diff --git a/searx/__init__.py b/searx/__init__.py
index 375a5414a..0acc61447 100644
--- a/searx/__init__.py
+++ b/searx/__init__.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from os import environ
 from os.path import realpath, dirname, join, abspath
+from searx.https_rewrite import load_https_rules
 try:
     from yaml import load
 except:
@@ -15,6 +16,13 @@ if 'SEARX_SETTINGS_PATH' in environ:
 else:
     settings_path = join(searx_dir, 'settings.yml')
 
+if 'SEARX_HTTPS_REWRITE_PATH' in environ:
+    https_rewrite_path = environ['SEARX_HTTPS_REWRITE_PATH']
+else:
+    https_rewrite_path = join(searx_dir, 'https_rules')
 
 with open(settings_path) as settings_yaml:
     settings = load(settings_yaml)
+
+# loade https rules
+load_https_rules(https_rewrite_path)
diff --git a/searx/https_rewrite.py b/searx/https_rewrite.py
index 44ada9450..814eda2de 100644
--- a/searx/https_rewrite.py
+++ b/searx/https_rewrite.py
@@ -1,14 +1,139 @@
+'''
+searx is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+(at your option) any later version.
+
+searx 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 Affero General Public License for more details.
+
+You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+along with searx. If not, see < http://www.gnu.org/licenses/ >.
+
+(C) 2013- by Adam Tauber, <asciimoo@gmail.com>
+'''
+
 import re
+from lxml import etree
+from os import listdir
+from os.path import isfile, join
+
 
 # https://gitweb.torproject.org/\
 # pde/https-everywhere.git/tree/4.0:/src/chrome/content/rules
 
 # HTTPS rewrite rules
-https_rules = (
-    # from
-    (re.compile(r'^http://(www\.|m\.|)?xkcd\.(?:com|org)/', re.I | re.U),
-     # to
-     r'https://\1xkcd.com/'),
-    (re.compile(r'^https?://(?:ssl)?imgs\.xkcd\.com/', re.I | re.U),
-     r'https://sslimgs.xkcd.com/'),
-)
+https_rules = []
+
+
+# load single ruleset from a xml file
+def load_single_https_ruleset(filepath):
+    ruleset = ()
+
+    # init parser
+    parser = etree.XMLParser()
+
+    # load and parse xml-file
+    try:
+        tree = etree.parse(filepath, parser)
+    except:
+        # TODO, error message
+        return ()
+
+    # get root node
+    root = tree.getroot()
+
+    #print(etree.tostring(tree))
+
+    # check if root is a node with the name ruleset
+    # TODO improve parsing
+    if root.tag != 'ruleset':        
+        return ()
+
+    # check if rule is deactivated by default
+    if root.attrib.get('default_off'):
+        return ()
+
+    # check if rule does only work for specific platforms
+    if root.attrib.get('platform'):
+        return ()
+
+    hosts = []
+    rules = []
+    exclusions = []
+
+    # parse childs from ruleset
+    for ruleset in root:
+        # this child define a target
+        if ruleset.tag == 'target':
+            # check if required tags available 
+            if not ruleset.attrib.get('host'):
+                continue
+
+            # convert host-rule to valid regex
+            host = ruleset.attrib.get('host').replace('.', '\.').replace('*', '.*')
+
+            # append to host list
+            hosts.append(host)
+
+        # this child define a rule
+        elif ruleset.tag == 'rule':
+            # check if required tags available 
+            if not ruleset.attrib.get('from')\
+               or not ruleset.attrib.get('to'):
+                continue
+
+            # TODO hack, which convert a javascript regex group into a valid python regex group
+            rule_from = ruleset.attrib.get('from').replace('$', '\\')
+            rule_to = ruleset.attrib.get('to').replace('$', '\\')
+
+            # TODO, not working yet because of the hack above, currently doing that in webapp.py
+            #rule_from_rgx = re.compile(rule_from, re.I)
+
+            # append rule
+            rules.append((rule_from, rule_to))
+
+        # this child define an exclusion
+        elif ruleset.tag == 'exclusion':
+            # check if required tags available 
+            if not ruleset.attrib.get('pattern'):
+                continue
+
+            exclusion_rgx = re.compile(ruleset.attrib.get('pattern'))
+
+            # append exclusion
+            exclusions.append(exclusion_rgx)
+
+    # convert list of possible hosts to a simple regex
+    # TODO compress regex to improve performance
+    try:
+        target_hosts = re.compile('^(' + '|'.join(hosts) + ')', re.I | re.U)
+    except:
+        return ()
+
+    # return ruleset
+    return (target_hosts, rules, exclusions)
+
+
+# load all https rewrite rules
+def load_https_rules(rules_path):
+    # add / to path if not set yet
+    if rules_path[-1:] != '/':
+        rules_path += '/'
+
+    # search all xml files which are stored in the https rule directory
+    xml_files = [ join(rules_path,f) for f in listdir(rules_path) if isfile(join(rules_path,f)) and f[-4:] == '.xml' ]
+
+    # load xml-files
+    for ruleset_file in xml_files:
+        # calculate rewrite-rules
+        ruleset = load_single_https_ruleset(ruleset_file)
+
+        # skip if no ruleset returned
+        if not ruleset:
+            continue
+
+        # append ruleset
+        https_rules.append(ruleset)
diff --git a/searx/webapp.py b/searx/webapp.py
index 2bf3afaf4..7952415af 100644
--- a/searx/webapp.py
+++ b/searx/webapp.py
@@ -49,6 +49,9 @@ from searx.languages import language_codes
 from searx.search import Search
 from searx.autocomplete import backends as autocomplete_backends
 
