diff -urN common/Makefile.common not-so-common/Makefile.common
--- common/Makefile.common	2006-08-17 09:16:59.000000000 -0500
+++ not-so-common/Makefile.common	2006-08-17 09:37:45.000000000 -0500
@@ -164,6 +164,27 @@
 UPLOAD_CHECK	   = curl -k $(UPLOAD_CERT) --fail --silent
 UPLOAD_CLIENT	   = curl -k $(UPLOAD_CERT) --fail --show-error --progress-bar
 
+# check to make sure .fedora.cert is still valid
+S_RIGHTNOW	   = $(shell date +'%s')
+S_CERT_EXPIRES	   = $(shell date +'%s' -d "`grep 'Not After' $(HOME)/.fedora.cert | sed -e 's/            Not After : //'`")
+
+if [ $S_RIGHTNOW -gt $S_CERT_EXPIRES ]
+then
+  cat <<EOF
+
+Congratulations!  You've been a Fedora Extras contributor for a year! ;-)
+
+This message is designed to replace the cryptic 'Error 255' normally 
+seen when your ~/.fedora.cert expires.  To get a new one, go to:
+
+https://admin.fedoraproject.org/accounts/
+
+and click 'Download a client-side certificate.'
+
+EOF
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 upload-check = $(UPLOAD_CHECK) -F "name=$(NAME)" -F "md5sum=$${m%%[[:space:]]*}" -F "filename=$$f" $(UPLOAD_REPOSITORY)
 upload-file  = $(UPLOAD_CLIENT) -F "name=$(NAME)" -F "md5sum=$${m%%[[:space:]]*}" -F "file=@$$f" $(UPLOAD_REPOSITORY)