diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index fa324a09..ba880237 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -36,6 +36,49 @@ if is_task?('test', 'default')
   end
 end
 
+# ----- Packaging -----
+
+if is_task?('package', 'repackage', 'clobber_package')
+  require 'rake/gempackagetask'
+  
+  spec = Gem::Specification.new do |spec|
+    spec.name = 'haml'
+    spec.summary = 'An elegant, structured XHTML/XML templating engine.'
+    spec.version = File.read('VERSION').strip
+    spec.author = 'Hampton Catlin'
+    spec.email = 'haml@googlegroups.com'
+    spec.description = <<-END
+      Haml (HTML Abstraction Markup Language) is a layer on top of XHTML or XML
+      that's designed to express the structure of XHTML or XML documents
+      in a non-repetitive, elegant, easy way,
+      using indentation rather than closing tags
+      and allowing Ruby to be embedded with ease.
+      It was originally envisioned as a plugin for Ruby on Rails,
+      but it can function as a stand-alone templating engine.
+    END
+    
+    readmes = FileList.new('*') do |list|
+      list.exclude(/[a-z]/)
+      list.exclude('TODO')
+    end.to_a
+    spec.executables = ['haml']
+    spec.files = FileList['lib/**/*', 'bin/*', 'test/**/*', 'Rakefile'].to_a + readmes
+    spec.homepage = 'http://haml.hamptoncatlin.com/'
+    spec.has_rdoc = true
+    spec.extra_rdoc_files = readmes
+    spec.rdoc_options += [
+      '--title', 'Haml',
+      '--main', 'REFERENCE',
+      '--exclude', 'lib/haml/buffer.rb',
+      '--line-numbers',
+      '--inline-source'
+    ]
+    spec.test_files = FileList['test/**/*_test.rb'].to_a
+  end
+  
+  Rake::GemPackageTask.new(spec) { |pkg| }
+end
+
 # ----- Benchmarking -----
 
 if is_task?('benchmark')