diff --git a/tools/rockboxdev.sh b/tools/rockboxdev.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..302bb57672
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/rockboxdev.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# this is where this script will store downloaded files and check for already
+# downloaded files
+dlwhere="$HOME/tmp"
+
+# will append the target string to the prefix dir mentioned here
+# Note that the user running this script must be able to do make install in
+# this given prefix directory. Also make sure that this given root dir
+# exists.
+prefix="/usr/local"
+
+# The binutils version to use
+binutils="2.16.1"
+
+##############################################################################
+
+findtool(){
+  file="$1"
+
+  IFS=":"
+  for path in $PATH
+  do
+    # echo "checks for $file in $path" >&2
+    if test -f "$path/$file"; then
+      echo "$path/$file"
+      return
+    fi
+  done
+}
+
+input() {
+    read response
+    echo $response
+}
+
+#$1 file
+#$2 URL"root
+getfile() {
+  tool=`findtool curl`
+  if test -z "$tool"; then
+    tool=`findtool wget`
+    if test -n "$tool"; then
+      # wget download
+      echo "download $2/$1 using wget"
+      $tool -O $dlwhere/$1 $2/$1
+    fi
+  else
+     # curl download
+      echo "download $2/$1 using curl"
+     $tool -Lo $dlwhere/$1 $2/$1
+  fi
+  if test -z "$tool"; then 
+    echo "couldn't find downloader tool to use!"
+    exit
+  fi
+  
+
+}
+
+echo "Pick target arch:"
+echo "s. sh"
+echo "m. m68k"
+echo "a. arm"
+
+arch=`input`
+
+case $arch in
+  [Ss])
+    target="sh-elf"
+    gccver="4.0.3"
+    ;;
+  [Mm])
+    target="m68k-elf"
+    gccver="3.4.6"
+    ;;
+  [Aa])
+    target="arm-elf"
+    gccver="4.0.3"
+    ;;
+  *)
+    echo "unsupported"
+    exit
+    ;;
+esac
+
+if test -d build-rbdev; then
+  echo "you have a build-rbdev dir already, please remove and rerun"
+  exit
+fi
+
+bindir="$prefix/$target/bin"
+echo "Summary:"
+echo "Target: $target"
+echo "gcc $gccver"
+echo "binutils $binutils"
+echo "install in $prefix/$target"
+echo ""
+echo "Set your PATH to point to $bindir"
+
+
+if test -f "$dlwhere/binutils-$binutils.tar.bz2"; then
+  echo "binutils $binutils already downloaded"
+else
+  getfile binutils-$binutils.tar.bz2 ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/binutils
+fi
+
+if test -f "$dlwhere/gcc-$gccver.tar.bz2"; then
+  echo "gcc $gccver already downloaded"
+else
+  getfile gcc-$gccver.tar.bz2 ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/gcc/gcc-$gccver
+fi
+
+
+mkdir build-rbdev
+cd build-rbdev
+echo "extracting binutils"
+tar xjf $dlwhere/binutils-$binutils.tar.bz2
+echo "extracting gcc"
+tar xf $dlwhere/gcc-$gccver.tar.bz2
+
+mkdir build-binu
+cd build-binu
+../binutils-$binutils/configure --target=$target --prefix=$prefix/$target
+make
+make install
+PATH="${PATH}:$bindir"
+SHELL=/bin/sh # seems to be needed by the gcc build in some cases
+
+cd ../
+mkdir build-gcc
+cd build-gcc
+../gcc-$gccver/configure --target=$target --prefix=$prefix/$target --enable-languages=c
+make
+make install
+
+echo "done"