diff --git a/tools/deploy b/tools/deploy
index f5b8164..39b8f2c 100755
--- a/tools/deploy
+++ b/tools/deploy
@@ -1,27 +1,59 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 
-## functions
-
-function syntaxerror
-{
-	echo "SYNTAX: deploy <target-sys> <target-dir>" > /dev/stderr
-	exit 1
-}
+import sys as _sys
+import os as _os
+import argparse as _argparse
 
 
-## args
+def main():
+	## args
+	argument_parser = _argparse.ArgumentParser()
+	argument_parser.add_argument(
+		type = str,
+		dest = "target_system",
+		metavar = "<target-system>",
+		help = "either 'localhost' or SSH handle of the target system",
+	)
+	argument_parser.add_argument(
+		"-t",
+		"--target-directory",
+		type = str,
+		dest = "target_directory",
+		default = "/opt/espe",
+		metavar = "<target-directory>",
+		help = "directory on the target system, where the files shall be put; default: /opt/espe",
+	)
+	argument_parser.add_argument(
+		"-b",
+		"--build-directory",
+		type = str,
+		dest = "build_directory",
+		default = "build",
+		metavar = "<build-directory>",
+		help = "directory to where the build was put",
+	)
+	args = argument_parser.parse_args()
+	
+	## exec
+	if (not _os.path.exists(args.build_directory)):
+		_sys.stderr.write("-- build directory not found; probably you need to run /tools/build\n")
+		_sys.exit(1)
+	else:
+		_os.system(
+			" ".join([
+				"rsync",
+				"--recursive",
+				"--update",
+				"--verbose",
+				"--exclude='conf.json'",
+				("%s/" % args.build_directory),
+				(
+					("%s" % args.target_directory)
+					if (args.target_system == "localhost") else
+					("%s:%s" % (args.target_system, args.target_directory, ))
+				),
+			])
+		)
+	
 
-if [ $# -ge 1 ] ; then target_sys=$1 && shift ; else syntaxerror ; fi
-if [ $# -ge 1 ] ; then target_dir=$1 && shift ; else syntaxerror ; fi
-
-
-## exec
-
-rsync \
-	--rsh=ssh \
-	--recursive \
-	--update \
-	--delete \
-	--exclude="conf.json" \
-	build/ \
-	${target_sys}:${target_dir}
+main()