diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..43f5291
--- /dev/null
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+## Process this file with autoconf to produce configure.
+## In general, the safest way to proceed is to run ./autogen.sh
+
+# make sure we're interpreted by some minimal autoconf
+AC_PREREQ(2.57)
+
+AC_INIT(open-vcdiff, 0.1, opensource@google.com)
+AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR(README)
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
+AM_CONFIG_HEADER(src/config.h)
+
+# Checks for programs.
+AC_PROG_CC
+AC_PROG_CPP
+AC_PROG_CXX
+AM_CONDITIONAL(GCC, test "$GCC" = yes)   # let the Makefile know if we're gcc
+AC_CANONICAL_HOST
+
+AC_PROG_LIBTOOL
+AC_SUBST(LIBTOOL_DEPS)
+
+# Check whether some low-level functions/files are available
+AC_HEADER_STDC
+
+case $host in
+  *86*-*-gnu*) AC_DEFINE(VCDIFF_USE_BLOCK_COMPARE_WORDS, 1,
+			 Use custom compare function instead of memcmp)
+esac
+
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([ext/rope])
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([getopt.h])
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([malloc.h])
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([sys/mman.h])
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([sys/time.h])
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([unistd.h])
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([windows.h])
+AC_CHECK_FUNCS([gettimeofday QueryPerformanceCounter])
+AC_CHECK_FUNCS([memalign posix_memalign])
+AC_CHECK_FUNCS([mprotect])
+
+# Start of definitions needed by gflags package
+
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([stdint.h sys/types.h inttypes.h])
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([fnmatch.h])
+AC_CHECK_FUNCS([InitializeCriticalSection])
+AC_CHECK_FUNCS([InterlockedCompareExchange])
+AC_CHECK_FUNCS([strtoll strtoq])
+AC_CHECK_TYPES([uint16_t, u_int16_t, __int16])
+
+AX_C___ATTRIBUTE__
+
+ACX_PTHREAD
+
+# End of definitions needed by gflags package
+
+AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile])
+AC_OUTPUT