diff --git a/build/parsePreamble.c b/build/parsePreamble.c
index 8d1d85464b..8a6e7522b1 100644
--- a/build/parsePreamble.c
+++ b/build/parsePreamble.c
@@ -820,6 +820,14 @@ static rpmRC handlePreambleTag(rpmSpec spec, Package pkg, rpmTagVal tag,
 	multiToken = 1;
 
     switch (tag) {
+    case RPMTAG_AUTOBUILD:
+	SINGLE_TOKEN_ONLY;
+	if (rpmCharCheck(spec, field,
+			ALLOWED_CHARS_NAME, ALLOWED_FIRSTCHARS_NAME))
+	{
+	    goto exit;
+	}
+	break;
     case RPMTAG_NAME:
 	SINGLE_TOKEN_ONLY;
 	if (rpmCharCheck(spec, field,
@@ -1080,6 +1088,7 @@ static struct PreambleRec_s const preambleList[] = {
     {RPMTAG_BUILDPREREQ,	0, 1, 0, LEN_AND_STR("buildprereq")},
     {RPMTAG_BUILDREQUIRES,	0, 0, 0, LEN_AND_STR("buildrequires")},
     {RPMTAG_AUTOREQPROV,	0, 0, 0, LEN_AND_STR("autoreqprov")},
+    {RPMTAG_AUTOBUILD,		0, 0, 1, LEN_AND_STR("autobuild")},
     {RPMTAG_AUTOREQ,		0, 0, 0, LEN_AND_STR("autoreq")},
     {RPMTAG_AUTOPROV,		0, 0, 0, LEN_AND_STR("autoprov")},
     {RPMTAG_DOCDIR,		0, 0, 0, LEN_AND_STR("docdir")},
diff --git a/build/parseSpec.c b/build/parseSpec.c
index d61c477439..a9d100768a 100644
--- a/build/parseSpec.c
+++ b/build/parseSpec.c
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@
 #define ISMACRO(s,m,len) (rstreqn((s), (m), len) && !risalpha((s)[len]))
 #define ISMACROWITHARG(s,m,len) (rstreqn((s), (m), len) && (risblank((s)[len]) || !(s)[len]))
 
+static rpmRC parseSpecParts(rpmSpec spec, const char *pattern);
+
 typedef struct OpenFileInfo {
     char * fileName;
     FILE *fp;
@@ -891,6 +893,70 @@ static int parseEmpty(rpmSpec spec, int prevParsePart)
     return res;
 }
 
+static rpmRC parseAutosect(rpmSpec spec,
+			const char *prefix, const char *section, StringBuf sb)
+{
+    rpmRC rc = RPMRC_OK;
+
+    if (sb == NULL) {
+	char *mn = rstrscat(NULL, "autobuild_", prefix, "_", section, NULL);
+	if (rpmMacroIsDefined(NULL, mn)) {
+	    char *path = NULL;
+	    FD_t fd = rpmMkTempFile(NULL, &path);
+	    if (fd) {
+		char *buf = rstrscat(NULL, "%", section, "\n",
+					   "%{", mn, "}", NULL);
+		size_t blen = strlen(buf);
+		if (Fwrite(buf, blen, 1, fd) < blen)
+		   rc = RPMRC_FAIL;
+		Fclose(fd);
+	    }
+	    if (fd == NULL || rc) {
+		rpmlog(RPMLOG_ERR, _("failed to write autobuild %%%s %s: %s\n"),
+			section, path, strerror(errno));
+	    } else {
+		rc = parseSpecParts(spec, path);
+	    }
+	    unlink(path);
+	    free(path);
+	}
+	free(mn);
+    }
+    return rc;
+}
+
+struct autosect_s {
+    const char *name;
+    StringBuf sb;
+};
+
+static rpmRC parseAutobuild(rpmSpec spec)
+{
+    rpmRC rc = RPMRC_OK;
+    char *autobuild = rpmExpand("%{?autobuild}", NULL);
+    if (*autobuild) {
+	/* XXX we should have APIs for this stuff */
+	struct autosect_s autosectList[] = {
+	    { "prep", spec->prep },
+	    { "conf", spec->conf },
+	    { "generate_buildrequires", spec->buildrequires },
+	    { "build", spec->build },
+	    { "install", spec->install },
+	    { "check", spec->check },
+	    { "clean", spec->clean },
+	    { NULL, NULL }
+	};
+
+	for (struct autosect_s *as = autosectList; !rc && as->name; as++) {
+	    rc = parseAutosect(spec, autobuild, as->name, as->sb);
+	    if (!rc && as->sb == NULL)
+		rc = parseAutosect(spec, "default", as->name, as->sb);
+	}
+    }
+    free(autobuild);
+    return rc;
+}
+
 static rpmSpec parseSpec(const char *specFile, rpmSpecFlags flags,
 			 const char *buildRoot, int recursing);
 
