diff --git a/backupninja b/backupninja
index ac504d6..3943724 100755
--- a/backupninja
+++ b/backupninja
@@ -267,6 +267,8 @@ function process_action() {
 	getconf when "$defaultwhen"
 	if [ "$processnow" == 1 ]; then
 		info "running $file because of --now"
+	elif [ "$when" == "hourly" ]; then
+		debug "running $file because 'when = hourly'"
 	else
 		IFS=$'\t\n'
 		for w in $when; do
@@ -408,6 +410,7 @@ getconf GZIP /bin/gzip
 getconf RSYNC /usr/bin/rsync
 
 [ -d "$configdirectory" ] || fatal "Configuration directory '$configdirectory' not found."
+[ -f "$logfile" ] || touch $logfile
 
 if [ "$UID" != "0" ]; then
 	echo "$0 can only be run as root"
diff --git a/changelog b/changelog
index a13f2b2..520b7b6 100644
--- a/changelog
+++ b/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+version 0.5 -- April 12 2005
+    rdiff handler works when remote sshd has a banner
+    rdiff handler supports local dest 
+    logfile is created if it doesn't exist
+    added "when = hourly" 
+xxxx   fixed bug with 'when' option
+    added 'nice' to rdiff handler
+    fixed bug where actions were not run in numeric order.
+    
 version 0.4.4 -- March 18 2005
 	results of handlers are now read line by line. 
 	changes to rdiff handler: added "options", and "keep" is
diff --git a/etc/backup.d/example.rdiff b/etc/backup.d/example.rdiff
index 476cf5a..1fe31bb 100644
--- a/etc/backup.d/example.rdiff
+++ b/etc/backup.d/example.rdiff
@@ -2,6 +2,12 @@
 ## passed directly to rdiff-backup
 # options = --force
 
+## default is 0, but set to 19 if you want to lower the priority.
+# nicelevel = 19
+
+## default is yes. set to no to skip the test if the remote host is alive
+# testconnect = no
+
 ######################################################
 ## source section
 ## (where the files to be backed up are coming from)
@@ -18,6 +24,11 @@ type = local
 # (you can also use the time format of rdiff-backup, e.g. 6D5h)
 keep = 60
 
+# a note about includes and excludes:
+# all the excludes come after all the includes. 
+# otherwise, the order is not taken into account.
+# currently, you cannot do "include = /"
+
 # files to include in the backup
 # (supports globbing with '*')
 include = /var/spool/cron/crontabs
@@ -40,17 +51,18 @@ include = /var/lib/dpkg/status-old
 
 [dest]
 
-# only remote type is currently supported
+# default is remote, if set to 'local' then
+# ignore the 'host' and 'user' options.
 type = remote
 
-# the machine which will receive the backups
-host = backuphost
-
 # put the backups under this directory
 directory = /backups
 
+# the machine which will receive the backups
+host = backuphost
+
 # make the files owned by this user
 # note: you must be able to ssh backupuser@backhost
-# without specifying a password 
+# without specifying a password (if type = remote).
 user = backupuser
 
diff --git a/handlers/rdiff b/handlers/rdiff
index 730e660..61eb7f5 100644
--- a/handlers/rdiff
+++ b/handlers/rdiff
@@ -4,11 +4,12 @@
 #
 
 getconf options
+getconf testconnect yes
+getconf nicelevel 0
 
 setsection source
 getconf type; sourcetype=$type
 getconf label
-getconf user root; sourceuser=$user
 getconf keep 60
 getconf include
 getconf exclude
@@ -24,29 +25,31 @@ getconf user; destuser=$user
 getconf host; desthost=$host
 
 [ "$destdir" != "" ] || fatal "Destination directory not set"
-[ "$desttype" == "remote" ] || fatal "Only remote destinations are supported"
 
-# see if we can login
-debug "su $sourceuser -c \"ssh -o PasswordAuthentication=no $desthost -l $destuser 'echo -n 1'\""
-if [ ! $test ]; then
-	result=`su $sourceuser -c "ssh -o PasswordAuthentication=no $desthost -l $destuser 'echo -n 1'" 2>&1`
-	if [ "$result" != "1" ]; then
-		fatal "Can't connect to $desthost as $destuser."
+if [ "$desttype" == "remote" ]; then
+	# see if we can login
+	if [ "$testconnect" == "yes" ]; then
+		hostalive=0
+	    debug "ssh -o PasswordAuthentication=no $desthost -l $destuser 'echo -n 1'"
+		ret=`ssh -o PasswordAuthentication=no $desthost -l $destuser 'echo -n host is alive'`
+		if echo $ret | grep "host is alive"; then
+			debug "Connected to $desthost as $destuser successfully"
+		else
+			fatal "Can't connect to $desthost as $destuser."
+		fi
 	fi
-fi
-
-# see that rdiff-backup has the same version as here
-debug "su $sourceuser -c \"ssh $desthost -l $destuser '$RDIFFBACKUP -V'\""
-if [ ! $test ]; then
-	remoteversion=`su $sourceuser -c "ssh $desthost -l $destuser '$RDIFFBACKUP -V'" 2>&1`
+	# see that rdiff-backup has the same version as here
+	debug "ssh $desthost -l $destuser '$RDIFFBACKUP -V'\""
+	remoteversion=`ssh $desthost -l $destuser "$RDIFFBACKUP -V | grep rdiff-backup"`
 	localversion=`$RDIFFBACKUP -V`
 	if [ "$remoteversion" != "$localversion" ]; then
 		fatal "rdiff-backup does not have the same version on this computer and the backup server."
 	fi
+	execstr_serverpart="$destuser@$desthost::$destdir/$label"
+else
+	execstr_serverpart="$destdir/$label"
 fi
 
-execstr_serverpart="$destuser@$desthost::$destdir/$label"
-		
 ### SOURCE ###
 
 [ "$label" != "" ] || fatal "Source missing label"
@@ -67,9 +70,9 @@ if [ "$desttype" == "remote" ]; then
 fi
 removestr="${removestr}${destdir}/${label}";
 
-debug "su $sourceuser -c '$removestr'"
+debug "$removestr"
 if [ ! $test ]; then
-	output=`su $sourceuser -c "$removestr" 2>&1`
+	output=`$removestr 2>&1`
 	code=$?
 	if [ "$code" == "0" ]; then
 		debug $output
@@ -81,7 +84,7 @@ if [ ! $test ]; then
 fi
 
 ## EXECUTE ##
-	
+
 execstr="$RDIFFBACKUP $options --print-statistics "
 
 # TODO: order the includes and excludes
@@ -104,9 +107,9 @@ execstr="${execstr}--exclude '/*' "
 # include client-part and server-part
 execstr="${execstr}$execstr_clientpart $execstr_serverpart"
 
-debug "su $sourceuser -c '$execstr'"
+debug "$execstr"
 if [ ! $test ]; then
-	output=`su $sourceuser -c "$execstr" 2>&1`
+	output=`nice -n $nicelevel su -c "$execstr" 2>&1`
 	code=$?
 	if [ "$code" == "0" ]; then
 		debug $output