diff --git a/scripts/safe_rm.sh b/scripts/safe_rm.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..56a9b80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/safe_rm.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# A safe wrapper around rm(1) to avoid cleaning out folks' rootfs's or build
+# machines by accident.
+#
+#    Copyright (C) 2010, Cisco Systems Inc.
+#
+#    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+#    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+#    the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+#    (at your option) any later version.
+#
+#    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+#    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+#    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+#    GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+#    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
+#    with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+#    51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+#
+# Feel free to use this in your standard builds, or just leave it be (it has
+# been added to the build tests that should be run before each release to avoid
+# build regressions).
+#
+# Garrett Cooper, February 2010
+#
+
+. "${0%/*}/lib/file_functions.sh"
+
+opts=
+opts_parse_done=0
+
+set -e
+
+while [ $# -gt 0 ] ; do
+
+	if [ $opts_parse_done -eq 0 ] ; then
+
+		case "$1" in
+		-*)
+			[ "x$1" = "x--" ] && opts_parse_done=1
+			# None of the options to rm(1) are keyed.
+			opts="$opts $1"
+			;;
+		*)
+			opts_parse_done=1
+			;;
+		esac
+
+	fi
+
+	if [ $opts_parse_done -eq 1 ] ; then
+
+		abspath_file=$(_abspath "$1")
+
+		if [ "x$abspath_file" = "x/" ] ; then
+
+			cat <<EOF >&2
+${0##*/}: ERROR : not removing \`$1' to avoid removing root directory\!
+EOF
+			false
+
+		else
+
+			if [ "x${SIMULATE_RM:-1}" != x1 ] ; then
+				rm ${opts:--f} "$abspath_file"
+			fi
+
+		fi
+
+	fi
+
+	shift
+
+done