diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 14cee50c092d9400cb6a473f6bfc7f5206663f64..1a502eb2c6310bb815ee723e10f33edb6da66795 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ GENSTUB    = $(GENSTUB_V$(V))
 CLEANFILES 			   = $(shim_files) $(shim_srcs)
 BUILT_SOURCES 		   = $(shim_srcs)
 
+include disabled.mk
+
 shim/lib%.so.c: generate-stublib.sh print-libstubs capsule-shim.h shim/lib%.so.c.excluded shim/lib%.so.c.shared
 	$(GENSTUB)$(top_srcdir)/$< $$(basename $@ .c) $@.excluded $@.shared $@
 
diff --git a/disabled.mk b/disabled.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a1d0bd339f4d7ce7b784b3f660c95fa813e709f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/disabled.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# all these catch-all rules do is slow things down
+%:: %,v
+%:: RCS/%
+%:: RCS/%,v
+%:: SCCS/s.%
+%:: s.%