diff --git a/THANKS b/THANKS
index 6830275..dc58e7b 100644
--- a/THANKS
+++ b/THANKS
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ Joe Gregorio    - Invoke same version of Python for filters
 Harry Fuecks    - Pipe characters in file names, filter bug
 Eric van der Vlist - Filters to add language, category information
 Chris Dolan     - mkdir cache; default template_dirs; fix xsltproc
+David Sifry     - rss 2.0 xslt template based on http://atom.geekhood.net/
 
 This codebase represents a radical refactoring of Planet 2.0, which lists
 the following contributors:
diff --git a/docs/config.html b/docs/config.html
index 06d3083..b20d28c 100644
--- a/docs/config.html
+++ b/docs/config.html
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ are either new or implemented differently by Venus</ins>.</p>
 </dl>
 <dl class="compact code">
 
-<dt><ins>theme</ins></dt>
+<dt><ins>output_theme</ins></dt>
 <dd>Directory containing a <code>config.ini</code> file which is merged
 with this one.  This is typically used to specify templating and bill of
 material information.</dd>
diff --git a/themes/common/rss20.xml.xslt b/themes/common/rss20.xml.xslt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f1576e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/themes/common/rss20.xml.xslt
@@ -0,0 +1,238 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
+<!-- Released under CC lincense http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ -->
+<!-- Feeds generated using this stylesheet (or it's derivatives) must put http://atom.geekhood.net in <generator> element -->
+<!-- This is a derivative in that it was modified by Gene McCulley to support his blog. -->
+<x:stylesheet version="1.0" 
+	exclude-result-prefixes="atom xhtml date planet"
+	xmlns:x="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" 
+        xmlns:planet="http://planet.intertwingly.net/"
+	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
+	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
+    xmlns:date="http://exslt.org/dates-and-times"
+	xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<x:output encoding="UTF-8" indent="yes" method="xml" />
+
+<x:template match="/atom:feed">
+  <rss version="2.0">
+    <channel>
+      <x:if test="//@xml:lang">
+        <language><x:value-of select="//@xml:lang[1]" /></language>
+      </x:if>
+
+      <description>
+        <x:choose>
+          <x:when test="atom:subtitle"><x:apply-templates select="atom:subtitle" mode="asHTML"/></x:when>
+          <x:otherwise>
+            <!-- this sucks -->
+            <x:apply-templates select="atom:title" mode="asHTML"/> (converted from Atom 1.0)
+          </x:otherwise>
+        </x:choose>
+      </description>
+
+      <x:choose>
+        <x:when test="atom:logo"><image><x:apply-templates select="atom:logo" mode="image"/></image></x:when>
+        <x:when test="atom:icon"><image><x:apply-templates select="atom:icon" mode="image"/></image></x:when>
+      </x:choose>
+
+      <x:apply-templates />
+      <generator><x:if test="atom:generator"><x:apply-templates select="atom:generator" mode="gen"/> + </x:if>Atom 1.0 XSLT Transform v1 (http://atom.geekhood.net/)</generator>
+    </channel>
+  </rss>
+</x:template>
+
+
+<!-- simple losless conversions -->
+<x:template match="atom:contributor">
+  <dc:contributor><x:call-template name="person" /></dc:contributor>
+</x:template>
+
+<x:template match="atom:title">
+  <title><x:call-template name="asHTML" /></title>
+</x:template>
+
+<x:template match="atom:generator"/>
+<x:template match="atom:generator" mode="gen">
+  <x:apply-templates mode="asText"/> <x:if test="@version"> v<x:value-of select="@version"/></x:if> <x:if test="@uri"> (<x:value-of select="@uri"/>)</x:if>
+</x:template>
+
