diff --git a/contrib/pyminer/README b/contrib/pyminer/README
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d1596575d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/pyminer/README
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+
+This is a 'getwork' CPU mining client for bitcoin.
+
+It is pure-python, and therefore very, very slow.  The purpose is to
+provide a reference implementation of a miner, for study.
+
diff --git a/contrib/pyminer/example-config.cfg b/contrib/pyminer/example-config.cfg
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..103e7c137
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/pyminer/example-config.cfg
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+
+#
+# RPC login details
+#
+host=127.0.0.1
+port=8332
+
+rpcuser=myusername
+rpcpass=mypass
+
+
+#
+# mining details
+#
+
+threads=4
+
+# periodic rate for requesting new work, if solution not found
+scantime=60
+
+
+#
+# misc.
+#
+
+# not really used right now
+logdir=/tmp/pyminer
+
+# set to 1, to enable hashmeter output
+hashmeter=0
+
+
diff --git a/contrib/pyminer/pyminer.py b/contrib/pyminer/pyminer.py
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..2887aba59
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/pyminer/pyminer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,252 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2011 The Bitcoin developers
+# Distributed under the MIT/X11 software license, see the accompanying
+# file license.txt or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
+#
+
+import time
+import json
+import pprint
+import hashlib
+import struct
+import re
+import base64
+import httplib
+import sys
+from multiprocessing import Process
+
+ERR_SLEEP = 15
+MAX_NONCE = 1000000L
+
+settings = {}
+pp = pprint.PrettyPrinter(indent=4)
+
+class BitcoinRPC:
+	OBJID = 1
+
+	def __init__(self, host, port, username, password):
+		authpair = "%s:%s" % (username, password)
+		self.authhdr = "Basic %s" % (base64.b64encode(authpair))
+		self.conn = httplib.HTTPConnection(host, port, False, 30)
+	def rpc(self, method, params=None):
+		self.OBJID += 1
+		obj = { 'version' : '1.1',
+			'method' : method,
+			'id' : self.OBJID }
+		if params is None:
+			obj['params'] = []
+		else:
+			obj['params'] = params
+		self.conn.request('POST', '/', json.dumps(obj),
+			{ 'Authorization' : self.authhdr,
+			  'Content-type' : 'application/json' })
+
+		resp = self.conn.getresponse()
+		if resp is None:
+			print "JSON-RPC: no response"
+			return None
+
+		body = resp.read()
+		resp_obj = json.loads(body)
+		if resp_obj is None:
+			print "JSON-RPC: cannot JSON-decode body"
+			return None
+		if 'error' in resp_obj and resp_obj['error'] != None:
+			return resp_obj['error']
+		if 'result' not in resp_obj:
+			print "JSON-RPC: no result in object"
+			return None
+
+		return resp_obj['result']
+	def getblockcount(self):
+		return self.rpc('getblockcount')
+	def getwork(self, data=None):
+		return self.rpc('getwork', data)
+
+def uint32(x):
+	return x & 0xffffffffL
+
+def bytereverse(x):
+	return uint32(( ((x) << 24) | (((x) << 8) & 0x00ff0000) |
+			(((x) >> 8) & 0x0000ff00) | ((x) >> 24) ))
+
+def bufreverse(in_buf):
+	out_words = []
+	for i in range(0, len(in_buf), 4):
+		word = struct.unpack('@I', in_buf[i:i+4])[0]
+		out_words.append(struct.pack('@I', bytereverse(word)))
+	return ''.join(out_words)
+
+def wordreverse(in_buf):
+	out_words = []
+	for i in range(0, len(in_buf), 4):
+		out_words.append(in_buf[i:i+4])
+	out_words.reverse()
+	return ''.join(out_words)
+
+class Miner:
+	def __init__(self, id):
+		self.id = id
+		self.max_nonce = MAX_NONCE
+
+	def work(self, datastr, targetstr):
+		# decode work data hex string to binary
+		static_data = datastr.decode('hex')
+		static_data = bufreverse(static_data)
+
+		# the first 76b of 80b do not change
+		blk_hdr = static_data[:76]
+
+		# decode 256-bit target value
+		targetbin = targetstr.decode('hex')
+		targetbin = targetbin[::-1]	# byte-swap and dword-swap
+		targetbin_str = targetbin.encode('hex')
+		target = long(targetbin_str, 16)
+
+		# pre-hash first 76b of block header
+		static_hash = hashlib.sha256()
+		static_hash.update(blk_hdr)
+
+		for nonce in xrange(self.max_nonce):
+
+			# encode 32-bit nonce value
+			nonce_bin = struct.pack("<I", nonce)
+
+			# hash final 4b, the nonce value
+			hash1_o = static_hash.copy()
+			hash1_o.update(nonce_bin)
+			hash1 = hash1_o.digest()
+
+			# sha256 hash of sha256 hash
+			hash_o = hashlib.sha256()
+			hash_o.update(hash1)
+			hash = hash_o.digest()
+
+			# quick test for winning solution: high 32 bits zero?
