diff --git a/bin/mkdevbranch b/bin/mkdevbranch
index d109e5461..3f248a60d 100755
--- a/bin/mkdevbranch
+++ b/bin/mkdevbranch
@@ -78,12 +78,13 @@ trap 'echo "$program($LINENO): Command failed with error code $? ([$$] $0 $*)";
 # Option parsing
 
 # Options
-shortopts=hm:M:vV
-longopts=help,meeting=,message=,verbose,version
+shortopts=hm:M:nvV
+longopts=help,meeting=,message=,dry-run,verbose,version
 
 # Default values
 num=""
 msg=""
+do=""
 
 if   [ "$(uname)" = "Linux" ]; then
     args=$(getopt -o "$shortopts" --long "$longopts" -n '$program' -- $SV "$@")
@@ -103,6 +104,7 @@ while true ; do
 	-h| --help)	usage; exit;;		# Show this help, then exit
 	-m| --meeting)	num=$2; shift;;		# Specify the IETF meeting number
 	-M| --message)	msg=$2; shift;;		# Specify extra message text
+	-n| --dry-run)  do="echo -- ==>";;	# Only show what would be done
 	-v| --verbose)	VERBOSE=1;;		# Be more talkative
 	-V| --version)	version; exit;;		# Show program version, then exit
 	--)		shift; break;;
@@ -128,8 +130,8 @@ function mksvndir() {
     who=$1
     if [ "$2" ]; then dir=$2; else dir=$who; fi
     if ! svn info https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/tools/ietfdb/personal/$dir >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
-	echo "Creating personal directory area for IETF datatracker coding: /personal/$dir"
-	svn mkdir https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/tools/ietfdb/personal/$dir -m "Personal SVN dir for $who, for IETF datatracker code"
+	$do echo "Creating personal directory area for IETF datatracker coding: /personal/$dir"
+	$do svn mkdir https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/tools/ietfdb/personal/$dir -m "Personal SVN dir for $who, for IETF datatracker code"
     else
 	echo "Repository area personal/$dir is already in place."
     fi
@@ -143,7 +145,7 @@ cd $progdir
 
 if [ "$who" ]; then
     mksvndir $who
-    svn cp https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/tools/ietfdb/$source https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/tools/ietfdb/personal/$who/$target/ -m "New branch for $target"
+    $do svn cp https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/tools/ietfdb/$source https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/tools/ietfdb/personal/$who/$target/ -m "New branch for $target"
     echo "New branch: ^/personal/$who/$target"
 else
     [ "$msg" ] && msg="
@@ -154,11 +156,21 @@ $msg
 	trac-admin /www/tools.ietf.org/tools/ietfdb wiki export IETF${n}SprintSignUp	\
 	    | egrep "^\|\|" | tail -n +2 | python -c '
 import sys, re
-afile = open("aliases")
-aliases = dict([ line.strip().split(None,1) for line in afile.read().splitlines() ])
+with open("aliases") as afile:
+    try:
+	aliases = dict([ line.strip().split(None,1) for line in afile.read().splitlines() if line.strip() ])
+    except ValueError:
+	sys.stderr.write([ line.strip().split(None,1) for line in afile.read().splitlines() if line.strip() ])
+	raise
 
 for line in sys.stdin:
-    blank, name, email, rest = line.strip().split("||", 3)
+    try:
+	blank, name, email, rest = line.strip().split("||", 3)
+	email = email.strip()
+    except ValueError:
+	sys.stderr.write(line+"\n")
+	raise
+	
     login, dummy  = re.split("[@.]", email, 1)
     if email in aliases:
 	login = aliases[email]
@@ -171,9 +183,9 @@ for line in sys.stdin:
 	echo "$login ($name <$email>):"
 	mksvndir $login
 	if ! svn info https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/tools/ietfdb/personal/$login/$target >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
-	    echo "  creating $target branch for $login ($name)."
-	    svn cp https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/tools/ietfdb/$source https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/tools/ietfdb/personal/$login/$target/ -m "New IETF datatracker coding branch for $name"	\
-	    && mail "$name <$email>" -s "A new SVN branch for you for IETF datatracker coding${rev:+, based on $rev}." -b henrik@levkowetz.com <<-EOF
+	    $do echo "  creating $target branch for $login ($name)."
+	    $do svn cp https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/tools/ietfdb/$source https://svn.tools.ietf.org/svn/tools/ietfdb/personal/$login/$target/ -m "New IETF datatracker coding branch for $name"	\
+	    && $do mail "$name <$email>" -s "A new SVN branch for you for IETF datatracker coding${rev:+, based on $rev}." -b henrik@levkowetz.com <<-EOF
 		Hi,
                 $msg
 		This mail has been automatically generated by the $program script.
@@ -199,7 +211,7 @@ for line in sys.stdin:
 
 	EOF
 	else
-	    echo "  branch personal/$login/$target already exists."
+	    $do echo "  branch personal/$login/$target already exists."
 	fi
     done
 fi