diff --git a/lib/appenders/fileSync.js b/lib/appenders/fileSync.js
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..b248f75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/appenders/fileSync.js
@@ -0,0 +1,187 @@
+"use strict";
+var debug = require('../debug')('fileSync')
+, layouts = require('../layouts')
+, path = require('path')
+, fs = require('fs')
+, streams = require('../streams')
+, os = require('os')
+, eol = os.EOL || '\n'
+;
+
+function RollingFileSync (filename, size, backups, options) {
+  debug("In RollingFileStream");
+
+  function throwErrorIfArgumentsAreNotValid() {
+    if (!filename || !size || size <= 0) {
+      throw new Error("You must specify a filename and file size");
+    }
+  }
+  
+  throwErrorIfArgumentsAreNotValid();
+  
+  this.filename = filename;
+  this.size = size;
+  this.backups = backups || 1;
+  this.options = options || { encoding: 'utf8', mode: parseInt('0644', 8), flags: 'a' };
+  this.currentSize = 0;
+  
+  function currentFileSize(file) {
+    var fileSize = 0;
+    try {
+      fileSize = fs.statSync(file).size;
+    } catch (e) {
+      // file does not exist
+      fs.appendFileSync(filename, '');
+    }
+    return fileSize;
+  }
+
+  this.currentSize = currentFileSize(this.filename);
+}
+
+RollingFileSync.prototype.shouldRoll = function() {
+  debug("should roll with current size %d, and max size %d", this.currentSize, this.size);
+  return this.currentSize >= this.size;
+};
+
+RollingFileSync.prototype.roll = function(filename) {
+  var that = this,
+  nameMatcher = new RegExp('^' + path.basename(filename));
+  
+  function justTheseFiles (item) {
+    return nameMatcher.test(item);
+  }
+  
+  function index(filename_) {
+    return parseInt(filename_.substring((path.basename(filename) + '.').length), 10) || 0;
+  }
+  
+  function byIndex(a, b) {
+    if (index(a) > index(b)) {
+      return 1;
+    } else if (index(a) < index(b) ) {
+      return -1;
+    } else {
+      return 0;
+    }
+  }
+
+  function increaseFileIndex (fileToRename) {
+    var idx = index(fileToRename);
+    debug('Index of ' + fileToRename + ' is ' + idx);
+    if (idx < that.backups) {
+      //on windows, you can get a EEXIST error if you rename a file to an existing file
+      //so, we'll try to delete the file we're renaming to first
+      try {
+        fs.unlinkSync(filename + '.' + (idx+1));
+      } catch(e) {
+        //ignore err: if we could not delete, it's most likely that it doesn't exist
+      }
+      
+      debug('Renaming ' + fileToRename + ' -> ' + filename + '.' + (idx+1));
+      fs.renameSync(path.join(path.dirname(filename), fileToRename), filename + '.' + (idx + 1));
+    }
+  }
+
+  function renameTheFiles() {
+    //roll the backups (rename file.n to file.n+1, where n <= numBackups)
+    debug("Renaming the old files");
+    
+    var files = fs.readdirSync(path.dirname(filename));
+    files.filter(justTheseFiles).sort(byIndex).reverse().forEach(increaseFileIndex);
+  }
+
+  debug("Rolling, rolling, rolling");
+  renameTheFiles();
+};
+
+RollingFileSync.prototype.write = function(chunk, encoding) {
+  var that = this;
+  
+  
+  function writeTheChunk() {
+    debug("writing the chunk to the file");
+    that.currentSize += chunk.length;
+    fs.appendFileSync(that.filename, chunk);
+  }
+
+  debug("in write");
+  
+
+  if (this.shouldRoll()) {
+    this.currentSize = 0;
+    this.roll(this.filename);
+  }
+  
+  writeTheChunk();
+};
+
+
+/**
+ * File Appender writing the logs to a text file. Supports rolling of logs by size.
+ *
+ * @param file file log messages will be written to
+ * @param layout a function that takes a logevent and returns a string 
+ *   (defaults to basicLayout).
