diff --git a/bin/repoman b/bin/repoman
index 3504b6b..c7a1c4c 100755
--- a/bin/repoman
+++ b/bin/repoman
@@ -144,9 +144,16 @@
 		'scan' : 'Scan directory tree for QA issues'
 	}
 
+	output_choices = {
+		'default' : 'The normal output format',
+		'column' : 'Columnar output suitable for use with grep'
+	}
+
 	mode_keys = list(modes)
 	mode_keys.sort()
 
+	output_keys = sorted(output_choices)
+
 	parser = ArgumentParser(usage="repoman [options] [mode]",
 		description="Modes: %s" % " | ".join(mode_keys),
 		epilog="For more help consult the man page.")
@@ -228,6 +235,9 @@
 	parser.add_argument('--without-mask', dest='without_mask', action='store_true',
 		default=False, help='behave as if no package.mask entries exist (not allowed with commit mode)')
 
+	parser.add_argument('--output-style', dest='output_style', choices=output_keys,
+		help='select output type', default='default')
+
 	parser.add_argument('--mode', dest='mode', choices=mode_keys,
 		help='specify which mode repoman will run in (default=full)')
 
@@ -2422,7 +2432,10 @@
 
 f = formatter.AbstractFormatter(console_writer)
 
-utilities.format_qa_output(f, stats, fails, dofull, dofail, options, qawarnings)
+if options.output_style == 'column':
+	utilities.format_qa_output_column(f, stats, fails, dofull, dofail, options, qawarnings)
+else:
+	utilities.format_qa_output(f, stats, fails, dofull, dofail, options, qawarnings)
 
 style_file.flush()
 del console_writer, f, style_file
diff --git a/pym/repoman/utilities.py b/pym/repoman/utilities.py
index 3ec3a4a..aec61fe 100644
--- a/pym/repoman/utilities.py
+++ b/pym/repoman/utilities.py
@@ -330,6 +330,50 @@
 				formatter.add_line_break()
 
 
+def format_qa_output_column(formatter, stats, fails, dofull, dofail, options, qawarnings):
+	"""Helper function that formats output in a machine-parseable column format
+
+	@param formatter: an instance of Formatter
+	@type formatter: Formatter
+	@param path: dict of qa status items
+	@type path: dict
+	@param fails: dict of qa status failures
+	@type fails: dict
+	@param dofull: Whether to print full results or a summary
+	@type dofull: boolean
+	@param dofail: Whether failure was hard or soft
+	@type dofail: boolean
+	@param options: The command-line options provided to repoman
+	@type options: Namespace
+	@param qawarnings: the set of warning types
+	@type qawarnings: set
+	@return: None (modifies formatter)
+	"""
+	full = options.mode == 'full'
+	for category, number in stats.items():
+		# we only want key value pairs where value > 0
+		if number < 1:
+			continue
+
+		formatter.add_literal_data("NumberOf " + category + " ")
+		if category in qawarnings:
+			formatter.push_style("WARN")
+		else:
+			formatter.push_style("BAD")
+		formatter.add_literal_data("%s" % number)
+		formatter.pop_style()
+		formatter.add_line_break()
+		if not dofull:
+			if not full and dofail and category in qawarnings:
+				# warnings are considered noise when there are failures
+				continue
+			fails_list = fails[category]
+			if not full and len(fails_list) > 12:
+				fails_list = fails_list[:12]
+			for failure in fails_list:
+				formatter.add_literal_data(category + " " + failure)
+				formatter.add_line_break()
+
 def editor_is_executable(editor):
 	"""
 	Given an EDITOR string, validate that it refers to