@@ -1048,6 +1114,9 @@ static rpmRC parseSpecSection(rpmSpec *specptr, int secondary)
 	}
     }
 
+    if (!secondary && parseAutobuild(spec))
+	goto errxit;
+
     /* Add arch for each package */
     addArch(spec);
 
@@ -1184,17 +1253,15 @@ rpmSpec rpmSpecParse(const char *specFile, rpmSpecFlags flags,
     return spec;
 }
 
-rpmRC parseGeneratedSpecs(rpmSpec spec)
+static rpmRC parseSpecParts(rpmSpec spec, const char *pattern)
 {
     ARGV_t argv = NULL;
     int argc = 0;
-    int i;
     rpmRC rc = RPMRC_OK;
 
-    char * specPattern = rpmGenPath("%{specpartsdir}", NULL, "*.specpart");
     /* rpmGlob returns files sorted */
-    if (rpmGlob(specPattern, &argc, &argv) == 0) {
-	for (i = 0; i < argc; i++) {
+    if (rpmGlob(pattern, &argc, &argv) == 0) {
+	for (int i = 0; i < argc; i++) {
 	    rpmlog(RPMLOG_NOTICE, "Reading %s\n", argv[i]);
 	    pushOFI(spec, argv[i]);
 	    snprintf(spec->fileStack->readBuf, spec->fileStack->readBufLen,
@@ -1207,6 +1274,13 @@ rpmRC parseGeneratedSpecs(rpmSpec spec)
 	}
 	argvFree(argv);
     }
+    return rc;
+}
+
+rpmRC parseGeneratedSpecs(rpmSpec spec)
+{
+    char * specPattern = rpmGenPath("%{specpartsdir}", NULL, "*.specpart");
+    rpmRC rc = parseSpecParts(spec, specPattern);
     free(specPattern);
     if (!rc) {
 	rc = finalizeSpec(spec);
diff --git a/docs/manual/autobuild.md b/docs/manual/autobuild.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..31376bbcf4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/manual/autobuild.md
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+---
+layout: default
+title: rpm.org - Declarative builds
+---
+
+# Declarative builds
+
+Most software follows common patterns as to how it should be prepared and
+built, such as the classic `./configure && make && make install` case.
+In a spec, these all go to their own sections and when combined with
+the steps to unpack sources, it creates a lot of boilerplate that is
+practically identical across a lot of specs. With the odd tweak to
+this or that detail for distro preferences and the like. To reduce
+the repetitive boilerplate, rpm >= 4.20 adds support for a declarative
+build system mechanism where these common steps can be defined centrally
+per each build system, and specs need to just declare which build system
+they use.
+
+## Spec usage
+
+In the most simple case, a spec will have an autobuild declaration such
+as `Autobuild: cmake` and no manually specified build scripts at all.
+However it's common to have to manually tweak a thing or two. There are
+several ways how to accomplish this, what's appropriate depends on the
+case.
+
+1) Use append and/or prepend as necessary. Need to delete a file after
+the install step? Add a `%install -a` section with the appropriate `rm`.
+Need to `sed` something just before the build step? Add a `%build -p`
+section with the necessary steps.
+
+2) Another very common need is to to override the build configuration, and
+this is why `%conf` is a separate section from the rest of the build, eg:
+
+```
+%conf
+%configure --enable-experimental
+```
+
+However as the autobuild macros could rely on state from a previous step,
+it's better to use the corresponding macro alias instead (XXX not yet
+implemented in this draft):
+```
+%conf
+%autobuild_conf --enable-experimental
+```
+
+3) Complex packages can have things like multiple build systems, in
+which case you might want to invoke the macros manually, eg.
+
+```
+%autobuild_autotools_build
+cd python
+%autobuild_python_build
+```
+
+## Supporting new build systems
+
+Supporting new build system types is just a matter of declaring a handful
+of macros, one for any relevant build scriptlets:
+
+Scriptlet                 | Autobuild macro
+-------------------------------------------
+`%prep`                   | `%autobuild_name_prep`
+`%conf`                   | `%autobuild_name_conf`
+`%generate_buildrequires` | `%autobuild_name_generate_buildrequires`
+`%build`                  | `%autobuild_name_build`
+`%install`                | `%autobuild_name_install`
+`%check`                  | `%autobuild_name_install`
+`%clean`                  | `%autobuiod_name_clean`
+
+Replace "name" with the buildsystem name, eg `%autobuild_cmake_build`.
+When Autobuild: tag is set, these automatically populate the corresponding
+spec section, unless the spec manually overrides it. 
+
+For example, supporting the classic autotools case could be built on top
+of existing helper macros:
+```
+%autobuild_autotools_conf %configure
+%autobuild_autotools_build %make_build
+%autobuild_autotools_install %make_install
+```
diff --git a/docs/manual/index.md b/docs/manual/index.md
index f5abb3f02e..12d1ddfd3c 100644
--- a/docs/manual/index.md
+++ b/docs/manual/index.md
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ title: rpm.org - RPM Reference Manual
 ## Package Building
 * [Build Process](buildprocess.md)
 * [Spec Syntax](spec.md)
+  * [Autobuild](autobuild.md)
   * [Autosetup](autosetup.md)
   * Dependencies
     * [Dependencies Basics](dependencies.md)
diff --git a/docs/manual/spec.md b/docs/manual/spec.md
index aedf495b11..ea4310378f 100644
--- a/docs/manual/spec.md
+++ b/docs/manual/spec.md
@@ -206,6 +206,12 @@ with old packages that might still depend on it.
 
