)) {
+			if (exists $revs{$item}) {
+				$revs{$item}[2] &= ~(1 << $i);
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	print "* $topic ($date)\n";
+	for my $item (@revs) {
+		my $mark = $item->[2];
+		if ($mark < @mark) {
+			$mark = $mark[$mark];
+		}
+		wrap_print($mark, $item->[1]);
+	}
+}