diff --git a/toolkit/components/places/src/nsNavBookmarks.cpp b/toolkit/components/places/src/nsNavBookmarks.cpp
index e63c6bd7f86..7699ccb27d2 100644
--- a/toolkit/components/places/src/nsNavBookmarks.cpp
+++ b/toolkit/components/places/src/nsNavBookmarks.cpp
@@ -2280,6 +2280,168 @@ nsNavBookmarks::RemoveObserver(nsINavBookmarkObserver *aObserver)
   return mObservers.RemoveWeakElement(aObserver);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Called by the History service when shutting down
+ */
+nsresult
+nsNavBookmarks::OnQuit()
+{
+  // get bookmarks file
+  nsCOMPtr<nsIFile> bookmarksFile;
+  nsresult rv = NS_GetSpecialDirectory(NS_APP_BOOKMARKS_50_FILE,
+                                       getter_AddRefs(bookmarksFile));
+  NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
+
+  // create if it doesn't exist
+  PRBool exists;
+  rv = bookmarksFile->Exists(&exists);
+  if (NS_FAILED(rv) || !exists) {
+    rv = bookmarksFile->Create(nsIFile::NORMAL_FILE_TYPE, 0600);
+    NS_ASSERTION(rv, "Unable to create bookmarks.html!");
+    return rv;
+  }
+
+  // export bookmarks.html
+  rv = ExportBookmarksHTML(bookmarksFile);
+  NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
+
+  // archive if needed
+  nsCOMPtr<nsIPrefService> prefServ(do_GetService(NS_PREFSERVICE_CONTRACTID, &rv));
+  NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
+  nsCOMPtr<nsIPrefBranch> bookmarksPrefs;
+  rv = prefServ->GetBranch("browser.bookmarks.", getter_AddRefs(bookmarksPrefs));
+  NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
+
+  PRInt32 numberOfBackups;
+  rv = bookmarksPrefs->GetIntPref("max_backups", &numberOfBackups);
+  if (NS_FAILED(rv))
+    numberOfBackups = 5;
+
+  if (numberOfBackups > 0) {
+    rv = ArchiveBookmarksFile(numberOfBackups, PR_FALSE);
+    NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
+  }
+
+  return NS_OK;
+}
+
+/**
+ *  ArchiveBookmarksFile()
+ *
+ *  Creates a dated backup once a day in <profile>/bookmarkbackups
+ *
+ *  PRInt32 numberOfBackups - the maximum number of backups to keep
+ *
+ *  PRBool forceArchive - forces creating an archive even if one was 
+ *                        already created that day (overwrites)
+ */
+nsresult
+nsNavBookmarks::ArchiveBookmarksFile(PRInt32 numberOfBackups,
+                                         PRBool forceArchive)
+{
+  nsCOMPtr<nsIFile> bookmarksBackupDir;
+  nsresult rv = NS_GetSpecialDirectory(NS_APP_USER_PROFILE_50_DIR,
+                                       getter_AddRefs(bookmarksBackupDir));
+  NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
+  
+  nsDependentCString dirName("bookmarkbackups");
+  rv = bookmarksBackupDir->AppendNative(dirName);
+  NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
+  
+  PRBool exists;
+  rv = bookmarksBackupDir->Exists(&exists);
+  if (NS_FAILED(rv) || !exists) {
+    rv = bookmarksBackupDir->Create(nsIFile::DIRECTORY_TYPE, 0700);
+    
+    // if there's no backup folder, there's no backup, fail
+    NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
+  }
+
+  // construct the new leafname
+  PRTime          now64 = PR_Now();
+  PRExplodedTime  nowInfo;
+  PR_ExplodeTime(now64, PR_LocalTimeParameters, &nowInfo);
+  PR_NormalizeTime(&nowInfo, PR_LocalTimeParameters);
+
+  char timeString[128];
+  
+  PR_FormatTime(timeString, 128, "bookmarks-%Y-%m-%d.html", &nowInfo);
+
+  nsCAutoString backupFilenameCString(timeString);
+  nsAutoString backupFilenameString = NS_ConvertUTF8toUTF16(backupFilenameCString);
+
+  nsCOMPtr<nsIFile> backupFile;
+  if (forceArchive) {
+    // if we have a backup from today, nuke it
+    nsCOMPtr<nsIFile> currentBackup;
+    rv = bookmarksBackupDir->Clone(getter_AddRefs(currentBackup));
+    NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
+    rv = currentBackup->Append(backupFilenameString);
+    NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
+    rv = currentBackup->Exists(&exists);
+    if (!NS_FAILED(rv) && exists) {
+      rv = currentBackup->Remove(PR_FALSE);
+      NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
+    }
+  } else {
+    nsCOMPtr<nsISimpleEnumerator> existingBackups;
+    rv = bookmarksBackupDir->GetDirectoryEntries(getter_AddRefs(existingBackups));
+    NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
+
+    nsStringArray backupFileNames;
+
+    PRBool hasMoreElements = PR_FALSE;
+    PRBool hasCurrentBackup = PR_FALSE;
+    
+    while (NS_SUCCEEDED(existingBackups->HasMoreElements(&hasMoreElements)) &&
+           hasMoreElements)
+    {
+      rv = existingBackups->GetNext(getter_AddRefs(backupFile));
+      NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
+      nsAutoString backupName;
+      rv = backupFile->GetLeafName(backupName);
+      NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
+      
+      // the backup for today exists, do not create later
+      if (backupName == backupFilenameString) {
+        hasCurrentBackup = PR_TRUE;
+        continue;
+      }
+
+      // mark the rest for possible removal
+      if (Substring(backupName, 0, 10) == NS_LITERAL_STRING("bookmarks-"))
+        backupFileNames.AppendString(backupName);
+    }
+
+    if (numberOfBackups > 0 && backupFileNames.Count() >= numberOfBackups) {
+      PRInt32 numberOfBackupsToDelete = backupFileNames.Count() - numberOfBackups + 1;
+      backupFileNames.Sort();
+
+      while (numberOfBackupsToDelete--) {
+        (void)bookmarksBackupDir->Clone(getter_AddRefs(backupFile));
+        (void)backupFile->Append(*backupFileNames[0]);
+        (void)backupFile->Remove(PR_FALSE);
+        backupFileNames.RemoveStringAt(0);
+      }
+    }
+
+    if (hasCurrentBackup)
+      return NS_OK;
+  }
+
+  nsCOMPtr<nsIFile> bookmarksFile;
+  rv = NS_GetSpecialDirectory(NS_APP_BOOKMARKS_50_FILE,
+                              getter_AddRefs(bookmarksFile));
+  NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
+  
+  rv = bookmarksFile->CopyTo(bookmarksBackupDir, backupFilenameString);
+  // at least dump something out in case this fails in a debug build
+  NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
+
+  return rv;
+}
+
+
 // nsNavBookmarks::nsINavHistoryObserver
 
