diff --git a/railties/CHANGELOG b/railties/CHANGELOG
index 4fda0feaad..ff1138f412 100644
--- a/railties/CHANGELOG
+++ b/railties/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 *SVN*
 
+* Copy lighttpd.conf when it is first needed, instead of on app creation [Jamis Buck]
+
 * Use require_library_or_gem 'fcgi' in script/server [Sam Stephenson]
 
 * Added default lighttpd config in config/lighttpd.conf and added a default runner for lighttpd in script/server (works like script/server, but using lighttpd and FastCGI). It will use lighttpd if available, otherwise WEBrick. You can force either or using 'script/server lighttpd' or 'script/server webrick' [DHH]
diff --git a/railties/configs/lighttpd.conf b/railties/configs/lighttpd.conf
index e169ee210c..3577360f7d 100644
--- a/railties/configs/lighttpd.conf
+++ b/railties/configs/lighttpd.conf
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # Default configuration file for the lighttpd web server
-# Start using ./script/lighttpd
+# Start using ./script/server lighttpd
 
 server.port = 3000
 
diff --git a/railties/lib/commands/servers/lighttpd.rb b/railties/lib/commands/servers/lighttpd.rb
index 488c7d61c4..0205e10c0a 100644
--- a/railties/lib/commands/servers/lighttpd.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/commands/servers/lighttpd.rb
@@ -21,6 +21,14 @@ end
 
 config_file = "#{RAILS_ROOT}/config/lighttpd.conf"
 
+unless File.exist?(config_file)
+  require 'fileutils'
+  source = File.expand_path(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__),
+     "..", "..", "..", "configs", "lighttpd.conf"))
+  puts "=> #{config_file} not found, copying from #{source}"
+  FileUtils.cp source, config_file
+end
+
 port = IO.read(config_file).scan(/^server.port\s*=\s*(\d+)/).first rescue 3000
 puts "=> Rails application started on http://0.0.0.0:#{port}"
 
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails_generator/generators/applications/app/app_generator.rb b/railties/lib/rails_generator/generators/applications/app/app_generator.rb
index 9292f227dc..01f371ce42 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails_generator/generators/applications/app/app_generator.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails_generator/generators/applications/app/app_generator.rb
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@ class AppGenerator < Rails::Generator::Base
       }
       m.template "configs/routes.rb",     "config/routes.rb"
       m.template "configs/apache.conf",   "public/.htaccess"
-      m.template "configs/lighttpd.conf", "config/lighttpd.conf"
 
       # Environments
       m.file "environments/boot.rb",        "config/boot.rb"