diff --git a/doc/config.rst b/doc/config.rst
index 24334f363..e8bf87177 100644
--- a/doc/config.rst
+++ b/doc/config.rst
@@ -509,10 +509,11 @@ that use Sphinx' HTMLWriter class.
 
 .. confval:: html_static_path
 
-   A list of paths that contain custom static files (such as style sheets or
-   script files).  Relative paths are taken as relative to the configuration
-   directory.  They are copied to the output directory after the theme's static
-   files, so a file named :file:`default.css` will overwrite the theme's
+   A list of paths that contain custom static files (such as style
+   sheets or script files).  Relative paths are taken as relative to
+   the configuration directory.  They are copied to the output's
+   :file:`_static` directory after the theme's static files, so a file
+   named :file:`default.css` will overwrite the theme's
    :file:`default.css`.
 
    .. versionchanged:: 0.4
@@ -521,6 +522,19 @@ that use Sphinx' HTMLWriter class.
    .. versionchanged:: 1.0
       The entries in :confval:`html_static_path` can now be single files.
 
+.. confval:: html_extra_path
+
+   A list of paths that contain extra files not directly related to
+   the documentation, such as :file:`robots.txt` or :file:`.htaccess`.
+   Relative paths are taken as relative to the configuration
+   directory.  They are copied to the output directory.  They will
+   overwrite any existing file of the same name.
+
+   As these files are not meant to be built, they are automatically added to
+   :confval:`exclude_patterns`.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 1.2
+
 .. confval:: html_last_updated_fmt
 
    If this is not the empty string, a 'Last updated on:' timestamp is inserted
diff --git a/sphinx/builders/html.py b/sphinx/builders/html.py
index ca8a4acdf..cd0200e4b 100644
--- a/sphinx/builders/html.py
+++ b/sphinx/builders/html.py
@@ -480,6 +480,7 @@ class StandaloneHTMLBuilder(Builder):
         self.copy_image_files()
         self.copy_download_files()
         self.copy_static_files()
+        self.copy_extra_files()
         self.write_buildinfo()
 
         # dump the search index
@@ -607,6 +608,17 @@ class StandaloneHTMLBuilder(Builder):
                          icontarget)
         self.info('done')
 
+    def copy_extra_files(self):
+        # copy html_extra_path files
+        self.info(bold('copying extra files... '), nonl=True)
+        extraentries = [path.join(self.confdir, epath)
+                        for epath in self.config.html_extra_path]
+        for entry in extraentries:
+            if not path.exists(entry):
+                self.warn('html_extra_path entry %r does not exist' % entry)
+                continue
+            copy_static_entry(entry, self.outdir, self)
+
     def write_buildinfo(self):
         # write build info file
         fp = open(path.join(self.outdir, '.buildinfo'), 'w')
diff --git a/sphinx/config.py b/sphinx/config.py
index a59012117..051b9eef5 100644
--- a/sphinx/config.py
+++ b/sphinx/config.py
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ class Config(object):
         html_logo = (None, 'html'),
         html_favicon = (None, 'html'),
         html_static_path = ([], 'html'),
+        html_extra_path = ([], 'html'),
         # the real default is locale-dependent
         html_last_updated_fmt = (None, 'html'),
         html_use_smartypants = (True, 'html'),
diff --git a/sphinx/environment.py b/sphinx/environment.py
index 35799bea2..3c9c830c1 100644
--- a/sphinx/environment.py
+++ b/sphinx/environment.py
@@ -335,6 +335,7 @@ class BuildEnvironment:
         """
         matchers = compile_matchers(
             config.exclude_patterns[:] +
+            config.html_extra_path +
             config.exclude_trees +
             [d + config.source_suffix for d in config.unused_docs] +
             ['**/' + d for d in config.exclude_dirnames] +
diff --git a/sphinx/quickstart.py b/sphinx/quickstart.py
index 73926f82e..7124184e6 100644
--- a/sphinx/quickstart.py
+++ b/sphinx/quickstart.py
@@ -171,6 +171,11 @@ html_theme = 'default'
 # so a file named "default.css" will overwrite the builtin "default.css".
 html_static_path = ['%(dot)sstatic']
 
+# Add any extra paths that contain custom files (such as robots.txt or
+# .htaccess) here, relative to this directory. These files are copied
+# directly to the root of the documentation.
+#html_extra_path = []
+
 # If not '', a 'Last updated on:' timestamp is inserted at every page bottom,
 # using the given strftime format.
 #html_last_updated_fmt = '%%b %%d, %%Y'
diff --git a/tests/root/conf.py b/tests/root/conf.py
index 37b9127e7..8025ba33c 100644
--- a/tests/root/conf.py
+++ b/tests/root/conf.py
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ html_sidebars = {'**': 'customsb.html',
                  'contents': ['contentssb.html', 'localtoc.html'] }
 html_style = 'default.css'
 html_static_path = ['_static', 'templated.css_t']
+html_extra_path = ['robots.txt']
 html_last_updated_fmt = '%b %d, %Y'
 html_context = {'hckey': 'hcval', 'hckey_co': 'wrong_hcval_co'}
 
diff --git a/tests/root/robots.txt b/tests/root/robots.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1b425ee0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/root/robots.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+User-agent: *
+Disallow: /cgi-bin/
diff --git a/tests/test_build_html.py b/tests/test_build_html.py
index 73a4e3099..2a08ee92d 100644
--- a/tests/test_build_html.py
+++ b/tests/test_build_html.py
@@ -320,6 +320,9 @@ def check_static_entries(outdir):
     # a file from _static, but matches exclude_patterns
     assert not (staticdir / 'excluded.css').exists()
 
+def check_extra_entries(outdir):
+    assert (outdir / 'robots.txt').isfile()
+
 @gen_with_app(buildername='html', warning=html_warnfile, cleanenv=True,
               confoverrides={'html_context.hckey_co': 'hcval_co'},
               tags=['testtag'])
@@ -345,6 +348,7 @@ def test_html(app):
             yield check_xpath, etree, fname, path, check
 
     check_static_entries(app.builder.outdir)
+    check_extra_entries(app.builder.outdir)
 
 @with_app(buildername='html', srcdir='(empty)',
           confoverrides={'html_sidebars': {'*': ['globaltoc.html']}},