diff --git a/contrib/verifysfbinaries/verify.sh b/contrib/verifysfbinaries/verify.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..336de3ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/verifysfbinaries/verify.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+###   This script attempts to download the signature file SHA256SUMS.asc from SourceForge
+###   It first checks if the signature passes, and then downloads the files specified in
+###   the file, and checks if the hashes of these files match those that are specified
+###   in the signature file.
+###   The script returns 0 if everything passes the checks. It returns 1 if either the
+###   signature check or the hash check doesn't pass. If an error occurs the return value is 2
+
+function clean_up {
+   for file in $*
+   do
+      rm "$file" 2> /dev/null
+   done
+}
+
+WORKINGDIR="/tmp/bitcoin"
+TMPFILE="hashes.tmp"
+
+#this URL is used if a version number is not specified as an argument to the script
+SIGNATUREFILE="http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/bitcoin/Bitcoin/bitcoin-0.7.1/test/SHA256SUMS.asc"
+
+SIGNATUREFILENAME="SHA256SUMS.asc"
+RCSUBDIR="test/"
+BASEDIR="http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/bitcoin/Bitcoin/"
+VERSIONPREFIX="bitcoin-"
+RCVERSIONSTRING="rc"
+
+if [ ! -d "$WORKINGDIR" ]; then
+   mkdir "$WORKINGDIR"
+fi
+
+cd "$WORKINGDIR"
+
+#test if a version number has been passed as an argument
+if [ -n "$1" ]; then
+   #let's also check if the version number includes the prefix 'bitcoin-',
+   #  and add this prefix if it doesn't
+   if [[ $1 == "$VERSIONPREFIX"* ]]; then
+      VERSION="$1"
+   else
+      VERSION="$VERSIONPREFIX$1"
+   fi
+
+   #now let's see if the version string contains "rc", and strip it off if it does
+   #  and simultaneously add RCSUBDIR to BASEDIR, where we will look for SIGNATUREFILENAME
+   if [[ $VERSION == *"$RCVERSIONSTRING"* ]]; then
+      BASEDIR="$BASEDIR${VERSION/%-$RCVERSIONSTRING*}/"
+      BASEDIR="$BASEDIR$RCSUBDIR"
+   else
+      BASEDIR="$BASEDIR$VERSION/"
+   fi
+
+   SIGNATUREFILE="$BASEDIR$SIGNATUREFILENAME"
+else
+   BASEDIR="${SIGNATUREFILE%/*}/"
+fi
+
+#first we fetch the file containing the signature
+WGETOUT=$(wget -N "$BASEDIR$SIGNATUREFILENAME" 2>&1)
+
+#and then see if wget completed successfully
+if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+   echo "Error: couldn't fetch signature file. Have you specified the version number in the following format?"
+   echo "[bitcoin-]<version>-[rc[0-9]] (example: bitcoin-0.7.1-rc1)"
+   echo "wget output:"
+   echo "$WGETOUT"|sed 's/^/\t/g'
+   exit 2
+fi
+
+#then we check it
+GPGOUT=$(gpg --yes --decrypt --output "$TMPFILE" "$SIGNATUREFILENAME" 2>&1)
+
+#return value 0: good signature
+#return value 1: bad signature
+#return value 2: gpg error
+
+RET="$?"
+if [ $RET -ne 0 ]; then
+   if [ $RET -eq 1 ]; then
+      #and notify the user if it's bad
+      echo "Bad signature."
+   elif [ $RET -eq 2 ]; then
+      #or if a gpg error has occured
+      echo "gpg error. Do you have Gavin's code signing key installed?"
+   fi
+
+   echo "gpg output:"
+   echo "$GPGOUT"|sed 's/^/\t/g'
+   clean_up $SIGNATUREFILENAME $TMPFILE
+   exit "$RET"
+fi
+
+#here we extract the filenames from the signature file
+FILES=$(awk '{print $2}' "$TMPFILE")
+
+#and download these one by one
+for file in in $FILES
+do
+   wget --quiet -N "$BASEDIR$file"
+done
+
+#check hashes
+DIFF=$(diff <(sha256sum $FILES) "$TMPFILE")
+
+if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
+   echo "Hashes don't match."
+   echo "Offending files:"
+   echo "$DIFF"|grep "^<"|awk '{print "\t"$3}'
+   exit 1
+elif [ $? -gt 1 ]; then
+   echo "Error executing 'diff'"
+   exit 2   
+fi
+
+#everything matches! clean up the mess
+clean_up $FILES $SIGNATUREFILENAME $TMPFILE
+
+exit 0