diff --git a/svn-helper.php b/svn-helper.php
index c049b9ad6d..3816ce7a91 100755
--- a/svn-helper.php
+++ b/svn-helper.php
@@ -1,34 +1,107 @@
 #!/usr/bin/php
 <?php
+/**
+ * helper for EGroupware SVN layout
+ *
+ * @link http://www.egroupware.org
+ * @license http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php GPL - GNU General Public License
+ * @author Ralf Becker <RalfBecker-AT-outdoor-training.de>
+ * @copyright (c) 2007-12 by Ralf Becker <rb@stylite.de>
+ * @version $Id$
+ */
 
 if (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'])) die("This is a commandline ONLY tool!\n");
 
 if ($_SERVER['argc'] <= 1) die('
 Usage: ./svn-helper.php <svn-arguments>
-Changes into the directory of each module and executes svn with the given arguments. \\$module get\'s replaced with the module name. 
+Changes into the directory of each module and executes svn with the given arguments.
+\\$module get\'s replaced with the module name, for every svn command but "merge", where log is queryed to avoid running merge on all modules.
 Examples:
 - to merge all changes from trunk between revision 123 and 456 into all modules in the workingcopy:
-	./svn-helper.php merge -r 123:456 http://svn.egroupware.org/egroupware/trunk/\\$module
-- to switch a workingcopy to the 1.4 branch:
-	./svn-helper.php switch http://svn.egroupware.org/egroupware/branches/1.4/\\$module
+	./svn-helper.php merge -r 123:456 ^/trunk
+- to switch a workingcopy to the 1.8 branch:
+	./svn-helper.php switch ^/branches/1.8/\\$module
 - to switch an anonymous workingcopy to a developers one:
 	./svn-helper.php switch --relocate http://svn.egroupware.org svn+ssh://svn@dev.egroupware.org
 '."\n");
 
-$d = opendir($dir=dirname(__FILE__));
+$args = $_SERVER['argv'];
+array_shift($args);
 
-while (($file = readdir($d)) !== false) 
+
+switch ($args[0])
 {
-	$path = $dir . '/'. $file;
-	if (!is_dir($path) || in_array($file,array('debian','home','doc','..','.svn'))) continue;
+	case 'merge':
+		do_merge($args);
+		break;
 
-	chdir($path);
-	
-	$args = $_SERVER['argv'];
-	array_shift($args);
-	$args = implode(' ',$args);
-	$args = str_replace('$module',$file == '.' ? 'egroupware' : $file,$args);
-	
-	echo "$file: svn $args\n";
-	system('svn '.$args);
+	default:
+		$d = opendir($dir=dirname(__FILE__));
+
+		while (($file = readdir($d)) !== false)
+		{
+			$path = $dir . '/'. $file;
+			if (!is_dir($path) || in_array($file,array('debian','home','doc','..','.svn'))) continue;
+
+			chdir($path);
+
+			$args_m = str_replace('$module',$file == '.' ? 'egroupware' : $file,implode(' ',$args));
+			echo "$file: svn $args_m\n";
+			system('svn '.$args_m);
+		}
+		break;
+}
+
+function do_merge(array $args)
+{
+	chdir(dirname(__FILE__));	// go to EGroupware root
+
+	array_shift($args);	// get ride of "merge" arg
+	// get xml log
+	$cmd = "svn log --verbose --xml ".implode(' ',$args);
+	//echo $cmd;
+	exec($cmd, $output, $err);
+	$output = implode("\n",$output);
+	if ($err) throw new Exception("'$cmd' returned $err\n$output");
+	$log = new SimpleXMLElement($output);
+	$modules = $messages = array();
+	foreach($log->logentry as $logentry)
+	{
+		foreach($logentry->attributes() as $name => $rev) if ($name == 'revision') break;
+		echo "r$rev: ".$logentry->msg."\n";
+		$messages['r'.$rev] = (string)$logentry->msg;
+		foreach($logentry->paths->path as $path)
+		{
+			//echo "\t".$path."\n";
+			if (preg_match('#(/trunk/|/branches/[^/]+/)([^/]+)/#',$path,$matches))
+			{
+				if (!in_array($matches[2],$modules)) $modules[] = $matches[2];
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	//print_r($modules);
+	//print_r($messages);
+	$cmds = array();
+	foreach($modules as $module)
+	{
+		system('svn -q update '.$module);	// svn >= 1.7 brings an error otherwise
+		$cmds[] = 'svn merge '.implode(' ',$args).'/'.$module.' '.$module;
+	}
+	$cmds[] = 'svn diff '.implode(' ',$modules);
+	foreach($cmds as $n => $cmd)
+	{
+		echo "$cmd\n";
+		passthru($cmd, $err);	// passthru allows to call editor on merge conflicts
+		if ($err) exit;
+	}
+	$msg = str_replace("'", "\\'", array_shift($messages));
+	// prefix further commit messages with "r$rev: "
+	if ($messages)
+	{
+		foreach($messages as $rev => $message)
+		{
+			$msg .= "\n$rev: ".str_replace("'", "\\'", $message);
+		}
+	}
+	echo "\nTo commit run:\n"."svn commit -m '$msg' ".implode(' ',$modules)."\n";
 }