diff --git a/doc/repo-add.8.txt b/doc/repo-add.8.txt
index 79b5a7ef..91f3ac6d 100644
--- a/doc/repo-add.8.txt
+++ b/doc/repo-add.8.txt
@@ -68,6 +68,10 @@ repo-add Options
 	specified packages. This is useful for creating databases listing all files
 	in a given sync repository for tools that may use this information.
 
+*-n, \--new*::
+	Only add packages that are not already in the database.  Warnings will be
+	printed upon detection of existing packages, but they will not be re-added.
+
 See Also
 --------
 linkman:makepkg[8], linkman:pacman[8], linkman:pkgdelta[8]
diff --git a/scripts/repo-add.sh.in b/scripts/repo-add.sh.in
index 5a3bf239..3e18a1a1 100644
--- a/scripts/repo-add.sh.in
+++ b/scripts/repo-add.sh.in
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ declare -r confdir='@sysconfdir@'
 
 QUIET=0
 DELTA=0
+ONLYADDNEW=0
 WITHFILES=0
 SIGN=0
 VERIFY=0
@@ -55,6 +56,7 @@ Multiple packages to add can be specified on the command line.\n")"
 		printf -- "\n"
 		printf -- "$(gettext "Options:\n")"
 		printf -- "$(gettext "  -d, --delta       generate and add delta for package update\n")"
+		printf -- "$(gettext "  -n, --new         only add packages that are not already in the database\n")"
 		printf -- "$(gettext "  -f, --files       update database's file list\n")"
 	elif [[ $cmd == "repo-remove" ]] ; then
 		printf -- "$(gettext "Usage: repo-remove [options] <path-to-db> <packagename|delta> ...\n")"
@@ -290,6 +292,9 @@ db_write_entry() {
 
 	if [[ -d $tmpdir/tree/$pkgname-$pkgver ]]; then
 		warning "$(gettext "An entry for '%s' already existed")" "$pkgname-$pkgver"
+		if (( ONLYADDNEW )); then
+			return 0;
+		fi
 	else
 		if (( DELTA )); then
 			pkgentry=$(find_pkgentry "$pkgname")
@@ -603,6 +608,7 @@ while (( $# )); do
 	case $1 in
 		-q|--quiet) QUIET=1;;
 		-d|--delta) DELTA=1;;
+		-n|--new) ONLYADDNEW=1;;
 		-f|--files) WITHFILES=1;;
 		-s|--sign)
 			check_gpg