diff --git a/testing_support/gerrit-init.sh b/testing_support/gerrit-init.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..83d617161a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing_support/gerrit-init.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Copyright (c) 2013 The Chromium Authors. All rights reserved.
+# Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
+# found in the LICENSE file.
+
+if [ -n "$1" ]; then
+  rundir="$1"
+else
+  rundir=$(mktemp -d)
+fi
+
+account_id=101
+full_name='Test Account'
+maximum_page_size='25'
+password='test-password'
+preferred_email="${username}@test.org"
+registered_on=$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.000%:::z')
+username='test-username'
+
+# The python code below for picking the "latest" gerrit release is cribbed and
+# ported from the javascript at:
+#
+#     http://gerrit-releases.storage.googleapis.com/index.html
+url='https://www.googleapis.com/storage/v1beta2/b/gerrit-releases/o?projection=noAcl'
+curl --ssl-reqd -s $url | python <(cat <<EOF
+# Reads json-encoded text from stdin in the format:
+#
+#    {
+#     "items": [
+#      {
+#       "name": "gerrit-<version>.war",
+#       "md5Hash": "<base64 encoded md5sum>",
+#      },
+#      {
+#       "name": "gerrit-<version>.war",
+#       "md5Hash": "<base64 encoded md5sum>",
+#      },
+#      ...
+#    }
+#
+# ...and prints the name and md5sum of the latest non-release-candidate version.
+
+import json
+import re
+import sys
+
+gerrit_re = re.compile('gerrit(?:-full)?-([0-9.]+(?:-rc[0-9]+)?)[.]war')
+j = json.load(sys.stdin)
+items = [(x, gerrit_re.match(x['name'])) for x in j['items']]
+items = [(x, m.group(1)) for x, m in items if m]
+def _cmp(a, b):
+  an = a[1].replace('-rc', '.rc').split('.')
+  bn = b[1].replace('-rc', '.rc').split('.')
+  while len(an) < len(bn):
+    an.append('0')
+  while len(bn) < len(an):
+    bn.append('0')
+  for i in range(len(an)):
+    ai = int(an[i][2:]) if 'rc' in an[i] else 1000 + int(an[i])
+    bi = int(bn[i][2:]) if 'rc' in bn[i] else 1000 + int(bn[i])
+    if ai != bi:
+      return -1 if ai > bi else 1
+  return 0
+items.sort(cmp=_cmp)
+for x in items:
+  if 'rc' not in x[0]['name']:
+    print '"%s" "%s"' % (x[0]['name'], x[0]['md5Hash'])
+    sys.exit(0)
+EOF
+) | xargs | while read name md5; do
+  # Download the latest gerrit version if necessary, and verify the md5sum.
+  net_sum=$(echo -n $md5 | base64 -d | od -tx1 | head -1 | cut -d ' ' -f 2- |
+            sed 's/ //g')
+  if [ -f "./$name" ]; then
+    file_sum=$(md5sum "./$name" | awk '{print $1}' | xargs)
+    if [ "$file_sum" = "$net_sum" ]; then
+      ln -sf "./$name" gerrit.war
+      break
+    else
+      rm -rf "./$name"
+    fi
+  fi
+  curl --ssl-reqd -s -o "./$name" \
+      "https://gerrit-releases.storage.googleapis.com/$name"
+  file_sum=$(md5sum "./$name" | awk '{print $1}' | xargs)
+  if [ "$file_sum" != "$net_sum" ]; then
+    echo "ERROR: md5sum mismatch when downloading $name" 1>&2
+    rm -rf "./$name"
+    exit 1
+  else
+    ln -sf "./$name" gerrit.war
+  fi
+done
+
+if [ ! -e "./gerrit.war" ]; then
+  echo "ERROR: No gerrit.war file or link present, and unable " 1>&2
+  echo "       to download the latest version." 1>&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+# By default, gerrit only accepts https connections, which is a good thing.  But
+# for testing, it's convenient to enable plain http.
+mkdir -p "${rundir}/etc"
+cat <<EOF > "${rundir}/etc/gerrit.config"
+[auth]
+	type = http
+	gitBasicAuth = true
+EOF
+
+# Initialize the gerrit instance.
+java -jar "./gerrit.war" init --no-auto-start --batch -d "${rundir}"
+
+# Set up the first user, with admin priveleges.
+cat <<EOF | java -jar "./gerrit.war" gsql -d "${rundir}" > /dev/null
+INSERT INTO ACCOUNTS (FULL_NAME, MAXIMUM_PAGE_SIZE, PREFERRED_EMAIL, REGISTERED_ON, ACCOUNT_ID) VALUES ('${full_name}', ${maximum_page_size}, '${preferred_email}', '${registered_on}', ${account_id});
+INSERT INTO ACCOUNT_EXTERNAL_IDS (ACCOUNT_ID, EXTERNAL_ID) VALUES (${account_id}, 'gerrit:${username}');
+INSERT INTO ACCOUNT_EXTERNAL_IDS (ACCOUNT_ID, EXTERNAL_ID) VALUES (${account_id}, 'username:${username}');
+INSERT INTO ACCOUNT_EXTERNAL_IDS (ACCOUNT_ID, EMAIL_ADDRESS, PASSWORD) VALUES (${account_id}, '${preferred_email}', '${password}');
+INSERT INTO ACCOUNT_GROUP_MEMBERS (ACCOUNT_ID, GROUP_ID) VALUES (${account_id}, 1);
+EOF
+
+# Create a netrc file to authenticate as the first user.
+mkdir -p "${rundir}/tmp"
+cat <<EOF > "${rundir}/tmp/.netrc"
+machine localhost login ${username} password ${password}
+EOF
+
+echo
+echo "To start gerrit server:"
+echo "  ${rundir}/bin/gerrit.sh start"
+echo
+echo "To use the REST API:"
+echo "  curl --netrc-file ${rundir}/tmp/.netrc http://localhost:8080/<endpoint>"
+echo
+echo "To stop the server:"
+echo "  ${rundir}/bin/gerrit.sh stop"
+echo