diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 6985cf1..c99350b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -12,3 +12,5 @@ Cargo.lock
 
 # MSVC Windows builds of rustc generate these, which store debugging information
 *.pdb
+
+scripts/build
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/Dockerfile.template b/scripts/Dockerfile.template
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..42d598a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/Dockerfile.template
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+ARG OS
+FROM $OS
+
+ARG PAC
+
+RUN rm /bin/sh && ln -s /bin/bash /bin/sh
+RUN $PAC -y update && $PAC install -y git gcc curl
+
+RUN curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs > /tmp/rustup && sh /tmp/rustup -y
+ADD scripts/build-internal.sh /
+RUN mkdir -p /dummy/src
+COPY Cargo.toml /dummy
+RUN source $HOME/.cargo/env && cd /dummy && echo "// dummy file" > src/lib.rs && cargo build --release
diff --git a/scripts/PLATFORMS b/scripts/PLATFORMS
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1eba8f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/PLATFORMS
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# short name    # docker from       # pac mgr cmd
+centos7         centos:7.9.2009     yum
+rocky9          rockylinux:9.3      yum
+debian12        debian:12.4         apt-get
diff --git a/scripts/build-internal.sh b/scripts/build-internal.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..0d97aba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/build-internal.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+if [ $# -ne 1 ]; then
+    echo usage $0 \<os_ident\>
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+cd /
+git clone /src/ bigarchiver && \
+cd bigarchiver/ && \
+cargo test --release && cargo build --release && \
+mkdir -pv /src/scripts/build/$1/ && \
+cp -v target/release/bigarchiver /src/scripts/build/$1/
diff --git a/scripts/build.sh b/scripts/build.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..1db9b6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -e
+
+if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
+    echo usage $0 --image\|--app [ os_ident ]
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+cat PLATFORMS | sed '/^#/d;/^[[:space:]]*$/d' | while read LINE; do
+    WORDS=($LINE)
+    if [ ${#WORDS[@]} -ne 3 ]; then
+        echo Invalid PLATFORMS file
+        exit 1
+    fi
+
+    IDENT=${WORDS[0]}
+    IMAGE_FROM=${WORDS[1]}
+    PAC_MGR=${WORDS[2]}
+
+    if [ -n "$2" ]; then
+        if [ x"$IDENT" != x"$2" ] ; then
+            continue
+        fi
+    fi
+
+    cd ..
+    case $1 in 
+        --image)
+            echo preparing build image for $IDENT
+            docker build -t bigarchiver-$IDENT -f scripts/Dockerfile.template --build-arg OS=$IMAGE_FROM --build-arg PAC=$PAC_MGR .
+            ;;
+        --app)
+            echo building application for $IDENT
+            docker run -v=.:/src bigarchiver-$IDENT /bin/bash -l -c "/build-internal.sh $IDENT"
+            ;;
+        *)
+            echo invalid usage
+            exit 3
+    esac
+    cd scripts
+done
+
+echo all done