diff --git a/dev-tools/scripts/poll-mirrors.pl b/dev-tools/scripts/poll-mirrors.pl
index f8d672758a9..cdbd3bb68fb 100755
--- a/dev-tools/scripts/poll-mirrors.pl
+++ b/dev-tools/scripts/poll-mirrors.pl
@@ -30,35 +30,57 @@ use Getopt::Long;
 use POSIX qw/strftime/;
 use LWP::UserAgent;
 
+my $rel_path;
 my $version;
 my $interval = 300;
-my $quiet = 0;
+my $details = 0;
 
-my $result = GetOptions ("version=s" => \$version, "interval=i" => \$interval);
+my $result = GetOptions ("version=s" => \$version,
+                         "details!" => \$details,
+                         "path=s" => \$rel_path,
+                         "interval=i" => \$interval);
 
-my $usage = "$0 -v version [ -i interval (seconds; default: 300) ]";
+my $usage = ""
+    . "$0 -v version [ -i interval (seconds; default: 300) ] [ -details ]\n"
+    . "$0 -p some/explicit/path [ -i interval (seconds; default: 300) ] [ -details ]\n"
+    ;
 
 unless ($result) {
   print STDERR $usage;
   exit(1);
 }
-unless (defined($version) && $version =~ /\d+(?:\.\d+)+/) {
-  print STDERR "You must specify the release version.\n$usage";
+
+unless (defined($version) xor defined($rel_path)) {
+  print STDERR "You must specify either -version or -path but not both\n$usage";
   exit(1);
 }
 
+my $label;
+my $apache_url_suffix;
+my $maven_url;
+
+if (defined($version)) {
+  if ($version !~ /^\d+(?:\.\d+)+/) {
+    print STDERR "You must specify the release version as a number.\n$usage";
+    exit(1);
+  }
+  $label = $version;
+  $apache_url_suffix = "lucene/java/$version/changes/Changes.html";
+  $maven_url = "http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/apache/lucene/lucene-core/$version/lucene-core-$version.pom.asc";
+} else {
+  # path based
+  $apache_url_suffix = $label = $rel_path;
+}
 my $previously_selected = select STDOUT;
 $| = 1; # turn off buffering of STDOUT, so status is printed immediately
 select $previously_selected;
 
-my $apache_url_suffix = "lucene/java/$version/KEYS";
 my $apache_mirrors_list_url = "http://www.apache.org/mirrors/";
-my $maven_url = "http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/apache/lucene/lucene-core/$version/lucene-core-$version.pom.asc";
 
 my $agent = LWP::UserAgent->new();
 $agent->timeout(2);
 
-my $maven_available = 0;
+my $maven_available = defined($maven_url) ? 0 : -999;
 
 my @apache_mirrors = ();
 
@@ -77,7 +99,7 @@ if (defined($apache_mirrors_list_page)) {
     next unless ($mirror_entry =~ m~<TD>\s*ok\s*</TD>\s*$~i); # skip mirrors with problems
     if ($mirror_entry =~ m~<A\s+HREF\s*=\s*"([^"]+)"\s*>~i) {
       my $mirror_url = $1;
-      push @apache_mirrors, "$mirror_url/$apache_url_suffix";
+      push @apache_mirrors, "${mirror_url}${apache_url_suffix}";
     }
   }
 } else {
@@ -95,16 +117,16 @@ while (1) {
   print "...\n";
 
   my $start = time();
-  $maven_available = (200 == $agent->get($maven_url)->code)
+  $maven_available = (200 == $agent->head($maven_url)->code)
     unless ($maven_available);
   @apache_mirrors = &check_mirrors;
   my $stop = time();
   $sleep_interval = $interval - ($stop - $start);
 
   my $num_downloadable_apache_mirrors = $num_apache_mirrors - $#apache_mirrors;
-  print "$version is ", ($maven_available ? "" : "not "),
-    "downloadable from Maven Central.\n";
-  printf "$version is downloadable from %d/%d Apache Mirrors (%0.1f%%)\n",
+  print "$label is ", ($maven_available ? "" : "not "),
+  "downloadable from Maven Central.\n" if defined($maven_url);
+  printf "$label is downloadable from %d/%d Apache Mirrors (%0.1f%%)\n",
     $num_downloadable_apache_mirrors, $num_apache_mirrors,
     ($num_downloadable_apache_mirrors*100/$num_apache_mirrors);
 
@@ -119,9 +141,14 @@ while (1) {
 sub check_mirrors {
   my @not_yet_downloadable_apache_mirrors;
   for my $mirror (@apache_mirrors) {
-    push @not_yet_downloadable_apache_mirrors, $mirror
-      unless (200 == $agent->get($mirror)->code);
-    print ".";
+
+    ### print "\n$mirror\n";
+    if (200 != $agent->head($mirror)->code) {
+      push @not_yet_downloadable_apache_mirrors, $mirror;
+      print $details ? "\nFAIL: $mirror\n" : "X";
+    } else {
+      print ".";
+    }
   }
   print "\n";
   return @not_yet_downloadable_apache_mirrors;