 NS_IMETHODIMP
diff --git a/toolkit/components/places/src/nsNavBookmarks.h b/toolkit/components/places/src/nsNavBookmarks.h
index 05f0c90b78e..553ff6bec9c 100644
--- a/toolkit/components/places/src/nsNavBookmarks.h
+++ b/toolkit/components/places/src/nsNavBookmarks.h
@@ -108,6 +108,10 @@ public:
   static const PRInt32 kGetFolderInfoIndex_Title;
   static const PRInt32 kGetFolderInfoIndex_Type;
 
+  // Called by History service when quitting.
+  nsresult OnQuit();
+  nsresult ArchiveBookmarksFile(PRInt32 aNumberOfBackups, PRBool aForceArchive);
+
 private:
   static nsNavBookmarks *sInstance;
 
diff --git a/toolkit/components/places/src/nsNavHistory.cpp b/toolkit/components/places/src/nsNavHistory.cpp
index 0880cad44b5..9b2f9c3cf8b 100644
--- a/toolkit/components/places/src/nsNavHistory.cpp
+++ b/toolkit/components/places/src/nsNavHistory.cpp
@@ -2899,6 +2899,11 @@ nsNavHistory::Observe(nsISupports *aSubject, const char *aTopic,
 
     // notify expiring system that we're quitting, it may want to do stuff
     mExpire.OnQuit();
+    
+    // notify the bookmarks service we're quitting
+    nsNavBookmarks* bookmarks = nsNavBookmarks::GetBookmarksService();
+    NS_ENSURE_TRUE(bookmarks, NS_ERROR_OUT_OF_MEMORY);
+    (void)bookmarks->OnQuit();
   } else if (nsCRT::strcmp(aTopic, gXpcomShutdown) == 0) {
     nsresult rv;
     nsCOMPtr<nsIObserverService> observerService =