diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0275a31..794a2a4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ In particular the branch name, difference with remote branch, number of files st
 
 (an original idea from this [blog post][]).
 
+`gitstatus.sh` added by [AKS](http://github.com/aks).
+
 ## Examples
 
 The prompt may look like the following: 
@@ -53,9 +55,13 @@ The symbols are as follows:
 ## Configuration
 
 1. You can use ``GIT_PROMPT_START`` and ``GIT_PROMPT_END`` to tweak your prompt
-2. If you want to tweak the colors,
-   currently you have to tweak it in the ``gitprompt.sh``
-3. You can define ``prompt_callback`` function to tweak your prompt dynamicly
+2. If you want to tweak the colors, currently you have to tweak it in the
+   ``gitprompt.sh``.  See the definitions of ``GIT_PROMPT_xxx1``, which include
+   various colors names.
+3. The current git repo information is obtained by the script `gitstatus.sh` or
+   `gitstatus.py`.  Both scripts do the same thing, but the bash script is a
+   tad bit more quick, and is used by default.
+4. You can define ``prompt_callback`` function to tweak your prompt dynamicaly
 
 ```sh
 function prompt_callback {
diff --git a/gitprompt.sh b/gitprompt.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 7d6cd3e..de6fa98
--- a/gitprompt.sh
+++ b/gitprompt.sh
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ function git_prompt_config()
   local White='\[\033[37m\]'
   local Red="\[\033[0;31m\]"
   local Blue="\[\033[0;34m\]"
+  local Cyan="\[\033[0;36m\]"
 
   # Default values for the appearance of the prompt. Configure at will.
   GIT_PROMPT_PREFIX="["
@@ -52,8 +53,8 @@ function git_prompt_config()
   GIT_PROMPT_CONFLICTS="${Red}✖ "
   GIT_PROMPT_CHANGED="${Blue}✚ "
   GIT_PROMPT_REMOTE=" "
-  GIT_PROMPT_UNTRACKED="…"
-  GIT_PROMPT_STASHED="⚑ "
+  GIT_PROMPT_UNTRACKED="${Cyan}…"
+  GIT_PROMPT_STASHED="${BoldBlue}⚑ "
   GIT_PROMPT_CLEAN="${BoldGreen}✔"
 
   # Various variables you might want for your PS1 prompt instead
@@ -81,7 +82,17 @@ function git_prompt_config()
   if [ "x$__GIT_STATUS_CMD" == "x" ]
   then
     git_prompt_dir
-    __GIT_STATUS_CMD="${__GIT_PROMPT_DIR}/gitstatus.py"
+    local sfx file
+    # look first for a '.sh' version, then use the python version
+    for sfx in sh py ; do
+      file="${__GIT_PROMPT_DIR}/gitstatus.$sfx"
+      if [[ -x "$file" ]]; then
+        __GIT_STATUS_CMD="$file"
+        break
+      fi
+    done
+    # The old way
+    #__GIT_STATUS_CMD="${__GIT_PROMPT_DIR}/gitstatus.py"
   fi
 }
 
diff --git a/gitstatus.sh b/gitstatus.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..d290e07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gitstatus.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+#/bin/bash
+# -*- coding: UTF-8 -*-
+# gitstatus.sh -- produce the current git repo status on STDOUT
+# Functionally equivalent to 'gitstatus.py', but written in bash (not python).
+#
+# Alan K. Stebbens <aks@stebbens.org> [http://github.com/aks]
+
+# change those symbols to whatever you prefer
+declare -a symbols
+symbols['ahead']='↑·'
+symbols['behind']='↓·'
+symbols['prehash']=':'
+
+gitsym=`git symbolic-ref HEAD`
+
+# if "fatal: Not a git repo .., then exit
+case "$gitsym" in fatal*) exit 0 ;; esac
+
+# the current branch is the tail end of the symbolic reference
+branch="${gitsym##*/}"    # get the basename after "refs/head/"
+
+tmp="/tmp/$$-gitstatus.out"
+trap "rm -f \"$tmp\"" EXIT
+
+status=`git diff --name-status >$tmp`
+
+# if the diff is fatal, exit now
+if grep -s "^fatal:" $tmp 2>/dev/null ; then
+  exit
+fi
+
+# count_lines U
+count_lines() { egrep -c "^$1" <$tmp ; }
+
+num_changed=$(( `wc -l <$tmp` - `count_lines U` ))
+
+staged_files=`git diff --staged --name-status >$tmp`
+num_conflicts=`count_lines U`
+num_staged=$(( `wc -l <$tmp` - num_conflicts ))
+num_untracked=`git status -s -uall | grep -c "^??"`
+num_stashed=`git stash list | wc -l`
+
+clean=0
+if (( num_changed == 0 && num_staged == 0 && num_U == 0 && num_untracked == 0 && num_stashed == 0 )) ; then
+  clean=1
+fi
+
+remote=
+
+if [[ -z "$branch" ]]; then
+  tag=`git describe --exact-match`
+  if [[ -n "$tag" ]]; then
+    branch="$tag"
+  else
+    branch="${symbols['prehash']}`git rev-parse --short HEAD`"
+  fi
+else
+  remote_name=`git config branch.${branch}.remote`
+  if [[ -n "$remote_name" ]]; then
+    merge_name=`git config branch.${branch}.merge`
+  else
+    remote_name='origin'
+    merge_name="refs/heads/${branch}"
+  fi
+  if [[ "$remote_name" == '.' ]]; then
+    remote_ref="$merge_name"
+  else
+    remote_ref="refs/remotes/$remote_name/${merge_name##*/}"
+  fi
+  # get the revision list, and count the leading "<" and ">"
+  revgit=`git rev-list --left-right ${remote_ref}...HEAD >$tmp`
+  num_revs=`wc -l <$tmp`
+  num_ahead=`count_lines "^>"`
+  num_behind=$(( num_revs - num_ahead ))
+  if (( num_behind > 0 )) ; then
+    remote="${remote}${symbols['behind']}${num_behind}"
+  fi
+  if (( num_ahead > 0 )) ; then
+    remote="${remote}${symbols['ahead']}${num_ahead}"
+  fi
+fi
+if [[ -z "$remote" ]] ; then
+  remote='.'
+fi
+
+for w in "$branch" "$remote" $num_staged $num_conflicts $num_changed $num_untracked $num_stashed $clean ; do
+  echo "$w"
+done
+
+exit