diff --git a/osc/commandline.py b/osc/commandline.py
index 2dfb7acc..307a9f47 100755
--- a/osc/commandline.py
+++ b/osc/commandline.py
@@ -1835,23 +1835,31 @@ class Osc(cmdln.Cmdln):
                   help='show email addresses instead of user names')
     @cmdln.option('-v', '--verbose', action='store_true',
                   help='show more information')
+    @cmdln.option('-a', '--add', metavar='user',
+                  help='add a new maintainer')
+    @cmdln.option('-d', '--delete', metavar='user',
+                  help='delete a maintainer from a project or package')
     def do_maintainer(self, subcmd, opts, *args):
         """${cmd_name}: Show maintainers of a project/package
     
         To be used like this:
     
-            osc maintainer PRJ
+            osc maintainer PRJ <options>
         or 
-            osc maintainer PRJ PKG
+            osc maintainer PRJ PKG <options>
     
         ${cmd_usage}
         ${cmd_option_list}
         """
     
+        pac = None
         if len(args) == 1:
             m = show_project_meta(conf.config['apiurl'], args[0])
+            prj = args[0]
         elif len(args) == 2:
             m = show_package_meta(conf.config['apiurl'], args[0], args[1])
+            prj = args[0]
+            pac = args[1]
         else:
             sys.exit('wrong argument count')
     
@@ -1877,6 +1885,10 @@ class Osc(cmdln.Cmdln):
                         userdata.append(itm)
             for row in build_table(3, userdata, ['realname', 'userid', 'email\n']):
                 print row
+        elif opts.add:
+            addMaintainer(conf.config['apiurl'], prj, pac, opts.add)
+        elif opts.delete:
+            delMaintainer(conf.config['apiurl'], prj, pac, opts.delete)
         else:
             print ', '.join(maintainers)
 
diff --git a/osc/core.py b/osc/core.py
index a1a9ce49..0a046889 100755
--- a/osc/core.py
+++ b/osc/core.py
@@ -2129,3 +2129,61 @@ def delete_server_files(apiurl, prj, pac, files):
             # see bug #280034
             print >>sys.stderr, 'error while deleting file \'%s\'' % file
             sys.exit(1)
+
+def addMaintainer(apiurl, prj, pac, user):
+    """ add a new maintainer to a package or project """
+    path = quote_plus(prj),
+    kind = 'prj'
+    if pac:
+        path = path + (quote_plus(pac),)
+        kind = 'pkg'
+    data = meta_exists(metatype=kind,
+                       path_args=path,
+                       template_args=None,
+                       create_new=False)
+                       
+    if data and get_user_meta(apiurl, user) != None:
+        tree = ET.fromstring(''.join(data))
+        found = False
+        for person in tree.getiterator('person'):
+            if person.get('userid') == user:
+                found = True
+                print "user already exists"
+                break
+        if not found:
+            # the xml has a fixed structure
+            tree.insert(2, ET.Element('person', role='maintainer', userid=user))
+            print 'user \'%s\' added to \'%s\'' % (user, pac or prj)
+            edit_meta(metatype=kind,
+                      path_args=path,
+                      data=ET.tostring(tree))
+    else:
+        print "osc: an error occured"
+
+def delMaintainer(apiurl, prj, pac, user):
+    """ delete a maintainer from a package or project """
+    path = quote_plus(prj), 
+    kind = 'prj'
+    if pac:
+        path = path + (quote_plus(pac), )
+        kind = 'pkg'
+    data = meta_exists(metatype=kind,
+                       path_args=path,
+                       template_args=None,
+                       create_new=False)
+    if data:
+        tree = ET.fromstring(''.join(data))
+        found = False
+        for person in tree.getiterator('person'):
+            if person.get('userid') == user:
+                tree.remove(person)
+                found = True
+                print "user \'%s\' removed" % user
+        if found:
+            edit_meta(metatype=kind,
+                      path_args=path,
+                      data=ET.tostring(tree))
+        else:
+            print "user \'%s\' not found in \'%s\'" % (user, pac or prj)
+    else:
+        print "an error occured"