diff --git a/django/contrib/auth/create_superuser.py b/django/contrib/auth/create_superuser.py
index 7b6cefd268..8d13a7916a 100644
--- a/django/contrib/auth/create_superuser.py
+++ b/django/contrib/auth/create_superuser.py
@@ -1,94 +1,8 @@
 """
-Helper function for creating superusers in the authentication system.
-
-If run from the command line, this module lets you create a superuser
-interactively.
+Create a superuser from the command line. Deprecated; use manage.py
+createsuperuser instead.
 """
 
-from django.core import validators
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User
-import getpass
-import os
-import sys
-import re
-
-RE_VALID_USERNAME = re.compile('\w+$')
-
-def createsuperuser(username=None, email=None, password=None):
-    """
-    Helper function for creating a superuser from the command line. All
-    arguments are optional and will be prompted-for if invalid or not given.
-    """
-    try:
-        import pwd
-    except ImportError:
-        default_username = ''
-    else:
-        # Determine the current system user's username, to use as a default.
-        default_username = pwd.getpwuid(os.getuid())[0].replace(' ', '').lower()
-
-    # Determine whether the default username is taken, so we don't display
-    # it as an option.
-    if default_username:
-        try:
-            User.objects.get(username=default_username)
-        except User.DoesNotExist:
-            pass
-        else:
-            default_username = ''
-
-    try:
-        while 1:
-            if not username:
-                input_msg = 'Username'
-                if default_username:
-                    input_msg += ' (Leave blank to use %r)' % default_username
-                username = raw_input(input_msg + ': ')
-            if default_username and username == '':
-                username = default_username
-            if not RE_VALID_USERNAME.match(username):
-                sys.stderr.write("Error: That username is invalid. Use only letters, digits and underscores.\n")
-                username = None
-                continue
-            try:
-                User.objects.get(username=username)
-            except User.DoesNotExist:
-                break
-            else:
-                sys.stderr.write("Error: That username is already taken.\n")
-                username = None
-        while 1:
-            if not email:
-                email = raw_input('E-mail address: ')
-            try:
-                validators.isValidEmail(email, None)
-            except validators.ValidationError:
-                sys.stderr.write("Error: That e-mail address is invalid.\n")
-                email = None
-            else:
-                break
-        while 1:
-            if not password:
-                password = getpass.getpass()
-                password2 = getpass.getpass('Password (again): ')
-                if password != password2:
-                    sys.stderr.write("Error: Your passwords didn't match.\n")
-                    password = None
-                    continue
-            if password.strip() == '':
-                sys.stderr.write("Error: Blank passwords aren't allowed.\n")
-                password = None
-                continue
-            break
-    except KeyboardInterrupt:
-        sys.stderr.write("\nOperation cancelled.\n")
-        sys.exit(1)
-    u = User.objects.create_user(username, email, password)
-    u.is_staff = True
-    u.is_active = True
-    u.is_superuser = True
-    u.save()
-    print "Superuser created successfully."
-
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    createsuperuser()
+    from django.core.management import call_command
+    call_command("createuseruser")
diff --git a/django/contrib/auth/management.py b/django/contrib/auth/management/__init__.py
similarity index 79%
rename from django/contrib/auth/management.py
rename to django/contrib/auth/management/__init__.py
index 2b4cb8bd19..5f9908be5f 100644
--- a/django/contrib/auth/management.py
+++ b/django/contrib/auth/management/__init__.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ def create_permissions(app, created_models, verbosity):
 
 def create_superuser(app, created_models, verbosity, **kwargs):
     from django.contrib.auth.models import User
-    from django.contrib.auth.create_superuser import createsuperuser as do_create
+    from django.core.management import call_command
     if User in created_models and kwargs.get('interactive', True):
         msg = "\nYou just installed Django's auth system, which means you don't have " \
                 "any superusers defined.\nWould you like to create one now? (yes/no): "
@@ -42,8 +42,10 @@ def create_superuser(app, created_models, verbosity, **kwargs):
                 confirm = raw_input('Please enter either "yes" or "no": ')
                 continue
             if confirm == 'yes':
-                do_create()
+                call_command("createsuperuser")
             break
 
