diff --git a/mkfile b/mkfile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8facfc3a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mkfile
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+</sys/src/ape/config
+
+CFLAGS=-I. -c -D_POSIX_SOURCE -D_BSD_EXTENSION -DHAVE_UNISTD_H -DHAVE_STDARG_H
+
+OFILES=\
+	adler32.$O\
+	compress.$O\
+	crc32.$O\
+	deflate.$O\
+	gzclose.$O\
+	gzlib.$O\
+	gzread.$O\
+	gzwrite.$O\
+	infback.$O\
+	inffast.$O\
+	inflate.$O\
+	inftrees.$O\
+	trees.$O\
+	uncompr.$O\
+	zutil.$O\
+
+HFILES=`{ls *.h}
+
+LIB=/$objtype/lib/ape/libz.a
+
+TESTOFILES=\
+	test/example.$O\
+	test/minigzip.$O\
+
+TESTPROGS=\
+	test/$O.example\
+	test/$O.minigzip\
+
+CLEANFILES=$TESTOFILES $TESTPROGS
+
+</sys/src/cmd/mklib
+
+%.$O: %.c
+	$CC $CFLAGS -o $target $stem.c
+
+test/$O.%: test/%.$O $LIB
+	$LD $LDFLAGS -o $target $prereq
+
+test:V: $TESTPROGS
+	echo hello world | ./test/$O.minigzip | ./test/$O.minigzip -d
+	./test/$O.example tmpst_$pid
+
+install:VQ: $LIB
+	~ $LIBDIR '.' || cp $LIB $LIBDIR/$LIB
+	cp zlib.h zconf.h /sys/include/ape