diff --git a/scripts/rpm2cpio.sh b/scripts/rpm2cpio.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..5df8c0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/rpm2cpio.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# This comes from the RPM5 5.4.0 distribution.
+
+pkg=$1
+if [ "$pkg" = "" -o ! -e "$pkg" ]; then
+    echo "no package supplied" 1>&2
+   exit 1
+fi
+
+leadsize=96
+o=`expr $leadsize + 8`
+set `od -j $o -N 8 -t u1 $pkg`
+il=`expr 256 \* \( 256 \* \( 256 \* $2 + $3 \) + $4 \) + $5`
+dl=`expr 256 \* \( 256 \* \( 256 \* $6 + $7 \) + $8 \) + $9`
+# echo "sig il: $il dl: $dl"
+
+sigsize=`expr 8 + 16 \* $il + $dl`
+o=`expr $o + $sigsize + \( 8 - \( $sigsize \% 8 \) \) \% 8 + 8`
+set `od -j $o -N 8 -t u1 $pkg`
+il=`expr 256 \* \( 256 \* \( 256 \* $2 + $3 \) + $4 \) + $5`
+dl=`expr 256 \* \( 256 \* \( 256 \* $6 + $7 \) + $8 \) + $9`
+# echo "hdr il: $il dl: $dl"
+
+hdrsize=`expr 8 + 16 \* $il + $dl`
+o=`expr $o + $hdrsize`
+EXTRACTOR="dd if=$pkg ibs=$o skip=1"
+
+COMPRESSION=`($EXTRACTOR |file -) 2>/dev/null`
+if echo $COMPRESSION |grep -iq gzip; then
+	DECOMPRESSOR=gunzip
+elif echo $COMPRESSION |grep -iq bzip2; then
+	DECOMPRESSOR=bunzip2
+elif echo $COMPRESSION |grep -iq xz; then
+	DECOMPRESSOR=unxz
+elif echo $COMPRESSION |grep -iq cpio; then
+	DECOMPRESSOR=cat
+else
+	# Most versions of file don't support LZMA, therefore we assume
+	# anything not detected is LZMA
+	DECOMPRESSOR=`which unlzma 2>/dev/null`
+	case "$DECOMPRESSOR" in
+	    /* ) ;;
+	    *  ) DECOMPRESSOR=`which lzmash 2>/dev/null`
+	         case "$DECOMPRESSOR" in
+	             /* ) DECOMPRESSOR="lzmash -d -c" ;;
+	             *  ) DECOMPRESSOR=cat ;;
+	         esac
+	         ;;
+	esac
+fi
+
+$EXTRACTOR 2>/dev/null | $DECOMPRESSOR