diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index a5d20c3..ff70a0b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
-Makefile
+
 v8.bundle
 *.o
 *.log
 *~
 docs/cpp/html/*
 
-ext/v8/upstream/scons/build
-ext/v8/upstream/scons/install
+ext/v8/upstream/build
+
 pkg/
 tmp/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index bcde25c..3eb40c2 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ begin
     gemspec.homepage = "http://github.com/cowboyd/therubyracer"
     gemspec.authors = ["Charles Lowell", "Bill Robertson"]
     gemspec.extra_rdoc_files = ["README.rdoc"]
-    gemspec.files.exclude "ext/**/test/*", "ext/**/samples/*", "ext/**/benchmarks/*", "ext/**/*.o", "ext/**/*.o", "#{SCONS}/build", "#{SCONS}/install"      
+    gemspec.files.exclude "ext/**/test/*", "ext/**/samples/*", "ext/**/benchmarks/*", "#{UPSTREAM}/build"
   end
 rescue LoadError
   puts "Jeweler not available. Install it with: gem install jeweler"
@@ -42,10 +42,7 @@ task :build
 
 
 task "clean-v8" => "clean" do
-  sh "rm -f #{V8_SRC}/libv8.a"
-  sh "rm -rf #{SCONS}/build"
-  sh "rm -rf #{SCONS}/install"
-  sh "rm -rf #{V8_SRC}/obj"
+  sh "cd #{UPSTREAM} && make clean"
 end
 
 task :clean do
diff --git a/ext/v8/extconf.rb b/ext/v8/extconf.rb
index 802d639..53fe53f 100755
--- a/ext/v8/extconf.rb
+++ b/ext/v8/extconf.rb
@@ -1,25 +1,15 @@
 require 'mkmf'
 
+UPSTREAM = File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) + "/upstream")
+BUILD = "#{UPSTREAM}/build/v8"
+
+
 puts "Compiling V8"
 
-arch = ['foo'].pack('p').size == 8 ? 'x64' : 'ia32'
+system("cd #{UPSTREAM} && make") or raise "Error compiling V8"
 
-UPSTREAM_SRC = File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) + "/upstream")
-SCONS_SRC = "#{UPSTREAM_SRC}/scons"
-V8_SRC = "#{UPSTREAM_SRC}/2.0.6"
-CCSC = "cd #{SCONS_SRC} && python setup.py install --prefix=#{SCONS_SRC}/install"
-unless File.exists?("#{SCONS_SRC}/install")
-puts CCSC
-`#{CCSC}`
-end
-unless File.exists?("#{V8_SRC}/libv8.a")
-CCV8 = "cd #{V8_SRC} && #{SCONS_SRC}/install/bin/scons arch=#{arch}"
-puts CCV8
-`#{CCV8}`
-end
-
-dir_config('v8', "#{V8_SRC}/include", "#{V8_SRC}")
-have_library('v8')
+dir_config('v8', "#{BUILD}/include", "#{BUILD}")
+have_library('v8') or raise "Unable to find libv8 in #{BUILD}, was there an error compiling it?"
 
 $CPPFLAGS += " -Wall" unless $CPPFLAGS.split.include? "-Wall"
 
diff --git a/ext/v8/upstream/Makefile b/ext/v8/upstream/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b4a38b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ext/v8/upstream/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+
+SCONS=build/scons/install/bin/scons
+SCONSSRC=build/scons
+V8SRC=build/v8
+LIBV8=build/v8/libv8.a
+GCC_VERSION=$(shell ruby -e 'puts %x{gcc --version} =~ /(\d)\.(\d)\.\d/ ? $$1 + $$2 : "UNKNOWN"')
+ARCH=$(shell ruby -e "puts ['foo'].pack('p').size == 8 ? 'x64' : 'ia32'")
+
+all: $(LIBV8)
+
+$(LIBV8): $(SCONS) $(V8SRC)
+	cd build/v8 && GCC_VERSION=$(GCC_VERSION) ../scons/install/bin/scons arch=$(ARCH)
+
+$(SCONS): $(SCONSSRC)
+	mkdir -p $(SCONSSRC)/install
+	python build/scons/setup.py install --prefix=install
+
+$(V8SRC): build
+	cp -r 2.0.6 build/v8
+	patch -td build/v8 -i ../../no-strict-aliasing.patch
+
+$(SCONSSRC): build
+	cp -r scons build
+
+build:
+	mkdir -p build
+
+scons: $(SCONS)
+
+clean:
+	rm -rf build
diff --git a/ext/v8/upstream/no-strict-aliasing.patch b/ext/v8/upstream/no-strict-aliasing.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5be66cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ext/v8/upstream/no-strict-aliasing.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+Index: SConstruct
+===================================================================
+--- SConstruct	(revision 3521)
++++ SConstruct	(working copy)
+@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
+ # on linux we need these compiler flags to avoid crashes in the v8 test suite
+ # and avoid dtoa.c strict aliasing issues
+ if os.environ.get('GCC_VERSION') == '44':
+-    GCC_EXTRA_CCFLAGS = ['-fno-tree-vrp']
++    GCC_EXTRA_CCFLAGS = ['-fno-tree-vrp', '-fno-strict-aliasing']
+     GCC_DTOA_EXTRA_CCFLAGS = ['-fno-strict-aliasing']
+ else:
+     GCC_EXTRA_CCFLAGS = []