diff --git a/src/swig/Makefile b/src/swig/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c043904a80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/swig/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+
+SWIG_FILTER    := %P.h %/util.h
+SWIG_HDRS      := $(filter-out ${SWIG_FILTER},$(wildcard ../engine/*.h))
+
+# Because Swig's include mechanism is not too smart.
+SWIG_BASENAMES := $(notdir ${SWIG_HDRS})
+
+CFLAGS := -I.. \
+          -I../.. \
+          -I../engine \
+          -I../register \
+          -I./../../include \
+          -I/usr/include/readline \
+          -I/usr/lib/perl5/i386-linux/5.004/CORE
+
+CFLAGS  += -O2 -Wall -Wno-unused
+
+LIBENG  := ../libengine.a
+
+all: guile perl5
+
+# This is .PHONY because it has to be re-generated *every* time.  Who
+# knows when headers are added to the engine dir?
+xacc.i:
+	@echo "%module xacc" > xacc.i
+	@echo "%{" >> xacc.i
+	@($(foreach hdr,${SWIG_BASENAMES},echo "#include <${hdr}>"; )) >> xacc.i
+	@echo "%}" >> xacc.i
+	@($(foreach hdr,${SWIG_BASENAMES},echo %include ${hdr}; )) >> xacc.i
+.PHONY: xacc.i
+
+%_wrap.c: xacc.i
+
+##### Guile
+
+guile: guile/xacc-guile
+.PHONY: guile
+
+##### Guile
+
+xacc-guile: xacc-guile.o xacc-guile_wrap.o $(LIBENG) 
+
+guile/xacc-guile_wrap.c: xacc.i ${SWIG_HDRS}
+	swig -I../engine -guile -o $@ $< 
+
+guile/xacc-guile: guile/xacc-guile.o guile/xacc-guile_wrap.o $(LIBENG) 
+	${CC} $^ ${LIBENG} -lguile -lreadline -lm -o $@
+CLEANFILES += guile/xacc-guile
+
+##### Perl5
+
+perl5: perl5/xacc.so
+
+perl5/xacc.so: perl5/xacc-perl5_wrap.c $(LIBENG) 
+	${CC} ${CFLAGS} -shared $^ -lm -o $@ -Dbool=char -fpic
+CLEANFILES += perl5/xacc.so
+
+perl5/xacc-perl5_wrap.c: xacc.i ${SWIG_HDRS}
+	swig -I../engine -perl5 -o $@ $< 
+
+clean:
+	rm -f *.o *~ *.bak *.i ${CLEANFILES}
+	(cd guile && rm -f *.o *~ *.bak *_wrap.c *.doc)
+	(cd perl5 && rm -f *.o *~ *.bak *_wrap.c *.doc *.pm)
+
+# Local Variables:
+# tab-width: 2
+# End:
+
+# DO NOT DELETE THIS LINE -- make depend depends on it.
diff --git a/src/swig/README b/src/swig/README
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5408064a65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/swig/README
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+
+This README needs some serious help.
+
+./examples contains whatever examples we've accumulated to date.
+
+Each language interface is built in a separate subdirectory.  Right
+now we have guile and perl5.  A simple "make" should build everything.
+
+Building guile will result in guile/xacc-guile, a simple interpreter
+that will let you execute scheme forms (including xacc commands).  We
+need to add an example of building a dynamically loadable guile module
+later, but guile/xacc-guile.c shows you how easy it is to embed a
+guile interpreter in your app, and then load all the xacc functions
+into the interpreter.
+
+Building perl5 will result in a perl module.  For an example of how to
+use it, see ../cbb/cbb-to-xacc.
+
diff --git a/src/swig/examples/scan-acct.scm b/src/swig/examples/scan-acct.scm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bfedf0a8e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/swig/examples/scan-acct.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+
+(define (list-accts filename)
+  (let ((db (xaccReadAccountGroup filename)))
+    (do ((total (xaccGetNumAccounts db))
+         (i 0 (+ i 1)))
+        ((= i total))
+      (let ((acct (xaccGetAccountFromID db i)))
+        (write (xaccAccountGetName acct))))))
diff --git a/src/swig/guile/xacc-guile.c b/src/swig/guile/xacc-guile.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..63933446a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/swig/guile/xacc-guile.c
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <readline.h>
+#include <history.h>
+#include <guile/gh.h>
+#include <FileIO.h>
+
+static void
+guile_entry_point(int argc, char *argv[]) {
+  char *input;
+  xacc();
+  
+  input = readline("xacc> ");
+  while(input) {
+    SCM result = gh_eval_str(input);
+    gh_display(result);
+    gh_newline();
+    add_history(input);
+    free(input);
+    input = readline("xacc> ");
+  }
+}
+
+int
+main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
+  gh_enter(argc, argv, guile_entry_point);
+  return 0;
+}