-dispatcher.connect(create_permissions, signal=signals.post_syncdb)
-dispatcher.connect(create_superuser, sender=auth_app, signal=signals.post_syncdb)
+if 'create_permissions' not in [i.__name__ for i in dispatcher.getAllReceivers(signal=signals.post_syncdb)]:
+    dispatcher.connect(create_permissions, signal=signals.post_syncdb)
+if 'create_superuser' not in [i.__name__ for i in dispatcher.getAllReceivers(signal=signals.post_syncdb, sender=auth_app)]:
+    dispatcher.connect(create_superuser, sender=auth_app, signal=signals.post_syncdb)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/django/contrib/auth/management/commands/__init__.py b/django/contrib/auth/management/commands/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/django/contrib/auth/management/commands/createsuperuser.py b/django/contrib/auth/management/commands/createsuperuser.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ab6bd78d18
--- /dev/null
+++ b/django/contrib/auth/management/commands/createsuperuser.py
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+"""
+Management utility to create superusers.
+"""
+
+import getpass
+import os
+import re
+import sys
+from optparse import make_option
+from django.contrib.auth.models import User, UNUSABLE_PASSWORD
+from django.core import validators
+from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand, CommandError
+
+RE_VALID_USERNAME = re.compile('\w+$')
+
+class Command(BaseCommand):
+    option_list = BaseCommand.option_list + (
+        make_option('--username', dest='username', default=None,
+            help='Specifies the username for the superuser.'),
+        make_option('--email', dest='email', default=None,
+            help='Specifies the email address for the superuser.'),
+        make_option('--noinput', action='store_false', dest='interactive', default=True,
+            help='Tells Django to NOT prompt the user for input of any kind. '    \
+                 'You must use --username and --email with --noinput, and '      \
+                 'superusers created with --noinput will not be able to log in '  \
+                 'until they\'re given a valid password.'),
+    )
+    help = 'Used to create a superuser.'
+
+    def handle(self, *args, **options):
+        username = options.get('username', None)
+        email = options.get('email', None)
+        interactive = options.get('interactive')
+        
+        # Do quick and dirty validation if --noinput
+        if not interactive:
+            if not username or not email:
+                raise CommandError("You must use --username and --email with --noinput.")
+            if not RE_VALID_USERNAME.match(username):
+                raise CommandError("Invalid username. Use only letters, digits, and underscores")
+            try:
+                validators.isValidEmail(email, None)
+            except validators.ValidationError:
+                raise CommandError("Invalid email address.")
+            password = ''
+
+        # Try to determine the current system user's username to use as a default.
+        try:
+            import pwd
+        except ImportError:
+            default_username = ''
+        else:
+            default_username = pwd.getpwuid(os.getuid())[0].replace(' ', '').lower()
+
+        # Determine whether the default username is taken, so we don't display
+        # it as an option.
+        if default_username:
+            try:
+                User.objects.get(username=default_username)
+            except User.DoesNotExist:
+                pass
+            else:
+                default_username = ''
+
+        # Prompt for username/email/password. Enclose this whole thing in a
+        # try/except to trap for a keyboard interrupt and exit gracefully.
+        if interactive:
+            try:
+            
+                # Get a username
+                while 1:
+                    if not username:
+                        input_msg = 'Username'
+                        if default_username:
+                            input_msg += ' (Leave blank to use %r)' % default_username
+                        username = raw_input(input_msg + ': ')
+                    if default_username and username == '':
+                        username = default_username
+                    if not RE_VALID_USERNAME.match(username):
+                        sys.stderr.write("Error: That username is invalid. Use only letters, digits and underscores.\n")
+                        username = None
+                        continue
+                    try:
+                        User.objects.get(username=username)
+                    except User.DoesNotExist:
+                        break
+                    else:
+                        sys.stderr.write("Error: That username is already taken.\n")
+                        username = None
+            
+                # Get an email
+                while 1:
+                    if not email:
+                        email = raw_input('E-mail address: ')
+                    try:
+                        validators.isValidEmail(email, None)
+                    except validators.ValidationError:
+                        sys.stderr.write("Error: That e-mail address is invalid.\n")
+                        email = None
+                    else:
+                        break
+            
+                # Get a password
+                while 1:
+                    if not password:
+                        password = getpass.getpass()
+                        password2 = getpass.getpass('Password (again): ')
+                        if password != password2:
+                            sys.stderr.write("Error: Your passwords didn't match.\n")
+                            password = None
+                            continue
+                    if password.strip() == '':
+                        sys.stderr.write("Error: Blank passwords aren't allowed.\n")
+                        password = None
+                        continue
+                    break
+            except KeyboardInterrupt:
+                sys.stderr.write("\nOperation cancelled.\n")
+                sys.exit(1)
+        
+        User.objects.create_superuser(username, email, password)
+        print "Superuser created successfully."
diff --git a/django/contrib/auth/models.py b/django/contrib/auth/models.py
index c8670655d4..f74d1d7761 100644
--- a/django/contrib/auth/models.py
+++ b/django/contrib/auth/models.py
@@ -116,6 +116,13 @@ class UserManager(models.Manager):
         user.save()
         return user
 
