diff --git a/scripts/download.sh b/scripts/download.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index ec206a5..1bfadc1
--- a/scripts/download.sh
+++ b/scripts/download.sh
@@ -1,8 +1,22 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 #
+# download.sh --
+#	Download a tarball from the specified URL to the specified target
+#	directory, untar it, and remove the tarball file.
+#
+#	Usage:  download.sh <url> <target_dir>
+#
+# where:
+#
+#	<url> is the URL of the repository to download, in gzipped tarball format
+#	<target_dir> is the local name to call the untarred directory.  The
+#		tarball will be downloaded to the directory above this,
+#		untarred while renaming to <target_dir>, and then the tarball
+#		file will be deleted.
+#
+
 # Neither curl or wget are guaranteed to be included in all *nix systems,
 # (but most have *one* of them). This tools tries its best to find one.
-#
 
 DL_CMD=
 if type "wget" > /dev/null; then
@@ -14,9 +28,18 @@
 fi
 
 if [ "$DL_CMD" = "" ]; then
-    echo "Either curl or wget are required to automatically install tools."
+    echo "ERROR: Either curl or wget are required to automatically install tools."
     exit 1
 fi
 
-echo "Downloading $1 to $2..."
-$DL_CMD $2 $1
+pdir=`dirname $2`
+mkdir -p $pdir
+cd $pdir
+
+echo "Downloading $1 to $2"
+$DL_CMD $2.tar.gz $1
+
+mkdir -p $2
+tar -xf $2.tar.gz --strip-components 1 -C $2
+rm $2.tar.gz
+exit 0