diff --git a/doc/howto_release.txt b/doc/howto_release.txt
index ec7c37424de..c36ca1b4281 100644
--- a/doc/howto_release.txt
+++ b/doc/howto_release.txt
@@ -110,8 +110,7 @@ svn ci -m"GRASS GIS $VERSION" include/VERSION
 svn up
 
 # Create Changelog file on release branch:
-# https://arthurdejong.org/svn2cl/
-svn2cl
+python tools/gitlog2changelog.py
 mv ChangeLog ChangeLog_$VERSION
 head ChangeLog_$VERSION
 gzip ChangeLog_$VERSION
diff --git a/include/Make/Docs.make b/include/Make/Docs.make
index 139e68593e5..adea0c22825 100644
--- a/include/Make/Docs.make
+++ b/include/Make/Docs.make
@@ -91,13 +91,9 @@ html2pdfdoccomplete:
 	$(call html_pdf vector,v.*.html)
 
 changelog:
-	@ echo "creating ChangeLog file (following 'trunk' only)..."
-	@ # svn2cl creates a GNU style ChangeLog file:
-	@ # http://ch.tudelft.nl/~arthur/svn2cl/
-	@if [ ! -x "`which svn2cl`" ] ; then \
-		echo "\"svn2cl\" is required, please install first from http://ch.tudelft.nl/~arthur/svn2cl/" ;	exit 1 ; \
-	fi
-	sh svn2cl ./ChangeLog
+	@ echo "creating ChangeLog file (following 'master' only)..."
+	@ # tools/gitlog2changelog.py creates a GNU style ChangeLog file:
+	python tools/gitlog2changelog.py
 
 .PHONY: htmldocs-single htmldocs packagehtmldocs pdfdocs cleandocs html2pdfdoc
 .PHONY: html2pdfdoccomplete changelog
diff --git a/tools/gitlog2changelog.py b/tools/gitlog2changelog.py
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..88b139a574d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/gitlog2changelog.py
@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+# Copyright 2008 Marcus D. Hanwell <marcus@cryos.org>
+# Minor changes for NUT by Charles Lepple
+# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2 or later
+
+import string, re, os
+from textwrap import TextWrapper
+import sys
+
+rev_range = ''
+
+if len(sys.argv) > 1:
+    base = sys.argv[1]
+    rev_range = '%s..HEAD' % base
+
+# Execute git log with the desired command line options.
+fin = os.popen('git log --summary --stat --no-merges --date=short %s' % rev_range, 'r')
+# Create a ChangeLog file in the current directory.
+fout = open('ChangeLog', 'w')
+
+# Set up the loop variables in order to locate the blocks we want
+authorFound = False
+dateFound = False
+messageFound = False
+filesFound = False
+message = ""
+messageNL = False
+files = ""
+prevAuthorLine = ""
+
+wrapper = TextWrapper(initial_indent="\t", subsequent_indent="\t  ")
+
+# The main part of the loop
+for line in fin:
+    # The commit line marks the start of a new commit object.
+    if line.startswith('commit'):
+        # Start all over again...
+        authorFound = False
+        dateFound = False
+        messageFound = False
+        messageNL = False
+        message = ""
+        filesFound = False
+        files = ""
+        continue
+    # Match the author line and extract the part we want
+    # (Don't use startswith to allow Author override inside commit message.)
+    elif 'Author:' in line:
+        authorList = re.split(': ', line, 1)
+        try:
+            author = authorList[1]
+            author = author[0:len(author)-1]
+            authorFound = True
+        except:
+            print ("Could not parse authorList = '%s'" % (line))
+
+    # Match the date line
+    elif line.startswith('Date:'):
+        dateList = re.split(':   ', line, 1)
+        try:
+            date = dateList[1]
+            date = date[0:len(date)-1]
+            dateFound = True
+        except:
+            print ("Could not parse dateList = '%s'" % (line))
+    # The Fossil-IDs are ignored:
+    elif line.startswith('    Fossil-ID:') or line.startswith('    [[SVN:'):
+        continue
+    # The svn-id lines are ignored
+    elif '    git-svn-id:' in line:
+        continue
+    # The sign off line is ignored too
+    elif 'Signed-off-by' in line:
+        continue
+    # Extract the actual commit message for this commit
+    elif authorFound & dateFound & messageFound == False:
+        # Find the commit message if we can
+        if len(line) == 1:
+            if messageNL:
+                messageFound = True
+            else:
+                messageNL = True
+        elif len(line) == 4:
+            messageFound = True
+        else:
+            if len(message) == 0:
+                message = message + line.strip()
+            else:
+                message = message + " " + line.strip()
+    # If this line is hit all of the files have been stored for this commit
+    elif re.search('files? changed', line):
+        filesFound = True
+        continue
+    # Collect the files for this commit. FIXME: Still need to add +/- to files
+    elif authorFound & dateFound & messageFound:
+        fileList = re.split(' \| ', line, 2)
+        if len(fileList) > 1:
+            if len(files) > 0:
+                files = files + ", " + fileList[0].strip()
+            else:
+                files = fileList[0].strip()
+    # All of the parts of the commit have been found - write out the entry
+    if authorFound & dateFound & messageFound & filesFound:
+        # First the author line, only outputted if it is the first for that
+        # author on this day
+        authorLine = date + "  " + author
+        if len(prevAuthorLine) == 0:
+            fout.write(authorLine + "\n\n")
+        elif authorLine == prevAuthorLine:
+            pass
+        else:
+            fout.write("\n" + authorLine + "\n\n")
+
+        # Assemble the actual commit message line(s) and limit the line length
+        # to 80 characters.
+        commitLine = "* " + files + ": " + message
+
+        # Write out the commit line
+        fout.write(wrapper.fill(commitLine) + "\n")
+
+        #Now reset all the variables ready for a new commit block.
+        authorFound = False
+        dateFound = False
+        messageFound = False
+        messageNL = False
+        message = ""
+        filesFound = False
+        files = ""
+        prevAuthorLine = authorLine
+
+# Close the input and output lines now that we are finished.
+fin.close()
+fout.close()