+    def create_superuser(self, username, email, password):
+        u = self.create_user(username, email, password)
+        u.is_staff = True
+        u.is_active = True
+        u.is_superuser = True
+        u.save()
+
     def make_random_password(self, length=10, allowed_chars='abcdefghjkmnpqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTUVWXYZ23456789'):
         "Generates a random password with the given length and given allowed_chars"
         # Note that default value of allowed_chars does not have "I" or letters
diff --git a/django/contrib/auth/tests.py b/django/contrib/auth/tests.py
index d369ac524c..81094ca85f 100644
--- a/django/contrib/auth/tests.py
+++ b/django/contrib/auth/tests.py
@@ -35,4 +35,21 @@ False
 []
 >>> a.user_permissions.all()
 []
+
+#
+# Tests for createsuperuser management command.
+# It's nearly impossible to test the interactive mode -- a command test helper
+# would be needed (and *awesome*) -- so just test the non-interactive mode.
+# This covers most of the important validation, but not all.
+#
+>>> from django.core.management import call_command
+
+>>> call_command("createsuperuser", noinput=True, username="joe", email="joe@somewhere.org")
+Superuser created successfully.
+
+>>> u = User.objects.get(username="joe")
+>>> u.email
+u'joe@somewhere.org'
+>>> u.password
+u'!'
 """
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docs/authentication.txt b/docs/authentication.txt
index 79eaf673e7..8c5f5b7c3f 100644
--- a/docs/authentication.txt
+++ b/docs/authentication.txt
@@ -263,14 +263,25 @@ Creating superusers
 -------------------
 
 ``manage.py syncdb`` prompts you to create a superuser the first time you run
-it after adding ``'django.contrib.auth'`` to your ``INSTALLED_APPS``. But if
-you need to create a superuser after that via the command line, you can use the
-``create_superuser.py`` utility. Just run this command::
+it after adding ``'django.contrib.auth'`` to your ``INSTALLED_APPS``. If you need
+to create a superuser at a later date, you can use a command line utility.
+
+**New in Django development version.**::
+
+    manage.py createsuperuser --username=joe --email=joe@example.com
+
+You will be prompted for a password. Once entered, the user is created. If you
+leave off the ``--username`` or the ``--email`` option, It will prompt you for
+those values as well.
+
+If you're using an older release of Django, the old way of creating a superuser
+on the command line still works::
 
     python /path/to/django/contrib/auth/create_superuser.py
 
-Make sure to substitute ``/path/to/`` with the path to the Django codebase on
-your filesystem.
+Where ``/path/to`` is the path to the Django codebase on your filesystem. The
+``manage.py`` command is prefered since it'll figure out the correct path and
+environment for you.
 
 Storing additional information about users
 ------------------------------------------