diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d8bd0267ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+# vim:fileencoding=UTF-8:ts=4:sw=4:sta:et:sts=4:ai
+from __future__ import with_statement
+
+__license__   = 'GPL v3'
+__copyright__ = '2009, Kovid Goyal <kovid@kovidgoyal.net>'
+__docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
+
+import sys, os, optparse
+
+sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__)))
+
+import setup.commands as commands
+from setup import prints, get_warnings
+
+def check_version_info():
+    vi = sys.version_info
+    if vi[0] == 2 and vi[1] > 5:
+        return None
+    return 'calibre requires python >= 2.6'
+
+def option_parser():
+    parser = optparse.OptionParser()
+    parser.add_option('-c', '--clean', default=False, action='store_true',
+            help=('Instead of running the command delete all files generated '
+                'by the command'))
+    parser.add_option('--clean-backups', default=False, action='store_true',
+            help='Delete all backup files from the source tree')
+    parser.add_option('--clean-all', default=False, action='store_true',
+            help='Delete all machine generated files from the source tree')
+    return parser
+
+def clean_backups():
+    for root, _, files in os.walk('.'):
+        for name in files:
+            for t in ('.pyc', '.pyo', '~', '.swp', '.swo'):
+                if name.endswith(t):
+                    os.remove(os.path.join(root, name))
+
+
+def main(args=sys.argv):
+    if len(args) == 1 or args[1] in ('-h', '--help'):
+        print 'Usage: python', args[0], 'command', '[options]'
+        print '\nWhere command is one of:'
+        print
+        for x in sorted(commands.__all__):
+            print '%-20s -'%x,
+            c = getattr(commands, x)
+            desc = getattr(c, 'short_description', c.description)
+            print desc
+
+        print '\nTo get help on a particular command, run:'
+        print '\tpython', args[0], 'command -h'
+        return 1
+
+    command = args[1]
+    if command not in commands.__all__:
+        print command, 'is not a recognized command.'
+        print 'Valid commands:', ', '.join(commands.__all__)
+        return 1
+
+    command = getattr(commands, command)
+
+    parser = option_parser()
+    command.add_all_options(parser)
+    parser.set_usage('Usage: python setup.py %s [options]\n\n'%args[1]+\
+            command.description)
+
+    opts, args = parser.parse_args(args)
+
+    if opts.clean_backups:
+        clean_backups()
+
+    if opts.clean:
+        prints('Cleaning', args[1])
+        command.clean()
+        return 0
+
+    if opts.clean_all:
+        for cmd in commands.__all__:
+            prints('Cleaning', cmd)
+            getattr(commands, cmd).clean()
+        return 0
+
+    command.run_all(opts)
+
+    warnings = get_warnings()
+    if warnings:
+        print
+        prints('There were', len(warnings), 'warning(s):')
+        print
+        for args, kwargs in warnings:
+            prints('*', *args, **kwargs)
+            print
+
+    return 0
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    sys.exit(main())