diff --git a/scripts/docs_ignore b/scripts/docs_ignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d41d794ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/docs_ignore
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+authserver
+debian_schooltool
+ejabberd_xs
+idmgr
+ajenti
+moodle-1.9
+pathagar
+schooltool
+nodogsplash
+docker
+sugar-stats
diff --git a/scripts/roles_needing_docs.py b/scripts/roles_needing_docs.py
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..5a814bb94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/roles_needing_docs.py
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+'''
+This script checks every role in the project and prints its name to stdout if 
+the role directory does not contain a README file and it is not listed in 
+scripts/docs_ignore.
+
+For ease of use, you can pipe the output of this script to a file or to a 
+clipboard utility (e.g. pbcopy on macOS, xclip on Linux).
+'''
+
+import os
+from os.path import join as make_path
+from glob import glob
+
+def included_roles():
+    all_roles = set(os.listdir("roles"))
+    excluded_roles = \
+        map(str.rstrip, open(make_path("scripts", "docs_ignore")))
+    included_roles = list(all_roles.difference(excluded_roles))
+    included_roles.sort()
+    return included_roles
+
+for role in included_roles():
+    readme = make_path("roles", role, "README.*")
+    if not glob(readme):
+        print(role)