diff --git a/hack/verify-boilerplate.sh b/hack/verify-boilerplate.sh
index 21cd75c848d..007f23a87f5 100755
--- a/hack/verify-boilerplate.sh
+++ b/hack/verify-boilerplate.sh
@@ -19,40 +19,37 @@ set -o nounset
 set -o pipefail
 
 KUBE_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")/..
+boiler="${KUBE_ROOT}/hooks/boilerplate.py"
 
 cd ${KUBE_ROOT}
 
-result=0
 find_files() {
+  local ext=$1
   find . -not \( \
       \( \
         -wholename './output' \
         -o -wholename './_output' \
         -o -wholename './release' \
         -o -wholename './target' \
+        -o -wholename './.git' \
         -o -wholename '*/third_party/*' \
         -o -wholename '*/Godeps/*' \
       \) -prune \
-    \) -name '*.go'
+    \) -name "*.${ext}"
 }
 
-for file in $(find_files); do
-  if [[ "$("${KUBE_ROOT}/hooks/boilerplate.sh" "${file}")" -eq "0" ]]; then
+files_need_boilerplate=()
+
+files=($(find_files "go"))
+files_need_boilerplate+=($(${boiler} "go" "${files[@]}"))
+
+files=($(find_files "sh"))
+files_need_boilerplate+=($(${boiler} "sh" "${files[@]}"))
+
+if [[ ${#files_need_boilerplate[@]} -gt 0 ]]; then
+  for file in "${files_need_boilerplate[@]}"; do
     echo "Boilerplate header is wrong for: ${file}"
-    result=1
-  fi
-done
-
-dirs=("cluster" "hack" "hooks" "build")
-
-for dir in ${dirs[@]}; do
-  for file in $(find "$dir" -name '*.sh'); do
-    if [[ "$("${KUBE_ROOT}/hooks/boilerplate.sh" "${file}")" -eq "0" ]]; then
-      echo "Boilerplate header is wrong for: ${file}"
-      result=1
-    fi
   done
-done
 
