diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/update.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/update.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7ef06e6ecc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/update.py
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python2
+# vim:fileencoding=utf-8
+# License: GPLv3 Copyright: 2017, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>
+
+from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function, unicode_literals
+
+import bz2
+import hashlib
+import json
+import sys
+import time
+from threading import Thread
+
+from calibre import as_unicode, prints
+from calibre.constants import DEBUG
+from calibre.utils.config import JSONConfig
+from calibre.utils.https import get_https_resource_securely
+
+cache = JSONConfig('metadata-sources-cache.json')
+
+UPDATE_INTERVAL = 24 * 60 * 60
+
+
+def debug_print(*args, **k):
+    if DEBUG:
+        prints(*args, **k)
+
+
+def update_needed():
+    needed = set()
+    current_hashes = cache.get('hashes', {})
+    hashes = get_https_resource_securely(
+        'https://code.calibre-ebook.com/metadata-sources/hashes.json')
+    hashes = bz2.decompress(hashes)
+    hashes = json.loads(hashes)
+    for k, v in hashes.iteritems():
+        if current_hashes.get(k) != v:
+            needed.add(k)
+    remove = set(current_hashes) - set(hashes)
+    if remove:
+        for k in remove:
+            current_hashes.pop(k, None)
+        cache['hashes'] = current_hashes
+    return needed
+
+
+def update_plugin(name):
+    raw = get_https_resource_securely('https://code.calibre-ebook.com/metadata-sources/' + name)
+    h = hashlib.sha1(raw).hexdigest()
+    plugin = bz2.decompress(raw)
+    hashes = cache.get('hashes', {})
+    hashes[name] = h
+    with cache:
+        cache['hashes'] = hashes
+        cache[name] = plugin
+
+
+def main(report_error, report_action=prints):
+    try:
+        try:
+            report_action('Fetching metadata source hashes...')
+            needed = update_needed()
+        except Exception as e:
+            report_error(
+                'Failed to get metadata sources hashes with error: {}'.format(as_unicode(e)))
+            return
+        for name in needed:
+            report_action('Updating metadata source {}...'.format(name))
+            try:
+                update_plugin(name)
+            except Exception as e:
+                report_error('Failed to get plugin {} with error: {}'.format(
+                    name, as_unicode(e)))
+    finally:
+        update_sources.worker = None
+
+
+def update_sources(wait_for_completion=False):
+    if update_sources.worker is not None:
+        return False
+    epoch = cache.get('last_update', 0)
+    if time.time() - epoch < UPDATE_INTERVAL:
+        return False
+    update_sources.errors = errs = []
+    update_sources.worker = t = Thread(
+        target=main, args=(errs.append, debug_print), name='MSourcesUpdater')
+    t.daemon = True
+    t.start()
+    if wait_for_completion:
+        t.join()
+    return True
+
+
+update_sources.worker = None
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    def re(x):
+        prints(x, file=sys.stderr)
+        re.ok = False
+    re.ok = True
+    main(re)
+    if not re.ok:
+        raise SystemExit(1)