diff --git a/django/contrib/auth/management/commands/changepassword.py b/django/contrib/auth/management/commands/changepassword.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..56448f1424
--- /dev/null
+++ b/django/contrib/auth/management/commands/changepassword.py
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand, CommandError
+from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+import getpass
+
+class Command(BaseCommand):
+    help = "Change a user's password for django.contrib.auth."
+
+    requires_model_validation = False
+
+    def _get_pass(self, prompt="Password: "):
+        p = getpass.getpass(prompt=prompt)
+        if not p:
+            raise CommandError("aborted")
+        return p
+
+    def handle(self, *args, **options):
+        if len(args) > 1:
+            raise CommandError("need exactly one or zero arguments for username")
+
+        if args:
+            username, = args
+        else:
+            username = getpass.getuser()
+
+        try:
+            u = User.objects.get(username=username)
+        except User.DoesNotExist:
+            raise CommandError("user '%s' does not exist" % username)
+
+        print "Changing password for user '%s'" % u.username
+
+        MAX_TRIES = 3
+        count = 0
+        p1, p2 = 1, 2  # To make them initially mismatch.
+        while p1 != p2 and count < MAX_TRIES:
+            p1 = self._get_pass()
+            p2 = self._get_pass("Password (again): ")
+            if p1 != p2:
+                print "Passwords do not match. Please try again."
+                count = count + 1
+
+        if count == MAX_TRIES:
+            raise CommandError("Aborting password change for user '%s' after %s attempts" % (username, count))
+
+        u.set_password(p1)
+        u.save()
+
+        return "Password changed successfully for user '%s'" % u.username
diff --git a/docs/topics/auth.txt b/docs/topics/auth.txt
index ab9d268fe1..0e7e264dc0 100644
--- a/docs/topics/auth.txt
+++ b/docs/topics/auth.txt
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ The auth system consists of:
 
 .. deprecated:: 1.2
    The Messages component of the auth system will be removed in Django 1.4.
- 
+
 Installation
 ============
 
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ Methods
     .. method:: models.User.has_perms(perm_list, obj=None)
 
         Returns ``True`` if the user has each of the specified permissions,
-        where each perm is in the format 
+        where each perm is in the format
         ``"<app label>.<permission codename>"``. If the user is inactive,
         this method will always return ``False``.
 
@@ -351,7 +351,18 @@ Django requires add *and* change permissions as a slight security measure.
 Changing passwords
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-Change a password with :meth:`~django.contrib.auth.models.User.set_password()`:
+.. versionadded:: 1.2
+   The ``manage.py change_password`` command was added.
+
+:djadmin:`manage.py change_password <username>` offers a method of
+changing a User's password from the command line. It prompts you to
+change the password of a given user which you must enter twice. If
+they both match, the new password will be changed immediately. If you
+do not supply a user, the command will attempt to change the password
+whose username matches the current user.
+
+You can also change a password programmatically, using
+:meth:`~django.contrib.auth.models.User.set_password()`:
 
 .. code-block:: python