+ * @param logSize - the maximum size (in bytes) for a log file, 
+ *   if not provided then logs won't be rotated.
+ * @param numBackups - the number of log files to keep after logSize 
+ *   has been reached (default 5)
+ */
+function fileAppender (file, layout, logSize, numBackups) {
+  debug("fileSync appender created");
+  var bytesWritten = 0;
+  file = path.normalize(file);
+  layout = layout || layouts.basicLayout;
+  numBackups = numBackups === undefined ? 5 : numBackups;
+  //there has to be at least one backup if logSize has been specified
+  numBackups = numBackups === 0 ? 1 : numBackups;
+
+  function openTheStream(file, fileSize, numFiles) {
+    var stream;
+    
+    if (fileSize) {
+      stream = new RollingFileSync(
+        file,
+        fileSize,
+        numFiles
+      );
+    } else {
+      stream = (function(f) {
+        // create file if it doesn't exist
+        if (!fs.existsSync(f))
+            fs.appendFileSync(f, '');
+        
+        return {
+            write: function(data) {
+                fs.appendFileSync(f, data);
+            }
+        };
+      })(file);
+    }
+
+    return stream;
+  }
+
+  var logFile = openTheStream(file, logSize, numBackups);
+  
+  return function(loggingEvent) {
+    logFile.write(layout(loggingEvent) + eol);
+  };
+}
+
+function configure(config, options) {
+  var layout;
+  if (config.layout) {
+    layout = layouts.layout(config.layout.type, config.layout);
+  }
+
+  if (options && options.cwd && !config.absolute) {
+    config.filename = path.join(options.cwd, config.filename);
+  }
+
+  return fileAppender(config.filename, layout, config.maxLogSize, config.backups);
+}
+
+exports.appender = fileAppender;
+exports.configure = configure;
diff --git a/test/fileSyncAppender-test.js b/test/fileSyncAppender-test.js
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..057ab2f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fileSyncAppender-test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,181 @@
+"use strict";
+var vows = require('vows')
+, fs = require('fs')
+, path = require('path')
+, sandbox = require('sandboxed-module')
+, log4js = require('../lib/log4js')
+, assert = require('assert');
+
+log4js.clearAppenders();
+
+function remove(filename) {
+  try {
+    fs.unlinkSync(filename);
+  } catch (e) {
+    //doesn't really matter if it failed
+  }
+}
+
+vows.describe('log4js fileSyncAppender').addBatch({
+  'with default fileSyncAppender settings': {
+    topic: function() {
+      var that = this
+      , testFile = path.join(__dirname, '/fa-default-sync-test.log')
+      , logger = log4js.getLogger('default-settings');
+      remove(testFile);
+
+      log4js.clearAppenders();
+      log4js.addAppender(require('../lib/appenders/fileSync').appender(testFile), 'default-settings');
+      
+      logger.info("This should be in the file.");
+      
+      fs.readFile(testFile, "utf8", that.callback);
+    },
+    'should write log messages to the file': function(err, fileContents) {
+      assert.include(fileContents, "This should be in the file.\n");
+    },
+    'log messages should be in the basic layout format': function(err, fileContents) {
+      assert.match(
+        fileContents, 
+          /\[\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}\s\d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2}\.\d{3}\] \[INFO\] default-settings - /
+      );
+    }
+  },
+  'with a max file size and no backups': {
+    topic: function() {
+      var testFile = path.join(__dirname, '/fa-maxFileSize-sync-test.log')
+      , logger = log4js.getLogger('max-file-size')
+      , that = this;
+      remove(testFile);
+      remove(testFile + '.1');
+      //log file of 100 bytes maximum, no backups
+      log4js.clearAppenders();
+      log4js.addAppender(
+        require('../lib/appenders/fileSync').appender(testFile, log4js.layouts.basicLayout, 100, 0), 
+        'max-file-size'
+      );
+      logger.info("This is the first log message.");
+      logger.info("This is an intermediate log message.");
+      logger.info("This is the second log message.");
+
+      fs.readFile(testFile, "utf8", that.callback);
+    },
+    'log file should only contain the second message': function(err, fileContents) {
+      assert.include(fileContents, "This is the second log message.\n");
