diff --git a/devtools/refresh-submodules.sh b/devtools/refresh-submodules.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..bedb8f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/devtools/refresh-submodules.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+#! /bin/sh
+
+if [ $# = 0 ]; then
+    echo "Usage: $0 <submoduledir1>..." >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# If no git dir (or, if we're a submodule, git file), forget it.
+[ -e .git ] || exit 0
+
+# git submodule can't run in parallel.  Really.
+# Wait for it to finish if in parallel.
+if ! mkdir .refresh-submodules 2>/dev/null ; then
+    # If we don't make progress in ~60 seconds, force delete and retry.
+    LIMIT=$((50 + $$ % 20))
+    i=0
+    while [ $i -lt $LIMIT ]; do
+	[ -d .refresh-submodules ] || exit 0
+	sleep 1
+	i=$((i + 1))
+    done
+    rmdir .refresh-submodules
+    exec "$0" "$@" || exit 1
+fi
+
+trap "rmdir .refresh-submodules" EXIT
+
+# Be a little careful here, since we do rm -rf!
+for m in "$@"; do
+    if ! grep -q "path = $m\$" .gitmodules; then
+	echo "$m is not a submodule!" >&2
+	exit 1
+    fi
+done
+
+# git submodule can segfault.  Really.
+if [ "$(git submodule status "$@" | grep -c '^ ')" != $# ]; then
+    echo Reinitializing submodules "$@" ...
+    git submodule sync "$@"
+    rm -rf "$@"
+    git submodule update --init --recursive "$@"
+fi