+			if hash[-4:] != '\0\0\0\0':
+				continue
+
+			# convert binary hash to 256-bit Python long
+			hash = bufreverse(hash)
+			hash = wordreverse(hash)
+
+			hash_str = hash.encode('hex')
+			l = long(hash_str, 16)
+
+			# proof-of-work test:  hash < target
+			if l < target:
+				print time.asctime(), "PROOF-OF-WORK found: %064x" % (l,)
+				return (nonce + 1, nonce_bin)
+			else:
+				print time.asctime(), "PROOF-OF-WORK false positive %064x" % (l,)
+#				return (nonce + 1, nonce_bin)
+
+		return (nonce + 1, None)
+
+	def submit_work(self, rpc, original_data, nonce_bin):
+		nonce_bin = bufreverse(nonce_bin)
+		nonce = nonce_bin.encode('hex')
+		solution = original_data[:152] + nonce + original_data[160:256]
+		param_arr = [ solution ]
+		result = rpc.getwork(param_arr)
+		print time.asctime(), "--> Upstream RPC result:", result
+
+	def iterate(self, rpc):
+		work = rpc.getwork()
+		if work is None:
+			time.sleep(ERR_SLEEP)
+			return
+		if 'data' not in work or 'target' not in work:
+			time.sleep(ERR_SLEEP)
+			return
+
+		time_start = time.time()
+
+		(hashes_done, nonce_bin) = self.work(work['data'],
+						     work['target'])
+
+		time_end = time.time()
+		time_diff = time_end - time_start
+
+		self.max_nonce = long(
+			(hashes_done * settings['scantime']) / time_diff)
+		if self.max_nonce > 0xfffffffaL:
+			self.max_nonce = 0xfffffffaL
+
+		if settings['hashmeter']:
+			print "HashMeter(%d): %d hashes, %.2f Khash/sec" % (
+			      self.id, hashes_done,
+			      (hashes_done / 1000.0) / time_diff)
+
+		if nonce_bin is not None:
+			self.submit_work(rpc, work['data'], nonce_bin)
+
+	def loop(self):
+		rpc = BitcoinRPC(settings['host'], settings['port'],
+				 settings['rpcuser'], settings['rpcpass'])
+		if rpc is None:
+			return
+
+		while True:
+			self.iterate(rpc)
+
+def miner_thread(id):
+	miner = Miner(id)
+	miner.loop()
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+	if len(sys.argv) != 2:
+		print "Usage: pyminer.py CONFIG-FILE"
+		sys.exit(1)
+
+	f = open(sys.argv[1])
+	for line in f:
+		# skip comment lines
+		m = re.search('^\s*#', line)
+		if m:
+			continue
+
+		# parse key=value lines
+		m = re.search('^(\w+)\s*=\s*(\S.*)$', line)
+		if m is None:
+			continue
+		settings[m.group(1)] = m.group(2)
+	f.close()
+
+	if 'host' not in settings:
+		settings['host'] = '127.0.0.1'
+	if 'port' not in settings:
+		settings['port'] = 8332
+	if 'threads' not in settings:
+		settings['threads'] = 1
+	if 'hashmeter' not in settings:
+		settings['hashmeter'] = 0
+	if 'scantime' not in settings:
+		settings['scantime'] = 30L
+	if 'rpcuser' not in settings or 'rpcpass' not in settings:
+		print "Missing username and/or password in cfg file"
+		sys.exit(1)
+
+	settings['port'] = int(settings['port'])
+	settings['threads'] = int(settings['threads'])
+	settings['hashmeter'] = int(settings['hashmeter'])
+	settings['scantime'] = long(settings['scantime'])
+
+	thr_list = []
+	for thr_id in range(settings['threads']):
+		p = Process(target=miner_thread, args=(thr_id,))
+		p.start()
+		thr_list.append(p)
+		time.sleep(1)			# stagger threads
+
+	print settings['threads'], "mining threads started"
+
+	print time.asctime(), "Miner Starts - %s:%s" % (settings['host'], settings['port'])
+	try:
+		for thr_proc in thr_list:
+			thr_proc.join()
+	except KeyboardInterrupt:
+		pass
+	print time.asctime(), "Miner Stops - %s:%s" % (settings['host'], settings['port'])
+