+      assert.equal(fileContents.indexOf("This is the first log message."), -1);
+    },
+    'the number of files': {
+      topic: function() {
+        fs.readdir(__dirname, this.callback);
+      },
+      'starting with the test file name should be two': function(err, files) {
+        //there will always be one backup if you've specified a max log size
+        var logFiles = files.filter(
+          function(file) { return file.indexOf('fa-maxFileSize-sync-test.log') > -1; }
+        );
+        assert.equal(logFiles.length, 2);
+      }
+    }
+  },
+  'with a max file size and 2 backups': {
+    topic: function() {
+      var testFile = path.join(__dirname, '/fa-maxFileSize-with-backups-sync-test.log')
+      , logger = log4js.getLogger('max-file-size-backups');
+      remove(testFile);
+      remove(testFile+'.1');
+      remove(testFile+'.2');
+      
+      //log file of 50 bytes maximum, 2 backups
+      log4js.clearAppenders();
+      log4js.addAppender(
+        require('../lib/appenders/fileSync').appender(testFile, log4js.layouts.basicLayout, 50, 2), 
+        'max-file-size-backups'
+      );
+      logger.info("This is the first log message.");
+      logger.info("This is the second log message.");
+      logger.info("This is the third log message.");
+      logger.info("This is the fourth log message.");
+      var that = this;
+      
+      fs.readdir(__dirname, function(err, files) { 
+        if (files) { 
+          that.callback(null, files.sort()); 
+        } else { 
+          that.callback(err, files); 
+        }
+      });
+    },
+    'the log files': {
+      topic: function(files) {
+        var logFiles = files.filter(
+          function(file) { return file.indexOf('fa-maxFileSize-with-backups-sync-test.log') > -1; }
+        );
+        return logFiles;
+      },
+      'should be 3': function (files) {
+        assert.equal(files.length, 3);
+      },
+      'should be named in sequence': function (files) {
+        assert.deepEqual(files, [
+          'fa-maxFileSize-with-backups-sync-test.log', 
+          'fa-maxFileSize-with-backups-sync-test.log.1', 
+          'fa-maxFileSize-with-backups-sync-test.log.2'
+        ]);
+      },
+      'and the contents of the first file': {
+        topic: function(logFiles) {
+          fs.readFile(path.join(__dirname, logFiles[0]), "utf8", this.callback);
+        },
+        'should be the last log message': function(contents) {
+          assert.include(contents, 'This is the fourth log message.');
+        }
+      },
+      'and the contents of the second file': {
+        topic: function(logFiles) {
+          fs.readFile(path.join(__dirname, logFiles[1]), "utf8", this.callback);
+        },
+        'should be the third log message': function(contents) {
+          assert.include(contents, 'This is the third log message.');
+        }
+      },
+      'and the contents of the third file': {
+        topic: function(logFiles) {
+          fs.readFile(path.join(__dirname, logFiles[2]), "utf8", this.callback);
+        },
+        'should be the second log message': function(contents) {
+          assert.include(contents, 'This is the second log message.');
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}).addBatch({
+  'configure' : {
+    'with fileSyncAppender': {
+      topic: function() {
+        var log4js = require('../lib/log4js')
+        , logger;
+        //this config defines one file appender (to ./tmp-sync-tests.log)
+        //and sets the log level for "tests" to WARN
+        log4js.configure({
+            appenders: [{ 
+                category: "tests", 
+                type: "file", 
+                filename: "tmp-sync-tests.log", 
+                layout: { type: "messagePassThrough" } 
+            }],
+  
+            levels: { tests:  "WARN" }
+        });
+        logger = log4js.getLogger('tests');
+        logger.info('this should not be written to the file');
+        logger.warn('this should be written to the file');
+        
+        fs.readFile('tmp-sync-tests.log', 'utf8', this.callback);
+      },
+      'should load appender configuration from a json file': function(err, contents) {
+        assert.include(contents, 'this should be written to the file\n');
+        assert.equal(contents.indexOf('this should not be written to the file'), -1);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}).export(module);