diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cd531cf..b8e5b53 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -52,3 +52,4 @@ Module.symvers
 Mkfile.old
 dkms.conf
 
+bin/
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..da359ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+.POSIX:
+.SUFFIXES:
+
+CC=cc
+CFLAGS=-W -O
+
+LDFLAGS=
+LDLIBS=
+
+all: journal
+
+install: journal
+	mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/bin
+	cp -f bin/journal $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/bin
+
+uninstall:
+	rm $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/bin/journal
+
+# builds for the journal only, other utils might come on later
+journal: src/journal/main.o
+	mkdir -p bin
+	$(CC) $(LDFLAGS) -o bin/journal src/journal/main.o $(LDLIBS)
+
+src/journal/main.o: src/journal/main.c
+
+clean:
+	rm bin/journal src/journal/*.o
+
+.SUFFIXES: .c .o
+.c.o:
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $< -o $@
diff --git a/src/journal/main.c b/src/journal/main.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d96b7e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/journal/main.c
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#include <stdio.h>
+
+int main(int argc, char** argv)
+{
+    if(argc < 2)
+    {
+        printf("usage: %s topic message\n", argv[0]);
+        return 0;
+    }
+
+    char *topic = argv[1];
+    printf("%s\n", topic);
+    return 0;
+}
+