diff --git a/share/jmk/jmk.m4 b/share/jmk/jmk.m4
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b454398
--- /dev/null
+++ b/share/jmk/jmk.m4
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+divert(-1)
+
+dnl
+dnl JMK (Jay MaKe) build system
+dnl
+
+define(`foreach', `pushdef(`$1')_foreach($@)popdef(`$1')')
+define(`_arg1', `$1')
+define(`_foreach', `ifelse(`$2', `()', `',
+  `define(`$1', _arg1$2)$3`'$0(`$1', (shift$2), `$3')')')
+
+
+
+define(init,
+`jmk_project := $1
+jmk_target = ifelse(`$#', 2, $2, $1)
+ROOT := jmk_root
+ASM ?= nasm
+CC ?= gcc
+LD ?= ld
+CFLAGS += -I$(ROOT)/include
+
+all: $(jmk_target)')
+
+dnl preset applies a certain configuration preset to the project
+define(preset,
+    `ifelse($1, `freestanding',
+        `CFLAGS += -nostdlib -nostdinc -fno-builtin -fno-stack-protector -ffreestanding',
+        $1, `optimize', `CFLAGS += -O2',
+        $1, `debug', `CFLAGS += -g',
+        $1, `32', `CFLAGS += -m32',
+        $1, `warn', `CFLAGS += -Wall -Wno-unused-function -Wno-unused-variable',
+        $1, `nasm', `ASM = nasm'
+    )')
+
+dnl this is really, really terrible, but to my knowledge there is no
+dnl other way to escape a $. The manual says nothing about this.
+define(ident, $1)
+define(dollar_at, `ident($)ident(@)')
+
+dnl archetype enables a language archetype
+define(archetype,
+    `ifelse($1, c, `.c.o:
+	$(CC) -c $< -o dollar_at $(CFLAGS)',
+        $1, asm, `.s.o:
+	$(ASM) $(ASMFLAGS) $< -o dollar_at'
+    )'
+)
+
+dnl depends declares an external dependency
+define(`depends', `
+jmk_lib_path_$1 = $2
+jmk_lib_target_$1 = ifelse($3, `', $1.a, $3)
+jmk_libs_phony += $(jmk_lib_path_$1)/$(jmk_lib_target_$1)
+
+$(jmk_lib_path_$1)/$(jmk_lib_target_$1):
+	$(MAKE) -C $(jmk_lib_path_$1) $(jmk_lib_target_$1)')
+
+dnl lib is used to list an external dependency declared with depends()
+define(`lib', `$(jmk_lib_path_$1)/$(jmk_lib_target_$1)')
+
+define(`phony', `jmk_custom_phony += $1')
+
+dnl type is used to specify the target type
+define(type,
+    `ifelse($1, executable,
+`$(jmk_target): $(OBJECTS)
+	$(CC) -o dollar_at $^ $(CFLAGS)',
+    $1, static_lib,
+`$(jmk_target): $(OBJECTS)
+	ar rcs dollar_at $^',
+    $1, custom_link,
+`$(jmk_target): $(OBJECTS)
+	$(LD) $(LDFLAGS) -o dollar_at $^'
+    )')
+
+dnl finish is required at the end of the Jmk file to generate some
+dnl final declarations
+
+define(finish,
+`clean:
+	rm -f *.o *.a *.so $(jmk_target)
+
+Makefile: Jmk
+	cd "jmk_build_dir" && jmk_build_cmd
+
+.PHONY: $(jmk_libs_phony) $(jmk_custom_phony) clean all')
+
+divert(0)dnl