diff --git a/GNUmakefile.in b/GNUmakefile.in
index 96b367e6..a99b03b9 100644
--- a/GNUmakefile.in
+++ b/GNUmakefile.in
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 OBJ=crawler.o rdup.o gfunc.o getdelim.o signal.o usage.o sha1.o regexp.o abspath.o link.o reverse.o
 OBJ_TR=rdup-tr.o signal.o getdelim.o usage-tr.o child.o entry.o link.o
-OBJ_UP=rdup-up.o entry.o usage-up.o signal.o link.o getdelim.o abspath.o rm.o fs-up.o strippath.o
+OBJ_UP=rdup-up.o entry.o usage-up.o signal.o link.o getdelim.o abspath.o rm.o fs-up.o strippath.o mkpath.o
 HDR=rdup.h rdup-tr.h rdup-up.h io.h
 CMD=rdup rdup-tr rdup-up
 # installs to /usr/lib/rdup
diff --git a/mkpath.c b/mkpath.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ec530f53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mkpath.c
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+/* Function with behaviour like `mkdir -p'  */
+/* From: http://niallohiggins.com/2009/01/08/mkpath-mkdir-p-alike-in-c-for-unix/ 
+ * with some tweaks
+ * libglib'i'fied by Miek Gieben
+ */
+
+#include "rdup-up.h"
+
+int
+mkpath(const char *s, mode_t mode)
+{
+        char *q, *r = NULL, *path = NULL, *up = NULL;
+        int rv;
+ 
+        rv = -1;
+        if (strcmp(s, ".") == 0 || strcmp(s, "/") == 0)
+                return 0;
+ 
+        if ((path = g_strdup(s)) == NULL)
+                return -1;
+ 
+        if ((q = g_strdup(s)) == NULL)
+                return -1;
+ 
+        if ((r = dirname(q)) == NULL)
+                goto out;
+ 
+        if ((up = g_strdup(r)) == NULL)
+                return -1;
+ 
+        if ((mkpath(up, mode) == -1) && (errno != EEXIST))
+                goto out;
+ 
+        if ((mkdir(path, mode) == -1) && (errno != EEXIST))
+                rv = -1;
+        else
+                rv = 0;
+ 
+out:
+        if (up != NULL)
+                free(up);
+        free(q);
+        free(path);
+        return (rv);
+}
diff --git a/rdup-up.c b/rdup-up.c
index f9bf8806..bbe2bf0c 100644
--- a/rdup-up.c
+++ b/rdup-up.c
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ gint opt_verbose 	   = 0;                         /* be more verbose */
 gint opt_output		   = O_RDUP;			/* set these 2 so we can use parse_entry */
 gint opt_input	           = I_RDUP;
 gboolean opt_dry	   = FALSE;			/* don't touch the filesystem */
-gboolean opt_top	   = FALSE;			/* create top dir is it does not exist */
+gboolean opt_top	   = FALSE;			/* create top dir if it does not exist */
 sig_atomic_t sig           = 0;
 GSList *hlink		   = NULL;			/* save hardlink for post processing */		
 /* signal.c */
@@ -175,15 +175,16 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 	else
 		path = abspath(argv[0]);
 
-	if (!g_file_test(path, G_FILE_TEST_IS_DIR)) {
-		if (!opt_top) {
+
+	if (opt_top) {
+		if (mkpath(path, 00777) == -1) {
+			msg("Failed to create directory `%s\': %s", path, strerror(errno));
+			exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+		}
+	} else {
+		if (!g_file_test(path, G_FILE_TEST_IS_DIR)) {
 			msg("No such directory: `%s\'", path);
 			exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
-		} else {
-			if (mkdir(path, 00777) == -1) {
-				msg("Failed to create directory `%s\': %s", path, strerror(errno));
-				exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
-			}
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/rdup-up.h.in b/rdup-up.h.in
index d735c8a2..ddf18172 100644
--- a/rdup-up.h.in
+++ b/rdup-up.h.in
@@ -86,4 +86,6 @@ gboolean mk_obj(FILE *in, char *p, struct r_entry *e, guint strip);
 /* strippath.c */
 char * strippath(char *path, guint n);
 
+/* mkpath.c */
+int mkpath(const char *path, mode_t mode);
 #endif  /* _RDUP_UP_H */
diff --git a/sh/rdup-simple.sh b/sh/rdup-simple.sh
index 24a907ae..0b054b5a 100755
--- a/sh/rdup-simple.sh
+++ b/sh/rdup-simple.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # updates a hardlinked backup
 # licensed under the GPL version 3
 # Copyright Miek Gieben, 2007 - 2009
-# rewritten for rdup-up + rdup-tr
+# rewritten for rdup-up and rdup-tr
 #{exec_prefix} XXX todo?
 
 echo2() {
@@ -160,9 +160,9 @@ LIST=$etc/list.${HOSTNAME}.${dest//\//_}
 
 # create our command line
 if [[ -z $ssh ]]; then
-        pipe="rdup-tr$trans | rdup-up$OPT $BACKUPDIR/$NOW"
+        pipe="rdup-tr$trans | rdup-up$OPT -t $BACKUPDIR/$NOW"
 else
-        pipe="rdup-tr$trans | $ssh rdup-up$OPT $BACKUPDIR/$NOW"
+        pipe="rdup-tr$trans | $ssh rdup-up$OPT -t $BACKUPDIR/$NOW"
 fi
 cmd="rdup$E$x$l -N $STAMP $LIST $DIRS | $pipe"