diff --git a/railties/CHANGELOG b/railties/CHANGELOG
index 720ac08fd9ee6d0ab4cb99f6920fc43d692cad57..e74bbf1df9f59f8935296d6bc3c9979e83e07b70 100644
--- a/railties/CHANGELOG
+++ b/railties/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 *SVN*
 
+* Make the generator skip a file if it already exists and is identical to the new file.
+
 * Add experimental plugin support #2335
 
 * Made Rakefile aware of new .js files in script.aculo.us [Thomas Fuchs]
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails_generator/commands.rb b/railties/lib/rails_generator/commands.rb
index 5f37992d778e04c8a84032e5acedc05093c10a9c..e6795efdb9b85ebc4cf5ba998db2a9c7ec10ac28 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails_generator/commands.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails_generator/commands.rb
@@ -146,11 +146,13 @@ def class_collisions(*class_names)
         # the user what to do.
         def file(relative_source, relative_destination, file_options = {})
           # Determine full paths for source and destination files.
-          source      = source_path(relative_source)
-          destination = destination_path(relative_destination)
+          source              = source_path(relative_source)
+          destination         = destination_path(relative_destination)
+          destination_exists  = File.exists?(destination)
+          return logger.identical(relative_destination) if destination_exists and identical?(source, destination)
 
           # Check for and resolve file collisions.
-          if File.exists?(destination)
+          if destination_exists
 
             # Make a choice whether to overwrite the file.  :force and
             # :skip already have their mind made up, but give :ask a shot.
@@ -207,6 +209,11 @@ def file(relative_source, relative_destination, file_options = {})
           system("svn add #{destination}") if options[:svn]
         end
 
+        # Checks if the source and the destination file are identical.
+        def identical?(source, destination)
+          IO.read(source) == IO.read(destination)
+        end
+
         # Generate a file for a Rails application using an ERuby template.
         # Looks up and evalutes a template by name and writes the result.
         #