--- /dev/null
+#
+# Copyright 2016 RIFT.IO Inc
+#
+# 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.
+#
+# Author(s): Tim Mortsolf
+# Creation Date: 11/25/2013
+#
+
+##
+# Define a Makefile function: find_upwards(filename)
+#
+# Searches for a file of the given name in the directory ., .., ../.., ../../.., etc.,
+# until the file is found or the root directory is reached
+##
+find_upward = $(word 1, $(shell while [ `pwd` != / ] ; do find `pwd` -maxdepth 1 -name $1 ; cd .. ; done))
+
+##
+# Call find_upward("Makefile.top") to find the nearest upwards adjacent Makefile.top
+##
+makefile.top := $(call find_upward, "Makefile.top")
+
+##
+# If Makefile.top was found, then include it
+##
+include $(makefile.top)