diff --git a/[refs] b/[refs]
index c069170d2070..6cf26da3b95a 100644
--- a/[refs]
+++ b/[refs]
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 ---
-refs/heads/master: 82c4dfc76200055bd2ae600a08404c10df5f4ff6
+refs/heads/master: 870020f93af2323a81f179091a0780dc1d5b916b
diff --git a/trunk/scripts/get_maintainer.pl b/trunk/scripts/get_maintainer.pl
index 3e733146cd51..7fc09fc91e8b 100755
--- a/trunk/scripts/get_maintainer.pl
+++ b/trunk/scripts/get_maintainer.pl
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 use strict;
 
 my $P = $0;
-my $V = '0.16';
+my $V = '0.17';
 
 use Getopt::Long qw(:config no_auto_abbrev);
 
@@ -132,6 +132,10 @@
 	    $value =~ s@\.@\\\.@g;       ##Convert . to \.
 	    $value =~ s/\*/\.\*/g;       ##Convert * to .*
 	    $value =~ s/\?/\./g;         ##Convert ? to .
+	    ##if pattern is a directory and it lacks a trailing slash, add one
+	    if ((-d $value)) {
+		$value =~ s@([^/])$@$1/@;
+	    }
 	}
 	push(@typevalue, "$type:$value");
     } elsif (!/^(\s)*$/) {
@@ -146,8 +150,10 @@
 my @files = ();
 
 foreach my $file (@ARGV) {
-    next if ((-d $file));
-    if (!(-f $file)) {
+    ##if $file is a directory and it lacks a trailing slash, add one
+    if ((-d $file)) {
+	$file =~ s@([^/])$@$1/@;
+    } elsif (!(-f $file)) {
 	die "$P: file '${file}' not found\n";
     }
     if ($from_filename) {
@@ -292,7 +298,7 @@ sub file_match_pattern {
 sub usage {
     print <<EOT;
 usage: $P [options] patchfile
-       $P [options] -f file
+       $P [options] -f file|directory
 version: $V
 
 MAINTAINER field selection options:
@@ -322,6 +328,15 @@ sub usage {
   --version => show version
   --help => show this help information
 
+Notes:
+  Using "-f directory" may give unexpected results:
+
+  Used with "--git", git signators for _all_ files in and below
+     directory are examined as git recurses directories.
+     Any specified X: (exclude) pattern matches are _not_ ignored.
+  Used with "--nogit", directory is used as a pattern match,
+     no individual file within the directory or subdirectory
+     is matched.
 EOT
 }