diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..1e92ebe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/autogen.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# simplistic script to run after checkout
+
+aclocal && \
+autoheader && \
+autoconf && \
+automake -a -c