diff --git a/Makefile-decls.am b/Makefile-decls.am
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4d02f022
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile-decls.am
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2011,2014 Colin Walters <walters@verbum.org>
+#
+# This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+# modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+# License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+# version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+# Lesser General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+# License along with this library; if not, write to the
+# Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
+# Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
+
+# Common variables
+ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS =
+AM_CPPFLAGS =
+AM_CFLAGS =
+DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS =
+SUBDIRS =
+NULL = 
+INSTALL_DATA_HOOKS =
+BUILT_SOURCES =
+MANPAGES =
+CLEANFILES =
+EXTRA_DIST =
+bin_PROGRAMS =
+sbin_PROGRAMS =
+bin_SCRIPTS =
+lib_LTLIBRARIES =
+libexec_PROGRAMS =
+noinst_LTLIBRARIES =
+noinst_PROGRAMS =
+privlibdir = $(pkglibdir)
+privlib_LTLIBRARIES =
+pkgconfigdir = $(libdir)/pkgconfig
+pkgconfig_DATA =
+INTROSPECTION_GIRS = 
+girdir = $(datadir)/gir-1.0
+gir_DATA =
+typelibdir = $(libdir)/girepository-1.0
+typelib_DATA =
+
+# This is a special facility to chain together hooks easily
+INSTALL_DATA_HOOKS =
+install-data-hook: $(INSTALL_DATA_HOOKS)
diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index c7ca36e9..e202f0d7 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -15,16 +15,15 @@
 # Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
 # Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
 
-ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4 ${ACLOCAL_FLAGS}
-AM_CPPFLAGS = -DDATADIR='"$(datadir)"' -DLIBEXECDIR='"$(libexecdir)"' \
+include Makefile-decls.am
+
+ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS += -I m4 ${ACLOCAL_FLAGS}
+AM_CPPFLAGS += -DDATADIR='"$(datadir)"' -DLIBEXECDIR='"$(libexecdir)"' \
 	-DOSTREE_FEATURES='"$(OSTREE_FEATURES)"' \
 	-DGLIB_VERSION_MIN_REQUIRED=GLIB_VERSION_2_34 -DGLIB_VERSION_MAX_ALLOWED=GLIB_VERSION_2_34 \
 	-DSOUP_VERSION_MIN_REQUIRED=SOUP_VERSION_2_40 -DSOUP_VERSION_MAX_ALLOWED=SOUP_VERSION_40
-AM_CFLAGS = $(WARN_CFLAGS)
-DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS = --enable-gtk-doc --disable-maintainer-mode
-
-# Subdirectories
-SUBDIRS =
+AM_CFLAGS += $(WARN_CFLAGS)
+DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS += --enable-gtk-doc --disable-maintainer-mode
 
 if BUILD_EMBEDDED_DEPENDENCIES
 SUBDIRS += embedded-dependencies
@@ -36,30 +35,6 @@ if ENABLE_GTK_DOC
 SUBDIRS += doc
 endif
 
-# Common variables
-NULL = 
-INSTALL_DATA_HOOKS =
-BUILT_SOURCES =
-MANPAGES =
-CLEANFILES =
-EXTRA_DIST =
-bin_PROGRAMS =
-sbin_PROGRAMS =
-bin_SCRIPTS =
-lib_LTLIBRARIES =
-libexec_PROGRAMS =
-noinst_LTLIBRARIES =
-noinst_PROGRAMS =
-privlibdir = $(pkglibdir)
-privlib_LTLIBRARIES =
-pkgconfigdir = $(libdir)/pkgconfig
-pkgconfig_DATA =
-INTROSPECTION_GIRS = 
-girdir = $(datadir)/gir-1.0
-gir_DATA =
-typelibdir = $(libdir)/girepository-1.0
-typelib_DATA =
-
 EXTRA_DIST += autogen.sh COPYING README.md
 
 if BUILD_EMBEDDED_DEPENDENCIES
@@ -110,9 +85,6 @@ include Makefile-switchroot.am
 include Makefile-tests.am
 include Makefile-boot.am
 
-install-data-hook: $(INSTALL_DATA_HOOKS)
-
-
 release-tag:
 	git tag -m "Release $(VERSION)" v$(VERSION)