diff --git a/Documentation/git-instaweb.txt b/Documentation/git-instaweb.txt
index 08f85ba046598070432e9d9cd45052ae20484402..ea95c90460b976ee187833c248366af579065f83 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-instaweb.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-instaweb.txt
@@ -51,8 +51,8 @@ OPTIONS
 
 start::
 --start::
-	Start the httpd instance and exit.  This does not generate
-	any of the configuration files for spawning a new instance.
+	Start the httpd instance and exit.  Regenerate configuration files
+	as necessary for spawning a new instance.
 
 stop::
 --stop::
@@ -62,8 +62,8 @@ stop::
 
 restart::
 --restart::
-	Restart the httpd instance and exit.  This does not generate
-	any of the configuration files for spawning a new instance.
+	Restart the httpd instance and exit.  Regenerate configuration files
+	as necessary for spawning a new instance.
 
 CONFIGURATION
 -------------
diff --git a/git-instaweb.sh b/git-instaweb.sh
index 9a2f20f6adafb2e31d306155bd75c960de9fe512..01a1b05e6bdcd12f82f70282975780d3a19d910d 100755
--- a/git-instaweb.sh
+++ b/git-instaweb.sh
@@ -99,6 +99,12 @@ start_httpd () {
 
 	# here $httpd should have a meaningful value
 	resolve_full_httpd
+	mkdir -p "$fqgitdir/gitweb/$httpd_only"
+	conf="$fqgitdir/gitweb/$httpd_only.conf"
+
+	# generate correct config file if it doesn't exist
+	test -f "$conf" || configure_httpd
+	test -f "$fqgitdir/gitweb/gitweb_config.perl" || gitweb_conf
 
 	# don't quote $full_httpd, there can be arguments to it (-f)
 	case "$httpd" in
@@ -628,6 +634,7 @@ gitweb_conf
 
 resolve_full_httpd
 mkdir -p "$fqgitdir/gitweb/$httpd_only"
+conf="$fqgitdir/gitweb/$httpd_only.conf"
 
 configure_httpd