diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..651c1b13b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+#/bin/bash
+
+# Assuming you have installed:
+# gsl, git, xsd, xerces-c, boost
+
+# Ubuntu:
+# sudo apt-get install git libboost-dev libgsl-dev libxerces-c-dev xsdcxx
+
+# Mac OS:
+# brew install boost@1.60 coreutils cmake gcc gsl xerces-c xsd
+
+echo "=========================================================================="
+echo "IMPORTANT: make sure dependencies are installed."
+echo "Ubuntu/Debian:"
+echo "sudo apt-get install build-essential git cmake libboost-dev libgsl-dev libxerces-c-dev xsdcxx"
+echo "Mac OS:"
+echo "brew install boost coreutils cmake gcc gsl xerces-c xsd"
+echo "=========================================================================="
+
+# stop on error
+set -e
+
+OMGIT=openmalaria
+RELEASE=openMalaria
+BRANCH=master
+
+# Clone git repo
+if [ ! -d "$OMGIT" ] ; then
+    git clone --branch $BRANCH https://github.com/SwissTPH/openmalaria.git $OMGIT
+else
+    pushd "$OMGIT" && git checkout $BRANCH && git pull && popd
+fi
+
+# Compile OpenMalaria
+pushd $OMGIT/
+mkdir -p build && pushd build && cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DOM_BOXTEST_ENABLE=OFF -DOM_CXXTEST_ENABLE=OFF .. && make -j4 && popd
+popd
+
+# Get version number
+VERSION=$(cat $OMGIT/version.txt | cut -d'-' -f2)
+
+# Prepare release folder by copying the necessary files
+mkdir -p $RELEASE-$VERSION
+cp $OMGIT/build/openMalaria $RELEASE-$VERSION/
+cp -r $OMGIT/util/example/* $RELEASE-$VERSION/
+cp $OMGIT/schema/scenario_41.xsd $RELEASE-$VERSION/
+cp $OMGIT/test/densities.csv $RELEASE-$VERSION/
+cp $OMGIT/test/autoRegressionParameters.csv $RELEASE-$VERSION/
+
+# Compress into a tarball
+tar -cavf $RELEASE-$VERSION.tar.gz $RELEASE-$VERSION/
+
+echo "BUILD SUCCESS: $RELEASE-$VERSION.tar.gz"
+
+# Don't delete the temp folders yet, let the user decide
+# rm -rf $OMGIT $RELEASE-$VERSION/