diff --git a/build-data/suffix-rules.mk b/build-data/suffix-rules.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9506929
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build-data/suffix-rules.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at:
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+# Shared suffix rules
+# Please do not set "SUFFIXES = .api.h .api" here
+
+%.api.h: %.api
+	@echo "  APIGEN  " $@ ;					\
+	mkdir -p `dirname $@` ;					\
+	$(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) -E -P -C -x c $^			\
+	| vppapigen --input - --output $@ --show-name $@
+
+