diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index c1dd062a..4b9e90e9 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@ byobu (4.30) unreleased; urgency=low
     - fix default status
   * usr/share/byobu/profiles/common, usr/share/byobu/profiles/tmux:
     - drop backticks and double printing of date/time in tmux
+  * usr/bin/byobu-status, usr/bin/byobu-status-tmux => usr/bin/byobu-
+    status, usr/bin/Makefile.am, usr/share/byobu/profiles/common,
+    usr/share/byobu/profiles/tmux, usr/share/man/man1/byobu-status.1:
+    - transition to the new, faster, less-resource intensive status
+      gathering method
 
  -- Dustin Kirkland <kirkland@ubuntu.com>  Thu, 11 Aug 2011 10:31:31 -0500
 
diff --git a/usr/bin/Makefile.am b/usr/bin/Makefile.am
index a2d8f90b..3a4ceb15 100644
--- a/usr/bin/Makefile.am
+++ b/usr/bin/Makefile.am
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
-bin_SCRIPTS = byobu  byobu-config  byobu-ctrl-a  byobu-disable  byobu-enable  byobu-export  byobu-janitor  byobu-launch  byobu-launcher  byobu-launcher-install  byobu-launcher-uninstall  byobu-quiet  byobu-reconnect-sockets  byobu-select-profile  byobu-select-session  byobu-silent  byobu-status  byobu-status-tmux byobu-status-detail  byobu-shell
+bin_SCRIPTS = byobu  byobu-config  byobu-ctrl-a  byobu-disable  byobu-enable  byobu-export  byobu-janitor  byobu-launch  byobu-launcher  byobu-launcher-install  byobu-launcher-uninstall  byobu-quiet  byobu-reconnect-sockets  byobu-select-profile  byobu-select-session  byobu-silent  byobu-status  byobu-status-detail  byobu-shell
 
diff --git a/usr/bin/byobu-status b/usr/bin/byobu-status
index cd1d5034..09531612 100755
--- a/usr/bin/byobu-status
+++ b/usr/bin/byobu-status
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
-#!/bin/sh -e
+#!/bin/sh
 #
-#    byobu-status
-#    Copyright (C) 2008 Canonical Ltd.
+#    byobu-status: byobu's cached status gathering
+#
+#    Copyright (C) 2011 Dustin Kirkland
 #
 #    Authors: Dustin Kirkland <kirkland@ubuntu.com>
 #
@@ -21,15 +22,44 @@ PKG="byobu"
 [ -z "${BYOBU_PREFIX}" ] && export BYOBU_PREFIX="/usr" || export BYOBU_PREFIX
 . "${BYOBU_PREFIX}/lib/${PKG}/.common"
 
+# Make sure status is not disabled
 [ -f "$BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/status.disable" ] && exit 0
 
+# Clean and create cache directories
+mkdir -p "$BYOBU_RUN_DIR/status.$BYOBU_BACKEND" "$BYOBU_RUN_DIR/.last.$BYOBU_BACKEND"
+
 # Source configurations
 for i in "${BYOBU_PREFIX}/share/$PKG/status/status" "${BYOBU_PREFIX}/share/$PKG/status/statusrc" "$BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/status" "$BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/statusrc" "$BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/color"; do
 	[ -r "$i" ] && . "$i"
 done
 
