Oinkmaster is simple but useful Perl script released under the BSD license to help you update/manage your Snort rules and disable/enable/modify certain rules after each update (among other things). It will tell you exactly what had changed since the last update, so you'll have total control of your rules.

Oinkmaster can be used to update to the latest official rules from www.snort.org, but can just as well be used for managing your homemade rules and distribute them between sensors. It may be useful in conjunction with any program that can use Snort rules, like Snort (doh!) or Prelude-NIDS. It will run on most UNIX systems and also on Windows.