+<x:template match="atom:entry/atom:published"><pubDate><x:call-template name="rfc822Date"><x:with-param name="isoDate" select="."/></x:call-template></pubDate></x:template>
+<x:template match="atom:entry/atom:updated"></x:template>
+<x:template match="atom:feed/atom:updated"><pubDate><x:call-template name="rfc822Date"><x:with-param name="isoDate" select="."/></x:call-template></pubDate></x:template>
+
+<x:template match="atom:rights"><copyright><x:apply-templates /></copyright></x:template>
+
+<x:template match="atom:link[not(@rel) or @rel='alternate']"><link><x:value-of select="@href"/></link></x:template>
+
+<x:template match="atom:link[@rel='enclosure']"><enclosure url="{@href}" type="{@type}" length="{@length}"/></x:template>
+
+<x:template match="atom:entry/atom:id">
+  <guid>
+    <x:if test="not(. = ../atom:link[@rel='alternate']/@href) and not(. = ../atom:link[@rel='permalink']/@href) and not(. = ../atom:link[not(@rel)]/@href)">
+      <x:attribute name="isPermaLink">false</x:attribute>
+    </x:if>
+    <x:apply-templates />
+  </guid>
+</x:template>
+
+<!-- dodgy conversions -->
+<x:template match="atom:icon|atom:logo"/><!-- merged into rss:image -->
+<x:template match="atom:icon|atom:logo" mode="image">
+	<url><x:value-of select="."/></url>
+	<x:if test="../atom:title"><title><x:apply-templates select="../atom:title" mode="asText" /></title></x:if>
+	<x:if test="../atom:link[not(@rel) or @rel='alternate']"><link><x:value-of select="../atom:link[not(@rel) or @rel='alternate'][1]/@href"/></link></x:if>
+</x:template>
+
+<x:template name="person">
+	<x:choose>
+		<x:when test="atom:email"><x:value-of select="atom:email"/></x:when>
+		<x:when test="/atom:feed/atom:author[./atom:email][1]/atom:email"><x:value-of select="/atom:feed/atom:author[./atom:email][1]/atom:email"/></x:when>
+	</x:choose>
+	 (<x:value-of select="atom:name"/><x:if test="@uri"> <x:value-of select="uri"/></x:if>)
+</x:template>
+	
+<x:template match="atom:author[contains(./atom:email,'webmaster')][1]">
+	<webMaster>
+		<x:call-template name="person" />
+	</webMaster>
+</x:template>
+
+<x:template match="atom:subtitle"/>
+
+<x:template match="atom:source">
+	<source url="{atom:link[@rel='self']/@href}"><x:apply-templates select="atom:title" mode="asText"/></source>
+</x:template>
+
+<!-- lossy conversion -->
+<x:template match="atom:feed/atom:id"/>
+
+<x:template match="atom:feed/atom:link[@rel='self']"><x:comment> source: <x:value-of select="@href"/><x:text> </x:text></x:comment></x:template>
+
+<x:template match="atom:category"><!-- label gets lost -->
+	<category>
+		<x:if test="@scheme">
+			<x:attribute name="domain"><x:value-of select="@scheme"/></x:attribute>
+		</x:if>
+		<x:value-of select="@term"/>
+		<x:if test="@label and not(@label = @term)"><x:comment><x:value-of select="@label"/></x:comment></x:if>
+	</category>
+</x:template>
+
+
+<!-- entry -->
+<x:template match="atom:summary|atom:content"/>
+
+<x:template match="atom:entry">
+<item>
+	<x:choose>
+		<x:when test="atom:summary"><description><x:apply-templates select="atom:summary" mode="asHTML"/> <x:if test="atom:content"> (...)</x:if></description></x:when> 
+		<x:when test="atom:content"><description><x:apply-templates select="atom:content" mode="asHTML"/></description></x:when> 
+	</x:choose>
+	<x:apply-templates/>
+	<x:if test="not(atom:source) and /atom:feed/atom:link[@rel='self']">
+		<source url="{/atom:feed/atom:link[@rel='self']/@href}">
+			<x:choose>
+				<x:when test="/atom:feed/atom:link[@rel='self' and @title]"><x:value-of select="/atom:feed/atom:link[@rel='self']/@title"/></x:when>
+				<x:otherwise><x:apply-templates select="/atom:feed/atom:title" mode="asText"/></x:otherwise>
+			</x:choose>
+		</source>
+	</x:if>
+	<x:apply-templates select="atom:source/atom:category"/>
+	<x:if test="not(atom:copyright)"><x:apply-templates select="atom:source/atom:copyright"/></x:if>
