diff --git a/core/distdir.mk b/core/distdir.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e04938b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/distdir.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2007 The Android Open Source Project
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+#
+
+# When specifying "dist", the user has asked that we copy the important
+# files from this build into DIST_DIR.
+
+.PHONY: dist
+dist: ;
+
+dist_goal := $(strip $(filter dist,$(MAKECMDGOALS)))
+MAKECMDGOALS := $(strip $(filter-out dist,$(MAKECMDGOALS)))
+ifeq (,$(strip $(filter-out $(INTERNAL_MODIFIER_TARGETS),$(MAKECMDGOALS))))
+# The commandline was something like "make dist" or "make dist showcommands".
+# Add a dependency on a real target.
+dist: $(DEFAULT_GOAL)
+endif
+
+ifdef dist_goal
+
+# $(1): source file
+# $(2): destination file
+# $(3): goals that should copy the file
+#
+define copy-one-dist-file
+$(3): $(2)
+$(2): $(1)
+	@echo "Dist: $$@"
+	$$(copy-file-to-new-target-with-cp)
+endef
+
+# Other parts of the system should use this function to associate
+# certain files with certain goals.  When those goals are built
+# and "dist" is specified, the marked files will be copied to DIST_DIR.
+#
+# $(1): a list of goals  (e.g. droid, sdk, pdk, ndk)
+# $(2): the dist files to add to those goals.  If the file contains ':',
+#       the text following the colon is the name that the file is copied
+#       to under the dist directory.  Subdirs are ok, and will be created
+#       at copy time if necessary.
+define dist-for-goals
+$(foreach file,$(2), \
+  $(eval fw := $(subst :,$(space),$(file))) \
+  $(eval src := $(word 1,$(fw))) \
+  $(eval dst := $(word 2,$(fw))) \
+  $(eval dst := $(if $(dst),$(dst),$(notdir $(src)))) \
+  $(eval \
+      $(call copy-one-dist-file, \
+          $(src), \
+          $(DIST_DIR)/$(dst), \
+	  $(1) \
+       ) \
+   ) \
+ )
+endef
+
+else # !dist_goal
+
+# empty definition when not building dist
+define dist-for-goals
+endef
+
+endif # !dist_goal