diff --git a/projects/samskivert/bin/build-dist.sh b/projects/samskivert/bin/build-dist.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..18df7e90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/projects/samskivert/bin/build-dist.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# $Id: build-dist.sh,v 1.1 2001/08/11 23:06:11 mdb Exp $
+#
+# Builds a distribution archive. This should be run from the top-level
+# project directory and it will place the distribution archive into the
+# directory identified by $DISTDIR.
+
+USAGE="Usage: $0 distname (eg. samskivert-1.4)"
+DISTDIR=dist
+
+if [ -z "$1" ]; then
+    echo $USAGE
+    exit -1
+else
+    TARGET=$1
+fi
+
+# build our excludes file
+cat > .excludes <<EOF
+bin
+CVS
+dist
+lib/*.jar
+code
+docs
+.excludes
+EOF
+
+# create our distribution directory
+mkdir /tmp/$TARGET
+
+# temporarily move the distribution files into temp so that we can put
+# them into a properly named directory
+tar --exclude-from=.excludes -cf - * | tar -C /tmp/$TARGET -xf -
+
+# now build the actual archive file
+tar -C /tmp -czf $DISTDIR/$TARGET.tgz $TARGET
+
+# and clean up after ourselves
+rm -rf /tmp/$TARGET
+rm .excludes