diff --git a/tools/check_project b/tools/check_project
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..a3918e754c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/check_project
@@ -0,0 +1,140 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+# $Id$
+'''
+Checks project permissions, etc.
+
+This script is designed to run AFTER make_project is executed.
+'''
+
+import functools, argparse
+import grp, pwd
+import os, socket, sys
+
+#-----------------------------------------------------------
+# Functions
+def gethostname():
+   try:
+      return socket.getfqdn().split('.')[0]
+   except:
+      return 'localhost'
+#gethostname
+
+def check_user(user):
+   try:
+      mypwdb = pwd.getpwnam(user)
+   except KeyError as e:
+      print "ERROR: ", e
+      print "ERROR: Specified apache user (%s) not found, Aborting"%(user)
+      sys.exit(1)
+   #try
+# check_user
+
+def check_dir(dir):
+   if not os.path.isdir(dir):
+      print "ERREOR: project directory %s does not exst, Aborting"%(dir)
+      sys.exit(1)
+   #try
+   return dir
+#check_dir
+
+def determineapacheuser(user):
+
+   '''Attempts to determine the apache Web server user from the password
+   database. Checks a few possibilities that are linux defaults. If
+   one user matches, it is returned, otherwise an error created.
+
+   Known Issue: if the system has multiple users defined from the list below, 
+   the script will abort.
+
+   '''
+   possibleapacheusers = [ 'apache',
+                           'apache2',
+                           'http',
+                           'httpd',
+                           'web-data',
+                           'www-data']
+
+   if user=="FINDOUT":
+      allusernames = [x.pw_name for x in pwd.getpwall()]
+      out1 = set(allusernames).intersection(possibleapacheusers)
+   
+      if len(out1)==1:
+         return out1.pop()
+
+         print "WARNING: Script could not determine which user runs apache Web server. Aborting"
+         print "         You should specify the apache user with the -a/--apache_user flag"
+         print "         Try running the following command with apache Web server running:"
+         print "           ps -ef | egrep '(httpd|apache2|apache)' | grep -v `whoami` | grep -v root"
+         sys.exit(1)
+   else:
+      check_user(user)
+      return user
+   #endif
+#determineapacheuser
+
+def check_permissions(user, fpath):
+
+   mypwdb = pwd.getpwnam(user)
+
+   try:
+      mystat = os.stat(fpath)
+   except OSError as e:
+      print "ERROR: ", e
+      return 1
+   #try
+   
+   owner_permissions = oct(mystat.st_mode)[4:5]
+   group_permissions = oct(mystat.st_mode)[5:6]
+
+   file_owner = pwd.getpwuid(mystat.st_uid).pw_name
+   group_members = grp.getgrgid(mystat.st_gid).gr_mem
+
+   '''Three checks:
+   1) if file owner is the user and owner's permissions allow for writing
+   2) if user is in group_members and group's permissions allow for writing
+   3) if user's gid is the same as the file's gid, and group's permissions allow for writing
+      The last condition is required because group_members (from gr_mem) does not 
+      contain the primary user of the group.
+   '''
+   
+   if (file_owner == user and owner_permissions >=5) or (user in group_members and group_permissions >=5) or (mypwdb.pw_gid==mystat.st_gid and group_permissions >=5) :
+      print "Info:  User %s can write to file/dir %s"%(user, fpath)
+      return 0
+   #end if
+  
+   print "WARNING: User %s can NOT write to %s"%(user, fpath)
+   return 2
+#check_permissions
+
+
+#-----------------------------------------------------------
+# Main program
+
+parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Checks BOINC project directory permissions.")
+parser.add_argument("-p","--project_dir", action="store", dest="project_dir", required=True, help="Full path to the project root directory.")
+parser.add_argument("-a","--apache_user", action="store", dest="apache_user", default="FINDOUT", help="User which apache runs. Typically www-data (Debian based), httpd (Redhat based), or apache. If not specified, the script will automatically try to determine.")
+
+try:
+   args = parser.parse_args()
+except Exception as e:
+   print "ERROR: command-line parser error", e
+   sys.exit(1)
+#try
+
+# Define global variables
+S_HOSTNAME  = gethostname()
+APACHE_USER = determineapacheuser(args.apache_user)
+PROJECT_DIR = check_dir(args.project_dir)
+PATHS = ['log_'+S_HOSTNAME,
+         'html',
+         'html/cache',
+         'html/inc',
+         'html/languages',
+         'html/languages/compiled',
+         'upload',]
+
+# Run the check_permissions function on all directories
+map(functools.partial(check_permissions, APACHE_USER), [os.path.join(PROJECT_DIR,p) for p in PATHS])
+
+sys.exit(0)