+from urlparse import urlparse
+import re
+
 
 static_path, templates_path, themes =\
     get_themes(settings['themes_path']
@@ -197,16 +200,53 @@ def index():
         if not search.paging and engines[result['engine']].paging:
             search.paging = True
 
+        # check if HTTPS rewrite is required 
         if settings['server']['https_rewrite']\
            and result['parsed_url'].scheme == 'http':
 
-            for http_regex, https_url in https_rules:
-                if http_regex.match(result['url']):
-                    result['url'] = http_regex.sub(https_url, result['url'])
-                    # TODO result['parsed_url'].scheme
-                    break
+            skip_https_rewrite = False
+
+            # check if HTTPS rewrite is possible
+            for target, rules, exclusions in https_rules:
+
+                # check if target regex match with url
+                if target.match(result['url']):
+                    # process exclusions
+                    for exclusion in exclusions:
+                        # check if exclusion match with url
+                        if exclusion.match(result['url']):
+                            skip_https_rewrite = True
+                            break
+
+                    # skip https rewrite if required
+                    if skip_https_rewrite:
+                        break
+
+                    # process rules
+                    for rule in rules:
+                        # TODO, precompile rule
+                        p = re.compile(rule[0])
+                        # rewrite url if possible
+                        new_result_url = p.sub(rule[1], result['url'])
+
+                        # parse new url
+                        new_parsed_url = urlparse(new_result_url)
+
+                        # continiue if nothing was rewritten
+                        if result['url'] == new_result_url:
+                            continue
+
+                        # get domainname from result
+                        # TODO, does only work correct with TLD's like asdf.com, not for asdf.com.de
+                        # TODO, using publicsuffix instead of this rewrite rule
+                        old_result_domainname = '.'.join(result['parsed_url'].hostname.split('.')[-2:])
+                        new_result_domainname = '.'.join(new_parsed_url.hostname.split('.')[-2:])
+
+                        # check if rewritten hostname is the same, to protect against wrong or malicious rewrite rules
+                        if old_result_domainname == new_result_domainname:
+                            # set new url
+                            result['url'] = new_result_url
 
-        # HTTPS rewrite
         if search.request_data.get('format', 'html') == 'html':
             if 'content' in result:
                 result['content'] = highlight_content(result['content'],