-export P="$1"
-case "$P" in
+# Get the current timestamp
+get_now; NOW=${_RET}
+
+get_status() {
+	local cachepath="$BYOBU_RUN_DIR/status.$BYOBU_BACKEND/$1"
+	local lastpath="$BYOBU_RUN_DIR/.last.$BYOBU_BACKEND/$1"
+	local lastrun
+	[ -r "$lastpath" ] && read lastrun < "$lastpath" || lastrun=0
+	status_freq "$1"
+	local expiry=$(($lastrun+$_RET))
+	find_script "$1" && . "${_RET}"
+	# Update cache now, if necessary
+	if [ $NOW -ge $expiry ] || [ "$lastrun" = "0" ]; then
+		"__$1" > "$cachepath"
+		echo "$NOW" > "$lastpath"
+	fi
+	IFS= read line < "$cachepath"; printf "$line"
+}
+
+case "$1" in
+	*left|*right)
+		eval items="\$$1"
+		for i in $items; do
+			case "$i" in \#*) continue ;; esac
+			get_status "$i"
+		done
+	;;
 	--detail)
 		VER=
 		if command -v dpkg-query >/dev/null; then
@@ -56,13 +86,4 @@ case "$P" in
 		[ -z "$BACKGROUND" ] && BACKGROUND="k"
 		printf "$ESC{= $BACKGROUND$FOREGROUND}"
 	;;
-	*)
-		eval x="\$$P" || exit 1
-		[ "$x" = "1" ] || exit 0
-		shift
-		find_script "$P" && . "${_RET}"
-		eval "__${P}"
-	;;
 esac
-
-# vi: syntax=sh ts=4 noexpandtab
diff --git a/usr/bin/byobu-status-tmux b/usr/bin/byobu-status-tmux
deleted file mode 100755
index 6a55b2e5..00000000
--- a/usr/bin/byobu-status-tmux
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,63 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-#
-#    byobu-status-tmux: byobu's status gathering for tmux
-#
-#    Copyright (C) 2011 Dustin Kirkland
-#
-#    Authors: Dustin Kirkland <kirkland@ubuntu.com>
-#
-#    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, version 3 of the License.
-#
-#    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, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-
-PKG="byobu"
-[ -z "${BYOBU_PREFIX}" ] && export BYOBU_PREFIX="/usr" || export BYOBU_PREFIX
-. "${BYOBU_PREFIX}/lib/${PKG}/.common"
-
-# Make sure status is not disabled
-[ -f "$BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/status.disable" ] && exit 0
-
-# Clean and create cache directories
-mkdir -p "$BYOBU_RUN_DIR/status.$BYOBU_BACKEND" "$BYOBU_RUN_DIR/.last.$BYOBU_BACKEND"
-
-# Source configurations
-for i in "${BYOBU_PREFIX}/share/$PKG/status/status" "${BYOBU_PREFIX}/share/$PKG/status/statusrc" "$BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/status" "$BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/statusrc" "$BYOBU_CONFIG_DIR/color"; do
-	[ -r "$i" ] && . "$i"
-done
-
-# Get the current timestamp
-get_now; NOW=${_RET}
-
-get_status() {
-	local cachepath="$BYOBU_RUN_DIR/status.$BYOBU_BACKEND/$1"
-	local lastpath="$BYOBU_RUN_DIR/.last.$BYOBU_BACKEND/$1"
-	local lastrun
-	[ -r "$lastpath" ] && read lastrun < "$lastpath" || lastrun=0
-	status_freq "$1"
-	local expiry=$(($lastrun+$_RET))
-	find_script "$1" && . "${_RET}"
-	# Update cache now, if necessary
-	if [ $NOW -ge $expiry ] || [ "$lastrun" = "0" ]; then
-		"__$1" > "$cachepath"
-		echo "$NOW" > "$lastpath"
-	fi
-	IFS= read line < "$cachepath"; printf "$line"
-}
-
-case "$1" in
-	*left|*right)
-		eval items="\$$1"
-		for i in $items; do
-			case "$i" in \#*) continue ;; esac
-			get_status "$i"
-		done
-	;;
-esac
diff --git a/usr/share/byobu/profiles/common b/usr/share/byobu/profiles/common
index d34a74a6..e5268608 100644
--- a/usr/share/byobu/profiles/common
+++ b/usr/share/byobu/profiles/common
@@ -39,10 +39,10 @@ backtick 10 	9999999	9999999		byobu-janitor
 backtick 11	9999999	9999999		printf "\005-1="
 backtick 12	9999999	9999999		byobu-status color
 
-backtick 1001 	9999999	9999999		byobu-status-tmux screen_upper_left
-backtick 1002 	127	127		byobu-status-tmux screen_upper_right
-backtick 1003 	599	599		byobu-status-tmux screen_lower_left
-backtick 1004 	2	2		byobu-status-tmux screen_lower_right
+backtick 1001 	9999999	9999999		byobu-status screen_upper_left
+backtick 1002 	127	127		byobu-status screen_upper_right
+backtick 1003 	599	599		byobu-status screen_lower_left
+backtick 1004 	2	2		byobu-status screen_lower_right
 
 hardstatus alwayslastline
 
diff --git a/usr/share/byobu/profiles/tmux b/usr/share/byobu/profiles/tmux
index eb6610e5..cd047d20 100644
--- a/usr/share/byobu/profiles/tmux
+++ b/usr/share/byobu/profiles/tmux
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ set -g status-fg white
 set -g status-interval 1
 set -g status-left-length 256
 set -g status-right-length 256
-set -g status-left '#(byobu-status-tmux tmux_left)['
-set -g status-right ']#(byobu-status-tmux tmux_right)'
+set -g status-left '#(byobu-status tmux_left)['
+set -g status-right ']#(byobu-status tmux_right)'
 set -g message-bg magenta
 set -g message-fg white
diff --git a/usr/share/man/man1/byobu-status.1 b/usr/share/man/man1/byobu-status.1
index c2f127a2..6b7ef6e8 100644
--- a/usr/share/man/man1/byobu-status.1
+++ b/usr/share/man/man1/byobu-status.1
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
-.TH byobu-status 1 "21 Apr 2009" byobu "byobu"
+.TH byobu-status 1 "15 Aug 2011" byobu "byobu"
 .SH NAME
-byobu\-status \- Common starting point for running byobu status commands
+byobu\-status \- displays status suitable for printing by the BYOBU_BACKEND
 
 .SH DESCRIPTION
-\fBbyobu\-status\fP is a simple script that takes a single argument: a script defined in //usr/libexec/byobu.  This wrapper is useful for doing some common functionality, like setting the cpu and/or io priority, determining sane defaults, pre/post processing.
+\fBbyobu\-status\fP is a program periodically called by the BYOBU_BACKEND to gather the formatted status strings displayed in to lower status bar(s).
 
 .TP
 \fIhttp://launchpad.net/byobu\fP