diff --git a/build-sarge b/build-sarge
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..fb2024b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build-sarge
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# Set up a chroot environment based on Debian Sarge, for building.
+#
+# By building based on binaries from a very old version, all recent
+# versions can be supported.
+
+MIRROR=http://archive.debian.org/debian-archive/debian
+RELEASE=sarge
+
+if [ $# = 0 ]; then
+	echo "Usage: $0 <dest dir>"
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+dest_dir="$1"
+
+add_pkg() {
+	if [ ".$pkgs" = "" ]; then
+		pkgs="$1"
+	else
+		pkgs="$pkgs,$1"
+	fi
+}
+
+pkgs=""
+
+add_pkg gcc
+add_pkg make
+add_pkg automake1.8
+add_pkg autoconf
+add_pkg libsdl1.2-dev
+add_pkg libsdl-mixer1.2-dev
+add_pkg libsdl-net1.2-dev
+add_pkg python-imaging
+add_pkg subversion
+
+debootstrap "--include=$pkgs" "$RELEASE" "$dest_dir" "$MIRROR"
+