diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..378eac25d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+build
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..10f64df310
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+#
+# A simple static wrapper for a number of standard Makefile targets,
+# mostly just forwarding to build/Makefile. This is provided only for
+# convenience and supports only a subset of what CMake's Makefile
+# to offer. For more, execute that one directly. 
+#
+
+BUILD=build
+
+all: configured
+	( cd $(BUILD) && make )
+
+install: configured
+	( cd $(BUILD) && make install )
+
+clean: configured
+	( cd $(BUILD) && make clean )
+
+dist: configured
+	( cd $(BUILD) && make package_source )
+
+distclean:
+	rm -rf $(BUILD)
+
+.PHONY : configured
+configured:
+	@test -d $(BUILD) || ( echo "Error: No build/ directory found. Did you run configure?" && exit 1 )
+	@test -e $(BUILD)/Makefile || ( echo "Error: No build/Makefile found. Did you run configure?" && exit 1 )