diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..50cc917
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2015 Genome Research Ltd.
+# Author: Andrew Whitwham <aw7+github@sanger.ac.uk>
+#
+# This file is part of tears.
+#
+# tears is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
+# the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
+# Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later
+# version.
+# This program 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 General Public License for more
+# details.
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
+# this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses>
+
+bin_PROGRAMS = tears
+
+tears_SOURCES = tears.c
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..760966e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -0,0 +1,136 @@
+dnl                                             -*- Autoconf -*-
+AC_COPYRIGHT([
+Copyright (c) 2015 Genome Research Ltd.
+Author: Andrew Whitwham <aw7+github@sanger.ac.uk>
+
+This file is part of tears.
+
+tears is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
+the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
+Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later
+version.
+This program 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 General Public License for more
+details.
+You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
+this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses>])
+
+dnl Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.
+
+AC_PREREQ([2.68])
+AC_INIT([tears], [1.0], [aw7+github@sanger.ac.uk])
+
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([-Wall -Werror foreign])
+
+AC_PROG_CC
+AC_PROG_CC_C99
+AC_PROG_CC_C_O
+AC_LANG([C])
+
+# Checks for header files
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([stdio.h stdlib.h string.h unistd.h stdarg.h], [], [
+echo "Missing required header file, giving up."
+exit 1
+])dnl
+
+# Checks for typedefs, structures, and compiler characteristics.
+AC_TYPE_SIZE_T
+
+# Checks for library functions.
+AC_CHECK_FUNCS([memset strchr strdup strndup strstr], [], [
+echo "Required function not found, giving up."
+exit 1
+])dnl
+
+AC_CHECK_LIB([gssapi_krb5], [gss_acquire_cred])
+AC_CHECK_LIB([pthread], [pthread_kill])
+
+dnl Save the original values to restore between tests
+CPPFLAGS_ORIG=${CPPFLAGS}
+LDFLAGS_ORIG=${LDFLAGS}
+LIBS_ORIG=${LIBS}
+
+dnl Look for iRODS
+IRODS_HOME=
+AC_ARG_WITH([irods],
+  [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-irods],
+    [Specify the location of a run-in-place iRODS installation (default: /usr/local/lib/irods)])],
+  [AS_IF(
+    [test "x$with_irods" = "xno"],
+      [AC_MSG_FAILURE([iRODS is required to build baton])],
+    [test "x$with_irods" = "xyes"],
+      [AC_MSG_NOTICE([using default iRODS location])
+       IRODS_HOME="/usr/local/lib/irods"
+       IS_PACKAGED_INSTALL="no"],
+     [IRODS_HOME="$with_irods"
+      IS_PACKAGED_INSTALL="no"])],
+  [IS_PACKAGED_INSTALL="yes"])
+  
+AC_SUBST(IRODS_HOME)
+
+dnl Begin iRODS 3.3.x
+
+dnl iRODS 3.3.x supports only run-in-place (RIP) installation.  Its
+dnl headers and shared libraries are in non-standard places, which may
+dnl be determined relative to IRODS_HOME.
+IRODS3_CPPFLAGS=\
+"-I${IRODS_HOME}/lib/api/include \
+-I${IRODS_HOME}/lib/core/include \
+-I${IRODS_HOME}/lib/md5/include \
+-I${IRODS_HOME}/lib/sha1/include \
+-I${IRODS_HOME}/server/core/include \
+-I${IRODS_HOME}/server/drivers/include \
+-I${IRODS_HOME}/server/icat/include \
+-I${IRODS_HOME}/server/re/include"
+IRODS3_LDFLAGS="-L${IRODS_HOME}/lib/core/obj"
+
+CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS_ORIG ${IRODS3_CPPFLAGS}"
+LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS_ORIG ${IRODS3_LDFLAGS}"
+LIBS="${LIBS_ORIG}"
+
+HAVE_IRODS3=no
+
+AC_RUN_IFELSE(
+  [AC_LANG_PROGRAM([
+#include <string.h>
+#include <rodsVersion.h>
+], [
+#if defined (RODS_REL_VERSION)
+  return strncmp("rods3.3", RODS_REL_VERSION, 7);
+#else
+  exit(-1);
+#endif
+])],
+  [ dnl AC_DEFINE([HAVE_IRODS3], [], [iRODS 3.3.x])
+   AC_MSG_NOTICE([detected iRODS 3.3.x])
+   [HAVE_IRODS3=yes]
+   AC_CHECK_LIB([RodsAPIs], [getRodsEnvFileName], [],
+     [AC_MSG_ERROR([unable to find the iRODS library libRodsAPIs])])])
+
+AM_CONDITIONAL(HAVE_IRODS3, test "x$HAVE_IRODS3" = "xyes")
+
+IRODS3_CPPFLAGS="${CPPFLAGS}"
+IRODS3_LDFLAGS="${LDFLAGS}"
+IRODS3_LIBS="${LIBS}"
+
+CPPFLAGS="${CPPFLAGS_ORIG}"
+LDFLAGS="${LDFLAGS_ORIG}"
+LIBS="${LIBS_ORIG}"
+dnl End iRODS 3.3.x
+
+dnl Examine the test results
+AS_IF(
+  [test "x$HAVE_IRODS3" = "xyes"],
+    [AC_MSG_NOTICE([detected an iRODS 3.3.x installation in ${IRODS_HOME}])
+     AC_DEFINE([HAVE_IRODS3], [1], [iRODS 3.3.x])
+     CPPFLAGS="${IRODS3_CPPFLAGS}"
+     LDFLAGS="${IRODS3_LDFLAGS}"
+     LDLIBS="${IRODS3_LIBS}"
+     LIBS="${IRODS3_LIBS}"],
+  [AC_MSG_ERROR([failed to detect iRODS 3.3.x installation])])
+
+AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([tears.c])
+AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile])
+AC_OUTPUT
+