diff --git a/tools/findleaves.py b/tools/findleaves.py
index 3a9e5084e2..72cc02456b 100755
--- a/tools/findleaves.py
+++ b/tools/findleaves.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 import os
 import sys
 
-def perform_find(mindepth, prune, dirlist, filename):
+def perform_find(mindepth, prune, dirlist, filenames):
   result = []
   pruneleaves = set(map(lambda x: os.path.split(x)[1], prune))
   for rootdir in dirlist:
@@ -48,19 +48,24 @@ def perform_find(mindepth, prune, dirlist, filename):
         if depth < mindepth:
           continue
       # match
-      if filename in files:
-        result.append(os.path.join(root, filename))
-        del dirs[:]
+      for filename in filenames:
+        if filename in files:
+          result.append(os.path.join(root, filename))
+          del dirs[:]
   return result
 
 def usage():
-  sys.stderr.write("""Usage: %(progName)s [<options>] <dirlist> <filename>
+  sys.stderr.write("""Usage: %(progName)s [<options>] [--dir=<dir>] <filenames>
 Options:
    --mindepth=<mindepth>
        Both behave in the same way as their find(1) equivalents.
    --prune=<dirname>
        Avoids returning results from inside any directory called <dirname>
        (e.g., "*/out/*"). May be used multiple times.
+   --dir=<dir>
+       Add a directory to search.  May be repeated multiple times.  For backwards
+       compatibility, if no --dir argument is provided then all but the last entry
+       in <filenames> are treated as directories.
 """ % {
       "progName": os.path.split(sys.argv[0])[1],
     })
@@ -69,6 +74,7 @@ Options:
 def main(argv):
   mindepth = -1
   prune = []
+  dirlist = []
   i=1
   while i<len(argv) and len(argv[i])>2 and argv[i][0:2] == "--":
     arg = argv[i]
@@ -82,14 +88,24 @@ def main(argv):
       if len(p) == 0:
         usage()
       prune.append(p)
+    elif arg.startswith("--dir="):
+      d = arg[len("--dir="):]
+      if len(p) == 0:
+        usage()
+      dirlist.append(d)
     else:
       usage()
     i += 1
-  if len(argv)-i < 2: # need both <dirlist> and <filename>
-    usage()
-  dirlist = argv[i:-1]
-  filename = argv[-1]
-  results = list(set(perform_find(mindepth, prune, dirlist, filename)))
+  if len(dirlist) == 0: # backwards compatibility
+    if len(argv)-i < 2: # need both <dirlist> and <filename>
+      usage()
+    dirlist = argv[i:-1]
+    filenames = [argv[-1]]
+  else:
+    if len(argv)-i < 1: # need <filename>
+      usage()
+    filenames = argv[i:]
+  results = list(set(perform_find(mindepth, prune, dirlist, filenames)))
   results.sort()
   for r in results:
     print r