diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..60a7a4a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+NAME := skalibs
+SPECFILE = $(firstword $(wildcard *.spec))
+
+define find-makefile-common
+for d in common ../common ../../common ; do if [ -f $$d/Makefile.common ] ; then if [ -f $$d/CVS/Root -a -w $$d/Makefile.common ] ; then cd $$d ; cvs -Q update ; fi ; echo "$$d/Makefile.common" ; break ; fi ; done
+endef
+
+MAKEFILE_COMMON := $(shell $(find-makefile-common))
+
+ifeq ($(MAKEFILE_COMMON),)
+# attept a checkout
+define checkout-makefile-common
+test -f CVS/Root && { cvs -Q -d $(cat CVS/Root) checkout common && echo "common/Makefile.common" ; } || { echo "ERROR: I can't figure out how to checkout the 'common' module." ; exit -1 ; } >&2
+endef
+
+MAKEFILE_COMMON := $(shell $(checkout-makefile-common))
+endif
+
+include $(MAKEFILE_COMMON)