 Do not use in new packages.
 
+#### Autobuild
+
+Automatically populate the spec build scripts for the given build system,
+such as `Autobuild: autotools". See [autobuild](autobuild.md) documentation
+for more details.
+
 #### AutoReqProv
 #### AutoReq
 #### AutoProv
diff --git a/include/rpm/rpmtag.h b/include/rpm/rpmtag.h
index dec9c9244c..aae604f681 100644
--- a/include/rpm/rpmtag.h
+++ b/include/rpm/rpmtag.h
@@ -386,6 +386,7 @@ typedef enum rpmTag_e {
     RPMTAG_PREUNTRANSFLAGS	= 5107, /* i */
     RPMTAG_POSTUNTRANSFLAGS	= 5108, /* i */
     RPMTAG_SYSUSERS		= 5109, /* s[] extension */
+    RPMTAG_AUTOBUILD		= 5110, /* internal */
 
     RPMTAG_FIRSTFREE_TAG	/*!< internal */
 } rpmTag;
diff --git a/macros.in b/macros.in
index a047d1e388..8b54826d0c 100644
--- a/macros.in
+++ b/macros.in
@@ -1349,5 +1349,16 @@ end
     end
 }
 
+# autobuild defaults
+%autobuild_default_prep %autosetup -p1
+
+# example autobuild macros for autotools
+%autobuild_autotools_conf %configure
+%autobuild_autotools_build %make_build
+%autobuild_autotools_install\
+%make_install\
+test -d po && %find_lang %{name} ||:
+
 # \endverbatim
 #*/
+
diff --git a/tests/data/SOURCES/amhello-1.0.tar.gz b/tests/data/SOURCES/amhello-1.0.tar.gz
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cd40d02ad8
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/data/SOURCES/amhello-1.0.tar.gz differ
diff --git a/tests/data/SPECS/amhello.spec b/tests/data/SPECS/amhello.spec
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ac281d1caf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/SPECS/amhello.spec
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+Name: amhello
+Version: 1.0
+Release: 1
+Source: %{name}-%{version}.tar.gz
+License: GPLv2
+Summary: Autotools example
+Autobuild: autotools
+
+%description
+%{summary}
+
+%build -a
+cat << EOF > README.distro
+Add some distro specific notes.
+EOF
+
+%files
+%doc README.distro
+%{_bindir}/hello
+%{_docdir}/%{name}
diff --git a/tests/rpmbuild.at b/tests/rpmbuild.at
index 03fcd1bb7e..09bd083b39 100644
--- a/tests/rpmbuild.at
+++ b/tests/rpmbuild.at
@@ -44,6 +44,27 @@ GPL
 [])
 RPMTEST_CLEANUP
 
+AT_SETUP([rpmbuild -b autobuild])
+AT_KEYWORDS([build])
+RPMDB_INIT
+
+runroot rpmbuild -bb \
+	--define "_prefix /usr" \
+	--define "_docdir_fmt %%{NAME}" \
+	--quiet /data/SPECS/amhello.spec
+
+RPMTEST_CHECK([
+runroot rpm -qpl --noartifact /build/RPMS/*/amhello-1.0-1.*.rpm
+],
+[0],
+[/usr/bin/hello
+/usr/share/doc/amhello
+/usr/share/doc/amhello/README
+/usr/share/doc/amhello/README.distro
+],
+[ignore])
+RPMTEST_CLEANUP
+
 AT_SETUP([rpmbuild -b steps])
 AT_KEYWORDS([build])
 RPMDB_INIT