diff --git a/install/solana-install-init.sh b/install/solana-install-init.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2b5939f8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/install/solana-install-init.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,173 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# Copyright 2016 The Rust Project Developers. See the COPYRIGHT
+# file at the top-level directory of this distribution and at
+# http://rust-lang.org/COPYRIGHT.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 <LICENSE-APACHE or
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0> or the MIT license
+# <LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT>, at your
+# option. This file may not be copied, modified, or distributed
+# except according to those terms.
+
+# This is just a little script that can be downloaded from the internet to
+# install solana-install. It just does platform detection, downloads the installer
+# and runs it.
+
+
+if [ -z "$SOLANA_DOWNLOAD_ROOT" ]; then
+    SOLANA_DOWNLOAD_ROOT="https://github.com/solana-labs/solana/releases/download/"
+fi
+GH_LATEST_RELEASE="https://api.github.com/repos/solana-labs/solana/releases/latest"
+
+set -e
+
+usage() {
+    cat 1>&2 <<EOF
+solana-install-init
+initializes a new installation
+
+USAGE:
+    solana-install-init [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] --data_dir <PATH> --pubkey <PUBKEY>
+
+FLAGS:
+    -h, --help              Prints help information
+        --no-modify-path    Don't configure the PATH environment variable
+
+OPTIONS:
+    -d, --data_dir <PATH>    Directory to store install data
+    -u, --url <URL>          JSON RPC URL for the solana cluster
+    -p, --pubkey <PUBKEY>    Public key of the update manifest
+EOF
+}
+
+main() {
+    downloader --check
+    need_cmd uname
+    need_cmd mktemp
+    need_cmd chmod
+    need_cmd mkdir
+    need_cmd rm
+    need_cmd rmdir
+    need_cmd sed
+    need_cmd grep
+
+    for arg in "$@"; do
+      case "$arg" in
+        -h|--help)
+          usage
+          exit 0
+          ;;
+        *)
+          ;;
+      esac
+    done
+
+    case "$(uname)" in
+    Linux)
+      TARGET=x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
+      ;;
+    # Darwin)
+    #   TARGET=x86_64-apple-darwin
+    #   ;;
+    *)
+      err "machine architecture is currently unsupported"
+      ;;
+    esac
+
+    temp_dir="$(mktemp -d 2>/dev/null || ensure mktemp -d -t solana-install)"
+    ensure mkdir -p "$temp_dir"
+
+    # Check for SOLANA_RELEASE environment variable override.  Otherwise fetch
+    # the latest release tag from github
+    if [ -n "$SOLANA_RELEASE" ]; then
+      release="$SOLANA_RELEASE"
+    else
+      release_file="$temp_dir/release"
+      printf 'looking for latest release\n' 1>&2
+      ensure downloader "$GH_LATEST_RELEASE" "$release_file"
+      release=$(\
+        grep -m 1 \"tag_name\": "$release_file" \
+        | sed -ne 's/^ *"tag_name": "\([^"]*\)",$/\1/p' \
+      )
+      if [ -z "$release" ]; then
+        err 'Unable to figure latest release'
+      fi
+    fi
+
+    download_url="$SOLANA_DOWNLOAD_ROOT/$release/solana-install-$TARGET"
+    solana_install="$temp_dir/solana-install-init"
+
+    printf 'downloading %s installer\n' "$release" 1>&2
+
+    ensure mkdir -p "$temp_dir"
+    ensure downloader "$download_url" "$solana_install"
+    ensure chmod u+x "$solana_install"
+    if [ ! -x "$solana_install" ]; then
+        printf '%s\n' "Cannot execute $solana_install (likely because of mounting /tmp as noexec)." 1>&2
+        printf '%s\n' "Please copy the file to a location where you can execute binaries and run ./solana-install-init." 1>&2
+        exit 1
+    fi
+
+    ignore "$solana_install" init "$@"
+    retval=$?
+
+    ignore rm "$solana_install"
+    ignore rmdir "$temp_dir"
+
+    return "$retval"
+}
+
+err() {
+    printf 'solana-install-init: %s\n' "$1" >&2
+    exit 1
+}
+
+need_cmd() {
+    if ! check_cmd "$1"; then
+        err "need '$1' (command not found)"
+    fi
+}
+
+check_cmd() {
+    command -v "$1" > /dev/null 2>&1
+}
+
+# Run a command that should never fail. If the command fails execution
+# will immediately terminate with an error showing the failing
+# command.
+ensure() {
+    if ! "$@"; then
+      err "command failed: $*"
+    fi
+}
+
+# This is just for indicating that commands' results are being
+# intentionally ignored. Usually, because it's being executed
+# as part of error handling.
+ignore() {
+    "$@"
+}
+
+# This wraps curl or wget. Try curl first, if not installed,
+# use wget instead.
+downloader() {
+    if check_cmd curl; then
+        program=curl
+    elif check_cmd wget; then
+        program=wget
+    else
+        program='curl or wget' # to be used in error message of need_cmd
+    fi
+
+    if [ "$1" = --check ]; then
+        need_cmd "$program"
+    elif [ "$program" = curl ]; then
+        curl -sSfL "$1" -o "$2"
+    elif [ "$program" = wget ]; then
+        wget "$1" -O "$2"
+    else
+        err "Unknown downloader"   # should not reach here
+    fi
+}
+
+main "$@"