diff --git a/kivy/config.py b/kivy/config.py
index 43715013e..120ab3f43 100644
--- a/kivy/config.py
+++ b/kivy/config.py
@@ -376,6 +376,12 @@ class ConfigParser(PythonConfigParser, object):
         self._do_callbacks(section, option, value)
         return ret
 
+    def setall(self, section, keyvalues):
+        '''Set a lot of keys/values in one section at the same time.
+        '''
+        for key, value in keyvalues.items():
+            self.set(section, key, value)
+
     def get(self, section, option, **kwargs):
         value = PythonConfigParser.get(self, section, option, **kwargs)
         if PY2:
@@ -384,7 +390,7 @@ class ConfigParser(PythonConfigParser, object):
         return value
 
     def setdefaults(self, section, keyvalues):
-        '''Set a lot of keys/values in one section at the same time.
+        '''Set a lot of keys/value defaults in one section at the same time.
         '''
         self.adddefaultsection(section)
         for key, value in keyvalues.items():
@@ -437,6 +443,17 @@ class ConfigParser(PythonConfigParser, object):
             return False
         return True
 
+    def update_config(self, filename, overwrite=False):
+        '''Upgrade the configuration based on a new default config file.
+           Overwrite any existing values if overwrite is True.
+        '''
+        pcp = PythonConfigParser()
+        pcp.read(filename)
+        confset = self.setall if overwrite else self.setdefaults
+        for section in pcp.sections():
+            confset(section, dict(pcp.items(section)))
+        self.write()
+
     @staticmethod
     def _register_named_property(name, widget_ref, *largs):
         ''' Called by the ConfigParserProperty to register a property which