diff --git a/.dir-locals.el b/.dir-locals.el
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..e17d9ed3b25bccbb5151b480a7dd25e8defa87c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dir-locals.el
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+((nil .
+      ((c-file-style . "gnu")
+       (indent-tabs-mode . nil)
+       (fill-column . 79)))
+ (makefile-mode . ((indent-tabs-mode . t)))
+ (matlab-mode . ((matlab-indent-level . 4)
+                 (matlab-indent-function-body . nil))))
diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 7d0606ba6a468a81118bcc930e34a2ed053f28dd..55197c8a47f68759a932de858f6c6a9c74b977a6 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -30,7 +30,8 @@ EXTRA_DIST = \
 	windows/README.txt \
 	osx \
 	examples \
-	scripts
+	scripts \
+	.dir-locals.el
 
 dist-hook:
 	rm -rf `find $(distdir)/matlab $(distdir)/examples -name *~`