diff --git a/linux/init-branches.sh b/linux/init-branches.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4cc42ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/linux/init-branches.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# 
+# 2008      Nico Schottelius (nico-linux-next at schottelius.org)
+# 
+# This file is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+# 
+# This file is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+# 
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this file. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+
+for remote in $(awk '$2 ~ /git/ { print $1 }' Next/Trees); do
+   url=$(awk "\$1 ~ /$remote/ { print \$3 }" Next/Trees)
+   rurl=$(echo $url | awk -F'#' '{ print $1 }')
+   branch=$(echo $url | awk -F'#' '{ print $2 }')
+
+   # reset, if it changed or we ran before
+   git-remote rm $remote 2>/dev/null
+   git-remote -v add $remote -t $branch $rurl
+
+done
diff --git a/linux/merge-branches.sh b/linux/merge-branches.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c3379c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/linux/merge-branches.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# 
+# 2008      Nico Schottelius (nico-linux-next at schottelius.org)
+# 
+# This file is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+# 
+# This file is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+# 
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this file. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+
+for remote in $(awk '$2 ~ /git/ { print $1 }' Next/Trees); do
+   url=$(awk "\$1 ~ /$remote/ { print \$3 }" Next/Trees)
+   rurl=$(echo $url | awk -F'#' '{ print $1 }')
+   branch=$(echo $url | awk -F'#' '{ print $2 }')
+
+   git-fetch -n $remote; ret=$?
+   if [ $ret -ne 0 ]; then
+      echo "Problem with $remote (see above)"
+   fi
+done