diff --git a/python/change_paths.py b/python/change_paths.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0cff60459
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/change_paths.py
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+import fnmatch,os,string,sys
+
+def add_directory(dirname):
+    parent = os.path.dirname(dirname)
+    if not os.path.exists(parent) and parent != '':
+        add_directory(parent)
+    if not os.path.exists(dirname):
+        print 'creating directory',dirname
+        os.makedirs(dirname)
+        os.system('svn add %s'%dirname)
+
+def remove_directory(dirname):
+    if os.path.exists(dirname):
+        print 'removing directory',dirname
+        os.system('svn rm %s'%dirname)
+#        os.system('rm -rf %s'%dirname)
+
+def move_file(source_filename,target_filename):
+    print 'moving %s to %s' % (source_filename,target_filename)
+    os.system('svn mv %s %s'%(source_filename,target_filename))    
+#    os.system('mv %s %s'%(source_filename,target_filename))    
+
+target_public = 'public'
+target_private = 'private'
+
+base_excludes = ['.svn','archive','tribble','integrationtests','settings',target_public,target_private]
+private_paths = ['playground','oneoffprojects','oneoffs','archive','analysis','alignment','bwa','c','lua','matlab','perl','python','ruby','R','shell']
+paths_to_trim = ['playground','oneoffprojects','oneoffs']
+source_extensions = ['*.java','*.scala']
+
+def intersect(a,b):
+    return list(set(a) & set(b))
+
+def is_source_file(file):
+    for source_extension in source_extensions:
+        if fnmatch.fnmatch(file,source_extension):
+            return True
+    return False
+
+def modify_path(path):
+    tokens = path.split('/')
+    # compute proper target path: public or private?
+    if(intersect(tokens,private_paths)):
+        # kill private directory indicator only if private directory indicator is not the first element in the path.
+        modified_tokens = [token for token in tokens if token not in paths_to_trim]
+        return string.join(modified_tokens,'/').replace('./',target_private+'/')
+    else:
+        return path.replace('./',target_public+'/')
+
+add_directory(target_public)
+add_directory(target_private)
+
+# just move archive wholesale; don't worry about processing at this point.
+move_file('archive',target_private)
+
+for root,dirs,files in os.walk('.'):
+    # filter out non-processed files from root directory and base_excludes
+    tokens = string.split(root,'/')
+    if len(tokens) == 1:
+        continue
+    if len(intersect(tokens,base_excludes)) > 0:
+        continue
+
+    # handle file move
+    for file in ["%s/%s"%(root,file) for file in files]:
+        modified_path = modify_path(file)
+        dirname = os.path.dirname(modified_path)
+        add_directory(dirname)
+        move_file(file,dirname)
+
+# handle source code modification
+for root,dirs,files in os.walk('.'):
+    # process only public and private directories
+    if not (root.startswith('./'+target_public) or root.startswith('./'+target_private)):
+        continue
+    for file in ["%s/%s"%(root,file) for file in files if is_source_file(file)]:
+        f = open(file,'r')
+        lines = f.readlines()
+        for i in range(len(lines)):
+            line = lines[i]
+            if line.startswith('package') or line.startswith('import'):
+                tokens = line.split('.')
+                if intersect(tokens,private_paths):
+                    tokens = [token for token in tokens if token not in paths_to_trim]
+                    modified_line = string.join(tokens,'.')
+                    print "%s: '%s' => '%s'" % (file,line.rstrip(),modified_line.rstrip())
+                    lines[i] = modified_line
+        f.close()
+        f = open(file,'w')
+        f.writelines(lines)
+        f.close()
+
+for file in os.listdir('.'):
+    if os.path.isdir(file) and not file in base_excludes and not file.startswith(target_public) and not file.startswith(target_private):
+        remove_directory(file)