diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..84c048a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+/build/
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..618ff73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.9)
+
+project(serum VERSION 0.1.0 DESCRIPTION "Cross-platform library for decoding Serum files, a colorization format for pinball ROMs.")
+
+set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 20)
+set(CMAKE_CXX_VISIBILITY_PRESET hidden)
+set(CMAKE_C_STANDARD 99)
+set(CMAKE_C_VISIBILITY_PRESET hidden)
+
+include(GNUInstallDirs)
+
+add_library(serum SHARED
+        src/miniz/zip_file.hpp
+        src/serum-decode.h
+        src/serum-decode.cpp
+        )
+
+set_target_properties(serum PROPERTIES
+        VERSION ${PROJECT_VERSION}
+        SOVERSION 1
+        )
+
+target_include_directories(serum PUBLIC
+        src
+        )
+
+install(TARGETS serum
+        LIBRARY DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}
+        PUBLIC_HEADER DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR})
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ecb86a6..998b34a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,4 +1,16 @@
 # libserum
-This is the code for the cross platform library that decode Serum files (colorization files for pinball ROMs)
+This is a cross-platform library for decoding Serum files, a colorization format for pinball ROMs.
 
-It uses Thomas Fussel miniz-cpp zip de/compression code available here https://github.com/tfussell/miniz-cpp
+## License 
+The code in this directory and all sub-directories is licenced under GPLv2 (or later), except if a different license is
+mentioned in a file's header or in a sub-directory. Be aware of the fact that your own enhancements of libserum need to
+be licenced under a compatible licence.
+
+Due to complicated dependency management on different platforms, these libraries are included as source code copy:
+* [miniz-cpp](https://github.com/tfussell/miniz-cpp) by Thomas Fussel
+
+## Compiling
+```shell
+cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -B build/Release
+cmake --build build/Release
+```
diff --git a/zip_file.hpp b/src/miniz/zip_file.hpp
similarity index 100%
rename from zip_file.hpp
rename to src/miniz/zip_file.hpp
diff --git a/serum-decode.cpp b/src/serum-decode.cpp
similarity index 96%
rename from serum-decode.cpp
rename to src/serum-decode.cpp
index cecc593..b443497 100644
--- a/serum-decode.cpp
+++ b/src/serum-decode.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #include "serum-decode.h"
-#include "zip_file.hpp"
+#include "miniz/zip_file.hpp"
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 
@@ -209,7 +209,8 @@ UINT32 crc32_fast_mask(UINT8* source, UINT8* mask, UINT n, UINT8 ShapeMode) // c
     }
     return ~crc;
 }
-LIB_API(bool) Serum_Load(const char* altcolorpath, const char* romname)
+
+SERUM_API(bool) Serum_Load(const char* altcolorpath, const char* romname)
 {
     if (!crc32_ready) CRC32encode();
 
@@ -334,12 +335,11 @@ LIB_API(bool) Serum_Load(const char* altcolorpath, const char* romname)
     return true;
 }
 
-LIB_API(void) Serum_Dispose(void)
+SERUM_API(void) Serum_Dispose(void)
 {
     Serum_free();
 }
 
-
 int Identify_Frame(UINT8* frame)
 {
     // check if the generated frame is the same as one we have in the crom (
@@ -483,6 +483,7 @@ void Check_Sprites(UINT8* Frame, int quelleframe, UINT8* pquelsprite, UINT16* pf
     *pquelsprite = 255;
     return;
 }
+
 void Colorize_Frame(UINT8* frame, int IDfound)
 {
     UINT32 ti;
@@ -516,7 +517,7 @@ void Copy_Frame_Palette(int nofr, UINT8* dpal)
     memcpy(dpal, &cpal[nofr * 64 * 3], 64 * 3);
 }
 
-LIB_API(void) Serum_Colorize(UINT8* frame, int width, int height, UINT8* palette)
+SERUM_API(void) Serum_Colorize(UINT8* frame, int width, int height, UINT8* palette)
 {
     //byte[][] planes = new byte[6][];
     //for (int i = 0; i < 6; i++) planes[i] = new byte[FWidth * FHeight / 8];
@@ -567,4 +568,3 @@ LIB_API(void) Serum_Colorize(UINT8* frame, int width, int height, UINT8* palette
         lasthei = hei;
     }
 }
-
diff --git a/serum-decode.h b/src/serum-decode.h
similarity index 59%
rename from serum-decode.h
rename to src/serum-decode.h
index 3d01d8e..db11e69 100644
--- a/serum-decode.h
+++ b/src/serum-decode.h
@@ -3,15 +3,15 @@
 
 #if defined DLL_EXPORTS
 #if defined WIN32
-#define LIB_API(RetType) extern "C" __declspec(dllexport) RetType
+#define SERUM_API(RetType) extern "C" __declspec(dllexport) RetType
 #else
-#define LIB_API(RetType) extern "C" RetType __attribute__((visibility("default")))
+#define SERUM_API(RetType) extern "C" RetType __attribute__((visibility("default")))
 #endif
 #else
 #if defined WIN32
-#define LIB_API(RetType) extern "C" __declspec(dllimport) RetType
+#define SERUM_API(RetType) extern "C" __declspec(dllimport) RetType
 #else
-#define LIB_API(RetType) extern "C" RetType
+#define SERUM_API(RetType) extern "C" RetType
 #endif
 #endif
 
@@ -28,9 +28,8 @@ const int MAX_SPRITES_PER_FRAME = 32; // maximum amount of sprites to look for p
 const int MAX_COLOR_ROTATIONS = 8; // maximum amount of color rotations per frame
 const int MAX_SPRITE_DETECT_AREAS = 4; // maximum number of areas to detect the sprite
 
-LIB_API(bool) Serum_Load(const char* altcolorpath, const char* romname);
-LIB_API(void) Serum_Dispose(void);
-LIB_API(void) Serum_Colorize(UINT8* frame, int width, int height, UINT8* palette);
-
+SERUM_API(bool) Serum_Load(const char* altcolorpath, const char* romname);
+SERUM_API(void) Serum_Dispose(void);
+SERUM_API(void) Serum_Colorize(UINT8* frame, int width, int height, UINT8* palette);
 
 #endif
\ No newline at end of file