diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/data/Application.java b/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/data/Application.java
index 5f172c3..d491319 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/data/Application.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/data/Application.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// $Id: Application.java,v 1.23 2004/07/30 00:27:39 mdb Exp $
+// $Id: Application.java,v 1.24 2004/07/30 02:23:52 mdb Exp $
 
 package com.threerings.getdown.data;
 
@@ -166,20 +166,20 @@ public class Application
      * @exception IOException thrown if there is an error reading the file
      * or an error encountered during its parsing.
      */
-    public UpdateInterface init ()
+    public UpdateInterface init (boolean checkPlatform)
         throws IOException
     {
         // parse our configuration file
         HashMap cdata = null;
         try {
-            cdata = ConfigUtil.parseConfig(_config);
+            cdata = ConfigUtil.parseConfig(_config, checkPlatform);
         } catch (FileNotFoundException fnfe) {
             // thanks to funny windows bullshit, we have to do this backup
             // file fiddling in case we got screwed while updating our
             // very critical getdown config file
             File cbackup = getLocalPath(CONFIG_FILE + "_old");
             if (cbackup.exists()) {
-                cdata = ConfigUtil.parseConfig(cbackup);
+                cdata = ConfigUtil.parseConfig(cbackup, checkPlatform);
             } else {
                 throw fnfe;
             }
@@ -516,7 +516,7 @@ public class Application
             // if the new copy validates, reinitialize ourselves;
             // otherwise report baffling hoseage
             if (_digest.validateResource(crsrc, null)) {
-                init();
+                init(true);
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/data/Digest.java b/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/data/Digest.java
index e76b7e5..1e57171 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/data/Digest.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/data/Digest.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// $Id: Digest.java,v 1.5 2004/07/28 01:28:55 mdb Exp $
+// $Id: Digest.java,v 1.6 2004/07/30 02:23:52 mdb Exp $
 
 package com.threerings.getdown.data;
 
@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@ public class Digest
     {
         // parse and validate our digest file contents
         StringBuffer data = new StringBuffer();
-        List pairs = ConfigUtil.parsePairs(new File(appdir, DIGEST_FILE));
+        File dfile = new File(appdir, DIGEST_FILE);
+        List pairs = ConfigUtil.parsePairs(dfile, false);
         for (Iterator iter = pairs.iterator(); iter.hasNext(); ) {
             String[] pair = (String[])iter.next();
             if (pair[0].equals(DIGEST_FILE)) {
diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/Getdown.java b/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/Getdown.java
index 7351e71..bf8279d 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/Getdown.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/Getdown.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// $Id: Getdown.java,v 1.23 2004/07/30 00:27:19 mdb Exp $
+// $Id: Getdown.java,v 1.24 2004/07/30 02:23:52 mdb Exp $
 
 package com.threerings.getdown.launcher;
 
@@ -78,12 +78,12 @@ public class Getdown extends Thread
         try {
             // first parses our application deployment file
             try {
-                _ifc = _app.init();
+                _ifc = _app.init(true);
             } catch (IOException ioe) {
                 Log.warning("Failed to parse 'getdown.txt': " + ioe);
                 _app.attemptRecovery(this);
                 // and re-initalize
-                _ifc = _app.init();
+                _ifc = _app.init(true);
                 // now force our UI to be recreated with the updated info
                 createInterface(true);
             }
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ public class Getdown extends Thread
         // finally update our metadata files...
         _app.updateMetadata();
         // ...and reinitialize the application
-        _ifc = _app.init();
+        _ifc = _app.init(true);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/tools/Differ.java b/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/tools/Differ.java
index 058dd2a..dcdb8be 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/tools/Differ.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/tools/Differ.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// $Id: Differ.java,v 1.5 2004/07/28 02:25:49 mdb Exp $
+// $Id: Differ.java,v 1.6 2004/07/30 02:23:52 mdb Exp $
 
 package com.threerings.getdown.tools;
 
@@ -74,13 +74,13 @@ public class Differ
         }
 
         Application oapp = new Application(ovdir);
-        oapp.init();
+        oapp.init(false);
         ArrayList orsrcs = new ArrayList();
         orsrcs.addAll(oapp.getCodeResources());
         orsrcs.addAll(oapp.getResources());
 
