diff --git a/boot.lua b/boot.lua
index 14d9de8..d6dd1ec 100644
--- a/boot.lua
+++ b/boot.lua
@@ -62,3 +62,5 @@ until not chunk
 ci(bootfs, 'close', fd)
 local fn = assert(load(code, '@' .. bootpath))
 return fn(bootfs, bootpath)
+
+-- vi: set ts=2:
diff --git a/build.lua b/build.lua
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df8c980
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+local fs, cwd = (function()
+	local ok, ocfs = pcall(require, 'filesystem')
+	if ok then
+		return ocfs, require('shell').getWorkingDirectory()
+	end
+
+	--otherwise, implement the functions we need on top of LuaFileSystem
+	local lfs = require('lfs')
+	local fs = {}
+	function fs.list(path)
+		local entries = {}
+		for name in lfs.dir(path) do
+			if name ~= '.' and name ~= '..' then
+				if lfs.attributes(path .. '/' .. name, 'mode') == 'directory' then
+					name = name .. '/'
+				end
+				table.insert(entries, name)
+			end
+		end
+		return entries
+	end
+	function fs.makeDirectory(path)
+		--drop the third return on error
+		local ok, err, code = lfs.mkdir(path)
+		if ok then
+			return true
+		else
+			return nil, string.format('%s (error %d)', err, code)
+		end
+	end
+
+	return fs, '.' --lfs will handle this properly
+end)()
+
+local stderr = io.stderr or io.error() --openos does this weirdly
+
+--configuration
+local outdir = 'dist/'
+
+--argument parsing
+do
+	local args = {...}
+	for i, arg in ipairs(args) do
+		if arg == '-h' or arg == '--help' then
+			print('usage: lua build.lua [-h|--help]')
+			return
+		end
+	end
+
+	--for now, error on any arguments (after parsing -h/--help)
+	if args[1] then
+		stderr:write(string.format('error: unexpected argument %q\n', args[1]))
+		os.exit(64)
+	end
+end
+
+
+local function exportFile(srcpath, dstpath)
+	if not dstpath then
+		dstpath = outdir .. srcpath
+	end
+	local srcf = assert(io.open(srcpath))
+	local dstf = assert(io.open(dstpath, 'w'))
+
+	--for now, run a very minimal minifier
+	for line in srcf:lines() do
+		local comment = line:find('--', nil, true)
+		if comment then
+			assert(line:sub(comment, comment + 3) ~= '--[', 'TODO block comments')
+			line = line:sub(1, comment-1)
+		end
+		line = assert(line:match('^%s*(.-)%s*$'))
+		if #line > 0 then
+			dstf:write(line, '\n')
+		end
+	end
+end
+
+fs.makeDirectory(cwd .. '/' .. outdir)
+exportFile('boot.lua')
+
+-- vi: set ts=2: