diff --git a/usr.sbin/etcupdate/etcupdate b/usr.sbin/etcupdate/etcupdate
index 5a1ac34ad705..7b92307b1482 100644
--- a/usr.sbin/etcupdate/etcupdate
+++ b/usr.sbin/etcupdate/etcupdate
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 #
-# $NetBSD: etcupdate,v 1.12 2003/03/03 14:07:11 martti Exp $
+# $NetBSD: etcupdate,v 1.13 2003/04/02 03:07:30 perry Exp $
 #
 # Copyright (c) 2001 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
 # All rights reserved.
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ VERBOSE=
 CONTINUE=
 BINARY=
 AUTOMATIC=
+LOCALSKIP=
 
 # Settings for post-installation procedures
 NEED_MTREE=
@@ -81,6 +82,8 @@ Options:
   -w width     Screen width                    (default: 80)
 
   -a           Automatically update unmodified files
+  -l           Automatically skip files with strictly local changes
+               (this option has no effect on files lacking RCS Ids)
   -h           This help text
   -v           Be more verbose
 
@@ -173,6 +176,18 @@ diff_and_merge_file() {
 		fi
 	fi
 
+	if [ "${LOCALSKIP}" = "YES" ] ; then
+		ID1=`ident -q "${TEMPROOT}${1}" | sed -n 2p`
+		ID1="${ID1:-0}"
+		ID2=`ident -q "${1}" | sed -n 2p`
+		ID2="${ID2:-1}"
+		if [ "${ID1}" = "${ID2}" ] ; then
+			verbose "===> ${1} (ok:RCS)"
+			rm -f "${TEMPROOT}${1}"
+			return
+		fi
+	fi
+
 	clear
 	if [ ! -f "${1}" ]; then
 		verbose "===> ${1} (missing)"
@@ -300,7 +315,7 @@ USERRC="${HOME}/.`basename $0`rc"
 [ -r ${USERRC} ] && . ${USERRC}
 
 # Read command line arguments
-ARGV=`getopt ab:hp:s:t:vw: $*`
+ARGV=`getopt ab:hlp:s:t:vw: $*`
 [ $? != 0 ] && usage
 set -- ${ARGV}
 for i; do
@@ -317,6 +332,10 @@ for i; do
 	-h)
 		usage
 		;;
+	-l)
+		LOCALSKIP=YES
+		shift
+		;;
 	-p)
 		PAGER="${2}"
 		shift 2
diff --git a/usr.sbin/etcupdate/etcupdate.8 b/usr.sbin/etcupdate/etcupdate.8
index 6719e31c3991..2155bbeaa695 100644
--- a/usr.sbin/etcupdate/etcupdate.8
+++ b/usr.sbin/etcupdate/etcupdate.8
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.\"	$NetBSD: etcupdate.8,v 1.7 2003/03/17 08:19:22 wiz Exp $
+.\"	$NetBSD: etcupdate.8,v 1.8 2003/04/02 03:07:30 perry Exp $
 .\"
 .\" Copyright (c) 2001 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
 .\" All rights reserved.
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
 .Op Fl a
 .Op Fl b Ar srcdir
 .Op Fl h
+.Op Fl l
 .Op Fl p Ar pager
 .Op Fl s Ar srcdir
 .Op Fl t Ar temproot
@@ -114,6 +115,18 @@ to store MD5 checksums in
 .Pa /var/etcupdate
 and use these checksums to determine if there have been any
 local modifications.
+.Pp
+Inversely, if given the
+.Fl l
+flag,
+.Nm
+will automatically skip files which have been modified strictly
+locally.
+(As an exception, files distributed without RCS IDs will not be
+skipped, since the logic for this flag requires their presence.)
+This flag may be used together with the
+.Fl a
+flag described above.
 .Sh ENVIRONMENT
 .Bl -tag -width TEMPROOT
 .It Ev TEMPROOT