-
-exit ${result}
+  exit 1
+fi
diff --git a/hooks/boilerplate.py b/hooks/boilerplate.py
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..3b04c78420f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hooks/boilerplate.py
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+# Copyright 2015 The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+from __future__ import print_function
+
+import json
+import mmap
+import os
+import re
+import sys
+
+def PrintError(*err):
+  print(*err, file=sys.stderr)
+
+def file_passes(filename, extention, ref, regex):
+    try:
+        f = open(filename, 'r')
+    except:
+        return False
+
+    data = f.readlines()
+
+    # remove build tags from the top of Go file
+    if extention == "go":
+        while data[0] != "/*\n":
+            data = data[1:]
+
+    # if our test file is smaller than the reference it surely fails!
+    if len(ref) > len(data):
+        return False
+
+    # trim our file to the same number of lines as the reference file
+    data = data[:len(ref)]
+
+    # Replace all occurances of the regex "2015" with "2014"
+    for i, d in enumerate(data):
+        (data[i], found) = regex.subn( '2014', d)
+        if found != 0:
+            break
+
+    # if we don't match the reference at this point, fail
+    if ref != data:
+        return False
+
+    return True
+
+def main():
+    if len(sys.argv) < 3:
+        PrintError("usage: %s extension FILENAME [FILENAMES]" % sys.argv[0])
+        return False
+
+    basedir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
+
+    extention = sys.argv[1]
+    # argv[0] is the binary, argv[1] is the extension (go, sh, py, whatever)
+    filenames = sys.argv[2:]
+
+    ref_filename = basedir + "/boilerplate." + extention + ".txt"
+    try:
+        ref_file = open(ref_filename, 'r')
+    except:
+        # No boilerplate template is success
+        return True
+    ref = ref_file.readlines()
+
+    # dates can be 2014 or 2015, company holder names can be anything
+    p = re.compile( '(2014|2015)' )
+
+    for filename in filenames:
+        if not file_passes(filename, extention, ref, p):
+            print(filename, file=sys.stdout)
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+  sys.exit(main())
diff --git a/hooks/boilerplate.sh b/hooks/boilerplate.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 34b6cbf3928..00000000000
--- a/hooks/boilerplate.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,41 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-# Copyright 2014 The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-
-# Print 1 if the file in $1 has the correct boilerplate header, 0 otherwise.
-FILE=$1
-EXT=${FILE##*.}
-
-REF_FILE="$(dirname $0)/boilerplate.${EXT}.txt"
-
-if [ ! -e $REF_FILE ]; then
-  echo "1"
-  exit 0
-fi
-
-LINES=$(cat "${REF_FILE}" | wc -l | tr -d ' ')
-if [[ "${EXT}" == "go" ]]; then
-  # remove build tags from the top of Go file
-  DIFFER=$(cat "${FILE}" | sed '/\/\*/,$!d' | sed 's/2015/2014/g' | head "-${LINES}" | diff -q - "${REF_FILE}")
-else
-  DIFFER=$(head "-${LINES}" "${FILE}" | sed 's/2015/2014/g' | diff -q - "${REF_FILE}")
-fi
-
-if [[ -z "${DIFFER}" ]]; then
-  echo "1"
-  exit 0
-fi
-
-echo "0"
diff --git a/hooks/prepare-commit-msg b/hooks/prepare-commit-msg
index ee66b600139..80a29ab934f 100755
--- a/hooks/prepare-commit-msg
+++ b/hooks/prepare-commit-msg
@@ -5,28 +5,27 @@ KUBE_HOOKS_DIR="$(dirname "$(test -L "$0" && echo "$(dirname $0)/$(readlink "$0"
 files_need_gofmt=()
 files_need_boilerplate=()
 files_need_description=()
-for file in $(git diff --cached --name-only --diff-filter ACM | grep "\.go" | grep -v -e "third_party" -e "Godeps"); do
+
+files=($(git diff --cached --name-only --diff-filter ACM | grep "\.go" | grep -v -e "third_party" -e "Godeps"))
+for file in "${files[@]}"; do
   # Check for files that fail gofmt.
   diff="$(git show ":${file}" | gofmt -s -d)"
   if [[ -n "$diff" ]]; then
     files_need_gofmt+=("${file}")
   fi
-
-  # Check for files without the required boilerplate.
-  boilerplate=$("${KUBE_HOOKS_DIR}/boilerplate.sh" "${file}")
-  if [[ "$boilerplate" -eq "0" ]]; then
-    files_need_boilerplate+=("${file}")
-  fi
 done
 
-# Check sh files for boilerplate
-for file in $(git diff --cached --name-only --diff-filter ACM | grep "\.sh" | grep -v -e "third_party" -e "Godeps"); do
-  # Check for files without the required boilerplate.
-  boilerplate=$("${KUBE_HOOKS_DIR}/boilerplate.sh" "${file}")
-  if [[ "$boilerplate" -eq "0" ]]; then
-    files_need_boilerplate+=("${file}")
-  fi
-done
+boiler="${KUBE_HOOKS_DIR}/boilerplate.py"
+# Check for go files without the required boilerplate.
+if [[ ${#files[@]} -gt 0 ]]; then
+  files_need_boilerplate+=($("${boiler}" "go" "${files[@]}"))
+fi
+
+# Check for sh files without the required boilerplate.
+files=($(git diff --cached --name-only --diff-filter ACM | grep "\.sh" | grep -v -e "third_party" -e "Godeps"))
+if [[ ${#files[@]} -gt 0 ]]; then
+  files_need_boilerplate+=($("${boiler}" "sh" "${files[@]}"))
+fi
 
 # Check API schema definitions for field descriptions
 for file in $(git diff --cached --name-only --diff-filter ACM | egrep "pkg/api/v.[^/]*/types\.go" | grep -v "third_party"); do