diff --git a/common.inc.php b/common.inc.php
index 73c0456..da2b798 100644
--- a/common.inc.php
+++ b/common.inc.php
@@ -22,6 +22,30 @@
 */
 ?>
 <?
+//first things first - make sure our DB version matches our CODE version
+$dbcodeversion=@file("db/db.code.version.txt");
+$dbdbversion=@file("db/db.db.version.txt");
+if($dbcodeversion[0]!=$dbdbversion[0])
+{
+	echo "<html><head><title>SFIAB ERROR</title></head><body>";
+	echo "<h1>Science Fair In A Box - ERROR</h1>";
+	echo "SFIAB database and code are mismatched";
+	echo "<br>";
+	echo "Please run the db_update.php script in order to update";
+	echo "<br>";
+	echo "your database to the same version as the code";
+	echo "<br>";
+	echo "<br>";
+	echo "<br>";
+	echo "<h2>Details</h2>";
+	echo "Current SFIAB codebase requires DB version: ".$dbcodeversion[0];
+	echo "<br>";
+	echo "Current SFIAB database is detected as version: ".$dbdbversion[0];
+	echo "<br>";
+	echo "</body></html>";
+	exit;
+}
+
 require_once("config.inc.php");
 require_once("committee_auth.php");
 mysql_connect($DBHOST,$DBUSER,$DBPASS);
diff --git a/db/FILES b/db/FILES
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8584023
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/FILES
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+db.code.version.txt	- contains the version number of the database that the code requires
+db.db.version.txt	- contains the actual version number of the database
+db_update.php		- will update the db to the newest version (db.code=db.db)
+
+db.update.1.sql		- the SQL commands required to update - to upgrade across multiple versions
+db.update.2.sql		- each file should be executed in sequence from the current version up.
+db.update.3.sql		- etc
+
diff --git a/db/db.code.version.txt b/db/db.code.version.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0cfbf08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/db.code.version.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+2
diff --git a/db/db.update.1.sql b/db/db.update.1.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/db/db.update.2.sql b/db/db.update.2.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ef78ff0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/db.update.2.sql
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+ALTER TABLE `judges` ADD `complete` ENUM( 'no', 'yes' ) DEFAULT 'no' NOT NULL;
diff --git a/db/db_update.php b/db/db_update.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1593299
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/db_update.php
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+<?
+if(file_exists("db.code.version.txt"))
+{
+	$dbcodeversion_file=file("db.code.version.txt");
+	$dbcodeversion=trim($dbcodeversion_file[0]);
+}
+else
+{
+	echo "Couldnt load current db.code.version.txt\n";
+	exit;
+}
+
+if(file_exists("db.db.version.txt"))
+{
+	$dbdbversion_file=file("db.db.version.txt");
+	$dbdbversion=trim($dbdbversion_file[0]);
+}
+else
+{
+	echo "Couldnt load current db.db.version.txt - assuming version is 1\n";
+	$dbdbversion=1;
+}
+
+if($dbcodeversion && $dbdbversion)
+{
+	//lets see if they match
+	if($dbcodeversion == $dbdbversion)
+	{
+		echo "DB and CODE are all up-to-date.  Version: $dbdbversion\n";
+		exit;
+	}
+	else if($dbcodeversion<$dbdbversion)
+	{
+		echo "ERROR: dbcodeversion<dbdbversion ($dbcodeversion<$dbdbversion).  This should not happen!";
+
+	}
+	else if($dbcodeversion>$dbdbversion)
+	{
+		echo "DB update requirements detected\n";
+		echo "Current DB Version: $dbdbversion\n";
+		echo "Current CODE Version: $dbcodeversion\n";
+		echo "Updating database from $dbdbversion to $dbcodeversion\n";
+		//include the config.inc.php
+		//so we have the db connection info
+		require("../config.inc.php");
+
+		for($ver=$dbdbversion+1;$ver<=$dbcodeversion;$ver++)
+		{
+			if(file_exists("db.update.$ver.sql"))
+			{
+				echo "db.update.$ver.sql detected - running...\n";
+				system("mysql -h$DBHOST -u$DBUSER -p$DBPASS $DBNAME <db.update.$ver.sql");
+			}
+			else
+			{
+				echo "Version $ver update file not found - skipping over\n";
+			}
+		}
+		$fp=fopen("db.db.version.txt","w");
+		fputs($fp,$dbcodeversion."\n");
+		fclose($fp);
+	}
+
+}
+else
+{
+	echo "ERROR: dbcodeversion and dbdbversion are not defined\n";
+}
+
+
+?>
