diff --git a/xwords4/dawg/Makefile.langcommon b/xwords4/dawg/Makefile.langcommon
index 5ae03dceb..7a89557d3 100644
--- a/xwords4/dawg/Makefile.langcommon
+++ b/xwords4/dawg/Makefile.langcommon
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ endif
 
 # For each entry in the table whose face < 32, there needs to be a pair of
 # pbitm files and a string giving the printing form
-frankspecials.bin: ../frank_mkspecials.pl  $(BMPFILES)
+frankspecials.bin: ../frank_mkspecials.py  $(BMPFILES)
 	$< $(BLANK_INFO) $(LANG_SPECIAL_INFO) > $@
 
 $(XWLANG)%.$(FRANK_EXT): dawg$(XWLANG)%.stamp $(XWLANG)%_flags.bin $(XWLANG)%_newheader.bin $(XWLANG)_charcount.bin table.bin values.bin frankspecials.bin 
diff --git a/xwords4/dawg/frank_mkspecials.py b/xwords4/dawg/frank_mkspecials.py
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..0d69af876
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xwords4/dawg/frank_mkspecials.py
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+# Copyright 2001 - 2020 by Eric House (xwords@eehouse.org)
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+# modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+# as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
+# of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.
+
+# Given arguments consisting of triples, first a string and then pbitm
+# files representing bitmaps.  For each triple, print out the string and
+# then the converted bitmaps.
+
+import os, subprocess, struct, sys
+
+def doFile(bmp):
+    assert os.path.exists(bmp), 'no such file: {}'.format(bmp)
+    with open(bmp, 'r') as file:
+        subprocess.run(['../pbitm2bin.py'], stdin=file)
+
+def doOne( face, largebmp, smallbmp ):
+    # print('doOne({}, {}, {})'.format(face, largebmp, smallbmp), file=sys.stderr)
+    with os.fdopen(sys.stdout.fileno(), 'wb', closefd=False) as stdout:
+        encoded = face.encode('utf-8')
+        stdout.write(struct.pack('B', len(encoded)))
+        stdout.write(encoded)
+
+    for fil in [ largebmp, smallbmp ]:
+        print('looking at {}'.format(fil), file=sys.stderr)
+        doFile(fil)
+
+def main():
+    argv = sys.argv
+    for first in range(1, len(argv), 3):
+        (face, largebmp, smallbmp) = argv[first:first+3]
+        doOne(face, largebmp, smallbmp)
+
+##############################################################################
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()
diff --git a/xwords4/dawg/pbitm2bin.py b/xwords4/dawg/pbitm2bin.py
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..2e8bd78f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xwords4/dawg/pbitm2bin.py
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+#
+# Copyright  2001-2020  by  Eric  House (xwords@eehouse.org).   All
+# rights reserved.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+# modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+# as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
+# of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.
+#
+#
+# Given a pbitm on stdin, a text bitmap file where '#' indicates a set
+# bit and '-' indicates a clear bit, convert into binary form (on
+# stdout) where there's one bit per bit plus a byte each for the width
+# and height.  Nothing for bitdepth at this point.  And no padding: if
+# the number of bits in a row isn't a multiple of 8 then one byte will
+# hold the last bits of one row and the first of another.
+
+import os, struct, sys
+
+lines = [ line.strip() for line in sys.stdin ]
+nRows = len(lines)
+nCols = 0
+bits = ''
+    
+# first gather information and sanity-check the data
+
+for line in lines:
+    lineLen = len(line)
+    if nCols == 0:
+        nCols = lineLen
+    else:
+        assert nCols == lineLen, 'line of inconsistent length'
+    bits += line
+
+with os.fdopen(sys.stdout.fileno(), "wb", closefd=False) as stdout:
+    stdout.write(struct.pack('B', nCols))
+
+    # if we've been given an empty file, print out a single null byte
+    # and be done.  That'll be the convention for "non-existant
+    # bitmap".
+
+    if nCols > 0:
+        stdout.write(struct.pack( 'B', nRows ) )
+        print( 'emitting {}x{} bitmap'.format(nCols, nRows), file=sys.stderr)
+
+        while bits:
+            cur = bits[:8]
+            bits = bits[8:]
+
+            byt = 0
+            for indx in range(len(cur)):
+                ch = cur[indx]
+                assert ch == '-' or ch == '#', "char {} neither '#' nor '-'".format(ch)
+                if ch == '#': byt |= 1 << (7 - indx)
+
+            stdout.write(struct.pack( 'B', byt ))
+
+    stdout.flush()