+	<x:if test="not(atom:author)"><x:apply-templates select="atom:source/atom:author"/></x:if>
+	<x:if test="not(atom:contributor)"><x:apply-templates select="atom:source/atom:contributor"/></x:if>
+	<x:if test="not(atom:updated)"><x:apply-templates select="atom:source/atom:updated"/></x:if>
+</item>
+</x:template>
+
+
+<!-- santas little helpers -->
+<x:template match="*" mode="asHTML"><x:call-template name="asHTML"/></x:template>
+<x:template name="asHTML">
+	<x:choose>
+		<x:when test="@type='xhtml'">
+			<x:apply-templates select="xhtml:div" mode="xhtml2html" />
+		</x:when>
+		<x:when test="@type='html'"><x:value-of select="." /></x:when>
+		<x:otherwise>
+			<x:text disable-output-escaping="yes">&lt;![CDATA[</x:text>
+			<x:value-of select="." />
+			<x:text disable-output-escaping="yes">]]&gt;</x:text>
+		</x:otherwise>
+	</x:choose>		
+</x:template>
+
+<x:template match="*[@type='html' or @type='text/html']" mode="asText">
+	<x:call-template name="removeHtml"><x:with-param name="text" select="."/></x:call-template>
+</x:template>
+
+<x:template match="*" mode="asText">
+	<x:value-of select="."/>
+</x:template>
+
+
+<!-- html 2 text (primitive method) -->
+<x:template name="removeHtml">
+  <x:param name="text"/>
+  <x:choose>
+    <x:when test="contains($text, '&lt;') and contains(substring-after($text, '&lt;'),'&gt;')">
+		<x:value-of select="substring-before($text, '&lt;')"/>
+		<x:call-template name="removeHtml">
+  		<x:with-param name="text" select="substring-after(substring-after($text,'&lt;'),'&gt;')"/>
+		</x:call-template>
+    </x:when> 
+    <x:otherwise>
+      <x:value-of select="$text"/>  
+    </x:otherwise>
+ </x:choose>            
+</x:template>
+
+
+<!-- xhtml 2 html -->
+<x:template match="xhtml:img|xhtml:br|xhtml:hr|xhtml:input|xhtml:col|xhtml:area|xhtml:input|xhtml:link|xhtml:meta|xhtml:param" mode="xhtml2html">
+	&lt;<x:value-of select="local-name(.)"/><x:apply-templates select="@*" mode="xhtml2html"/>&gt;<x:apply-templates mode="xhtml2html"/>
+</x:template>
+
+<x:template match='xhtml:*' mode="xhtml2html">
+	&lt;<x:value-of select="local-name(.)"/><x:apply-templates select="@*" mode="xhtml2html"/>&gt;<x:apply-templates mode="xhtml2html"/>&lt;/<x:value-of select="local-name(.)"/>&gt;
+</x:template>
+
+<x:template match='@*' mode="xhtml2html">
+	<x:text> </x:text><x:value-of select="local-name(.)"/>="<x:value-of select="."/>"</x:template>
+
+<x:template match='node()' mode="xhtml2html">
+	<x:choose>
+		<x:when test="contains(.,'&amp;') or contains(.,'&lt;')">
+			<x:text disable-output-escaping="yes">&lt;![CDATA[</x:text>
+			<x:value-of select="." />
+			<x:text disable-output-escaping="yes">]]&gt;</x:text>			
+		</x:when>
+		<x:otherwise>
+			<x:value-of select="."/>
+		</x:otherwise>
+	</x:choose>
+</x:template>
+
+<!-- copy extensions -->
+<x:template match='*'>
+	<x:comment>Unknown element <x:value-of select="local-name(.)"/></x:comment>
+	<x:copy>
+  	  <x:copy-of select='node()|@*'/>
+	</x:copy>
+</x:template>
+
+<!-- Converts a date in ISO 8601 format into a date in RFC 822 format -->
+<x:template name="rfc822Date">
+  <x:param name="isoDate"/>
+
+  <x:value-of select="date:day-abbreviation($isoDate)"/>, <x:value-of select="format-number(date:day-in-month($isoDate), '00')"/><x:text> </x:text>
+  <x:value-of select="date:month-abbreviation($isoDate)"/><x:text> </x:text>
+  <x:value-of select="date:year($isoDate)"/><x:text> </x:text>
+
+  <!-- the timezone offset is currently hardcoded needs to be fixed -->
+  <x:value-of select="format-number(date:hour-in-day($isoDate), '00')"/>:<x:value-of select="format-number(date:minute-in-hour($isoDate), '00')"/>:<x:value-of select="format-number(date:second-in-minute($isoDate), '00')"/> GMT
+</x:template>
+
+<!-- strip planet elements and attributes -->
+<x:template match="planet:*|@planet:*"/>
+
+</x:stylesheet>