diff --git a/contrib/check-owner.pl b/contrib/check-owner.pl
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..b65471399a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/check-owner.pl
@@ -0,0 +1,178 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env perl
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2014 Cisco Systems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
+# Copyright (c) 2015 Los Alamos National Security, LLC.  All rights reserved.
+# $COPYRIGHT$
+#
+# Simple script to check all the opal_show_help (and orte_show_help)
+# strings against what is found in help files.
+#
+
+use strict;
+
+use Cwd;
+use File::Find;
+use Getopt::Long;
+use Data::Dumper;
+
+my $num_warnings = 0;
+my $num_errors = 0;
+
+###########################################################################
+
+my $VERBOSE = 0;
+my $HELP = 0;
+
+GetOptions(
+    "help|h" => \$HELP,
+    "verbose|v" => \$VERBOSE,
+) or die "unable to parse options, aborted";
+
+if ($HELP) {
+    print <<EOF;
+%0 [options]
+
+--help | h          This help message
+--verbose | v       Be verbose in output
+EOF
+    exit(0);
+}
+
+###########################################################################
+
+sub verbose {
+    print @_
+        if ($VERBOSE);
+}
+
+sub DebugDump {
+    my $d = new Data::Dumper([@_]);
+    $d->Purity(1)->Indent(1);
+    my $s = $d->Dump;
+    print $s;
+}
+
+sub isTopDir {
+    my ($d) = @_;
+
+    # trunk
+    if (-f "$d/Makefile.ompi-rules") {
+        return 1;
+    }
+
+    # v1.8
+    if (-f "$d/Makefile.man-page-rules") {
+        return 1;
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
+###########################################################################
+
+# Find the top-level OMPI source tree dir
+my $start = cwd();
+my $top = $start;
+while (!isTopDir($top)) {
+    chdir("..");
+    $top = cwd();
+    die "Can't find top-level Open MPI directory"
+        if ($top eq "/");
+}
+chdir($start);
+
+###########################################################################
+
+my @owner_files;
+
+# Helper: Search for all owner files
+sub match_files {
+    # Don't process sym links
+    return
+        if (-l $_);
+
+    # Don't recurse down "special" directories
+    if (-d $_ &&
+        ((/^\.deps$/) || (/^\.libs$/) ||
+         (/^\.svn$/) || (/^\.hg$/) || (/^\.git$/))) {
+        $File::Find::prune = 1;
+        return;
+    }
+
+    # $File::Find::name is the path relative to the starting point.
+    # $_ contains the file's basename.  The code automatically changes
+    # to the processed directory, so we want to open / close $_.
+
+    verbose("--> $File::Find::name\n");
+
+    my $relative = $File::Find::name;
+    $relative =~ s/^$top//;
+    $relative =~ s/^\///;
+
+    my $short = $_;
+    if ($short =~ "owner.txt") {
+        push(@owner_files, {
+            full => $File::Find::name,
+            short => $short,
+            relative => $relative,
+             });
+        verbose("    Found owner file: $short\n");
+    }
+}
+
+# Find all owner files
+print "Searching for owner files...\n";
+my $startrel = $start;
+if ($top ne $start) {
+    $startrel =~ s/^$top//;
+    $startrel =~ s/^\///;
+}
+find(\&match_files, ".");
+
+###########################################################################
+
+# Index all help files
+my $help_topics;
+my $help_file_refs;
+
+print "Indexing owner files (from entire source tree)...\n";
+
+my $old_lib = "";
+my $filename;
+
+foreach my $info (@owner_files) {
+    verbose("Indexing owner: $info->{full}\n");
+    open(OWNERFILE, $info->{full}) || die "Could not open file $info->{full}\n";
+    my $owner="unknown";
+    my $status="unknown";
+    my $label="unknown";
+    while (<OWNERFILE>) {
+        next if /^#/;
+        chop;
+        if (/^owner/) {
+            ($label,$owner) = split(/:/);
+            $owner =~ s/\s//ge;  # get rid of white space, may need something better
+        }
+        if (/^status/) {
+            ($label,$status) = split(/:/);
+            $status =~ s/\s//ge;
+        }
+    }
+    my @components = split(/\//,$info->{full});
+    shift(@components);
+    my $lib = shift(@components);
+    if ($lib ne $old_lib) {
+        $filename = $lib."_mca_owner.md";
+        printf("hey, found a new lib %s filename %s\n",$lib,$filename);
+        open(MDFILE, ">$filename") || die "Could not open file $filename\n";
+        printf(MDFILE "| Framework | Component | Owner | Status |\n");
+        printf(MDFILE "| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n");
+        $old_lib = $lib;
+    }
+    shift(@components);
+    my $frame = shift(@components);
+    my $comp = shift(@components);
+    printf("For lib %s framework %s component %s owner %s status %s\n", $lib, $frame, $comp, $owner, $status);
+    printf(MDFILE "| $frame | $comp | $owner | $status |\n");
+    close (OWNERFILE);
+}