diff --git a/iptables-restore.8 b/iptables-restore.8
index 590015e..4e4e150 100644
--- a/iptables-restore.8
+++ b/iptables-restore.8
@@ -50,11 +50,6 @@
 To make it work, reorder the output in a way that in every table, all 
 user-defined chains are created before any other chain uses this chain
 as target.
-.PP
-.B iptables-restore
-does only restore the counter values of the builtin chains, and 
-.B NOT
-the individual counters of each rule. 
 .SH AUTHOR
 Harald Welte <laforge@gnumonks.org>
 .SH SEE ALSO
diff --git a/iptables-restore.c b/iptables-restore.c
index 95b6d8a..475f345 100644
--- a/iptables-restore.c
+++ b/iptables-restore.c
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
  * based on previous code from Rusty Russell <rusty@linuxcare.com.au>
  *
  * This coude is distributed under the terms of GNU GPL
+ *
+ * $Id$
  */
 
 #include <getopt.h>
@@ -221,10 +223,10 @@
 
 		} else {
 			char *newargv[1024];
-			int i,a;
+			int i,a, argvsize;
 			char *ptr = buffer;
-			char *ctrs = NULL;
-			struct ipt_counters count;
+			char *pcnt = NULL;
+			char *bcnt = NULL;
 
 			if (buffer[0] == '[') {
 				ptr = strchr(buffer, ']');
@@ -232,24 +234,27 @@
 					exit_error(PARAMETER_PROBLEM,
 						   "Bad line %u: need ]\n",
 						   line);
-				ctrs = strtok(ptr, " \t\n");
+				pcnt = strtok(buffer+1, ":");
+				bcnt = strtok(NULL, "]");
 			}
 
-			if (counters && ctrs) {
-
-				parse_counters(ctrs, &count);
-			}
-
-			/* FIXME: Don't ignore counters. */
-
 			newargv[0] = argv[0];
 			newargv[1] = "-t";
 			newargv[2] = (char *) &curtable;
 			newargv[3] = "-A";
 			newargv[4] = (char *) &curchain;
+			argvsize = 5;
+
+			if (counters && pcnt && bcnt) {
+				newargv[5] = "--set-counters";
+				newargv[6] = (char *) pcnt;
+				newargv[7] = (char *) bcnt;
+				argvsize = 8;
+			}
 
 			/* strtok: a function only a coder could love */
-			for (i = 5; i < sizeof(newargv)/sizeof(char *); i++) {
+			for (i = argvsize; i < sizeof(newargv)/sizeof(char *); 
+					i++) {
 				if (!(newargv[i] = strtok(NULL, " \t\n")))
 					break;
 				ptr = NULL;
diff --git a/iptables.8 b/iptables.8
index 1b437ca..1a7f810 100644
--- a/iptables.8
+++ b/iptables.8
@@ -267,6 +267,14 @@
 not match any rules which specify them.  When the "!" argument
 precedes the "-f" flag, the rule will only match head fragments, or
 unfragmented packets.
+.TP
+.B "-c, --set-counters " "PKTS BYTES"
+This enables the administrater to initialize the packet and byte
+counters of a rule (during
+.B INSERT,
+.B APPEND,
+.B REPLACE
+operations)
 .SS "OTHER OPTIONS"
 The following additional options can be specified:
 .TP
diff --git a/iptables.c b/iptables.c
index 02c5c7a..c570d3a 100644
--- a/iptables.c
+++ b/iptables.c
@@ -95,9 +95,10 @@
 #define OPT_VIANAMEOUT	0x00100U
 #define OPT_FRAGMENT    0x00200U
 #define OPT_LINENUMBERS 0x00400U
-#define NUMBER_OF_OPT	11
+#define OPT_COUNTERS	0x00800U
+#define NUMBER_OF_OPT	12
 static const char optflags[NUMBER_OF_OPT]
-= { 'n', 's', 'd', 'p', 'j', 'v', 'x', 'i', 'o', 'f', '3'};
+= { 'n', 's', 'd', 'p', 'j', 'v', 'x', 'i', 'o', 'f', '3', 'c'};
 
 static struct option original_opts[] = {
 	{ "append", 1, 0, 'A' },
@@ -130,6 +131,7 @@
 	{ "help", 2, 0, 'h' },
 	{ "line-numbers", 0, 0, '0' },
 	{ "modprobe", 1, 0, 'M' },
+	{ "set-counters", 1, 0, 'c' },
 	{ 0 }
 };
 
@@ -387,6 +389,7 @@
 "  --exact	-x		expand numbers (display exact values)\n"
 "[!] --fragment	-f		match second or further fragments only\n"
 "  --modprobe=<command>		try to insert modules using this command\n"
+"  --set-counters PKTS BYTES	set the counter during insert/append\n"
 "[!] --version	-V		print package version.\n");
 
 	/* Print out any special helps. A user might like to be able
@@ -1615,6 +1618,7 @@
 	const char *shostnetworkmask = NULL, *dhostnetworkmask = NULL;
 	const char *policy = NULL, *newname = NULL;
 	unsigned int rulenum = 0, options = 0, command = 0;
+	const char *pcnt = NULL, *bcnt = NULL;
 	int ret = 1;
 	struct iptables_match *m;
 	struct iptables_target *target = NULL;
@@ -1646,7 +1650,7 @@
 	opterr = 0;
 
 	while ((c = getopt_long(argc, argv,
-	   "-A:C:D:R:I:L::F::Z::N:X::E:P:Vh::o:p:s:d:j:i:fbvnt:m:x",
+	   "-A:C:D:R:I:L::F::Z::N:X::E:P:Vh::o:p:s:d:j:i:fbvnt:m:xc:",
 					   opts, NULL)) != -1) {
 		switch (c) {
 			/*
@@ -1926,6 +1930,32 @@
 			modprobe = optarg;
 			break;
 
+		case 'c':
+
+			set_option(&options, OPT_COUNTERS, &fw.ip.invflags,
+				   invert);
+			pcnt = optarg;
+			if (optind < argc && argv[optind][0] != '-'
+			    && argv[optind][0] != '!')
+				bcnt = argv[optind++];
+			else
+				exit_error(PARAMETER_PROBLEM,
+					"-%c requires packet and byte counter",
+					opt2char(OPT_COUNTERS));
+
+			if (sscanf(pcnt, "%llu", &fw.counters.pcnt) != 1)
+				exit_error(PARAMETER_PROBLEM,
+					"-%c packet counter not numeric",
+					opt2char(OPT_COUNTERS));
+
+			if (sscanf(bcnt, "%llu", &fw.counters.bcnt) != 1)
+				exit_error(PARAMETER_PROBLEM,
+					"-%c byte counter not numeric",
+					opt2char(OPT_COUNTERS));
+			
+			break;
+
+
 		case 1: /* non option */
 			if (optarg[0] == '!' && optarg[1] == '\0') {
 				if (invert)