         Application napp = new Application(nvdir);
-        napp.init();
+        napp.init(false);
         ArrayList nrsrcs = new ArrayList();
         nrsrcs.addAll(napp.getCodeResources());
         nrsrcs.addAll(napp.getResources());
diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/tools/DigesterTask.java b/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/tools/DigesterTask.java
index 0a38b1c..d4f0e5d 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/tools/DigesterTask.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/tools/DigesterTask.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// $Id: DigesterTask.java,v 1.2 2004/07/13 17:43:52 mdb Exp $
+// $Id: DigesterTask.java,v 1.3 2004/07/30 02:23:52 mdb Exp $
 
 package com.threerings.getdown.tools;
 
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ public class DigesterTask extends Task
         // create our application and instruct it to parse its business
         Application app = new Application(_appdir);
         try {
-            app.init();
+            app.init(false);
         } catch (IOException ioe) {
             throw new BuildException("Error parsing getdown.txt: " +
                                      ioe.getMessage(), ioe);
diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/util/ConfigUtil.java b/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/util/ConfigUtil.java
index 5bee01f..30b3da7 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/util/ConfigUtil.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/util/ConfigUtil.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// $Id: ConfigUtil.java,v 1.2 2004/07/02 15:22:49 mdb Exp $
+// $Id: ConfigUtil.java,v 1.3 2004/07/30 02:23:52 mdb Exp $
 
 package com.threerings.getdown.util;
 
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ import java.util.List;
 import com.samskivert.io.StreamUtil;
 import com.samskivert.util.StringUtil;
 
+import com.threerings.getdown.Log;
+
 /**
  * Parses a file containing key/value pairs and returns a {@link HashMap}
  * with the values. Keys may be repeated, in which case they will be made
@@ -31,10 +33,12 @@ public class ConfigUtil
      * @return a list of <code>String[]</code> instances containing the
      * key/value pairs in the order they were parsed from the file.
      */
-    public static List parsePairs (File config)
+    public static List parsePairs (File config, boolean checkPlatform)
         throws IOException
     {
         ArrayList pairs = new ArrayList();
+        String osname = System.getProperty("os.name");
+        osname = (osname == null) ? "" : osname.toLowerCase();
 
         // parse our configuration file
         FileInputStream fin = null;
@@ -67,6 +71,35 @@ public class ConfigUtil
                     pair[1] = "";
                 }
 
+                // allow a value to have a [Linux]
+                if (pair[1].startsWith("[")) {
+                    cidx = pair[1].indexOf("]");
+                    if (cidx == -1) {
+                        Log.warning("Bogus platform specifier [key=" + pair[0] +
+                                    ", value=" + pair[1] + "].");
+                    } else {
+                        String platform = pair[1].substring(1, cidx);
+                        platform = platform.trim().toLowerCase();
+                        pair[1] = pair[1].substring(cidx+1).trim();
+                        if (checkPlatform) {
+                            if (platform.startsWith("!")) {
+                                platform = platform.substring(1);
+                                if (osname.indexOf(platform) != -1) {
+                                    Log.info("Skipping [platform=!" + platform +
+                                             ", key=" + pair[0] +
+                                             ", value=" + pair[1] + "].");
+                                    continue;
+                                }
+                            } else if (osname.indexOf(platform) == -1) {
+                                Log.info("Skipping [platform=" + platform +
+                                         ", key=" + pair[0] +
+                                         ", value=" + pair[1] + "].");
+                                continue;
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+
                 pairs.add(pair);
             }
 
@@ -85,10 +118,10 @@ public class ConfigUtil
      * of strings if more than one key/value pair in the config file was
      * associated with the same key.
      */
-    public static HashMap parseConfig (File config)
+    public static HashMap parseConfig (File config, boolean checkPlatform)
         throws IOException
     {
-        List pairs = parsePairs(config);
+        List pairs = parsePairs(config, checkPlatform);
         HashMap data = new HashMap();
 
         for (Iterator iter = pairs.iterator(); iter.hasNext(); ) {