diff --git a/data/develop/makefile b/data/develop/makefile
index 8e86110d36..30f3438386 100644
--- a/data/develop/makefile
+++ b/data/develop/makefile
@@ -32,8 +32,13 @@ TYPE=
 #	in folder names do not work well with this makefile.
 SRCS= 
 
-#	specify the resource files to use
+#	specify the resource definition files to use
 #	full path or a relative path to the resource file can be used.
+RDEFS= 
+	
+#	specify the resource files to use. 
+#	full path or a relative path to the resource file can be used.
+#	both RDEFS and RSRCS can be defined in the same makefile.
 RSRCS= 
 
 # @<-src@ 
diff --git a/data/develop/makefile-engine b/data/develop/makefile-engine
index cf89065f9c..a8798a30dd 100644
--- a/data/develop/makefile-engine
+++ b/data/develop/makefile-engine
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ endif
 #	specify the tools for adding and removing resources
 	XRES		= xres
 
+#	specify the tools for compiling resource definition files
+	RESCOMP		= rc
 
 # 	platform specific settings
 
@@ -267,6 +269,23 @@ else
 	BUILD_LINE = $(LD) -o $@ $(OBJS) $(LDFLAGS)
 endif
 
+# pseudo-function for converting a list of resource definition files in RDEFS 
+# variable to a corresponding list of object files in $(OBJ_DIR)/xxx.rsrc
+# The "function" strips off the rdef file suffix (.rdef) and then strips 
+# of the directory name, leaving just the root file name.
+# It then appends the .rsrc suffix and prepends the $(OBJ_DIR)/ path
+define RDEFS_LIST_TO_RSRCS
+	$(addprefix $(OBJ_DIR)/, $(addsuffix .rsrc, $(foreach file, $(RDEFS), \
+	$(basename $(notdir $(file))))))
+endef
+
+#	create the resource definitions instruction in case RDEFS is not empty
+	ifeq ($(RDEFS), )
+		RSRCS +=
+	else
+		RSRCS += $(RDEFS_LIST_TO_RSRCS)
+	endif
+
 #	create the resource instruction
 	ifeq ($(RSRCS), )
 		DO_RSRCS :=
@@ -329,6 +348,12 @@ $(OBJ_DIR)/%.o : %.CC
 $(OBJ_DIR)/%.o : %.CPP
 	$(CC) -c $< $(INCLUDES) $(CFLAGS) -o $@
 
+# rules to compile resource definition files
+$(OBJ_DIR)/%.rsrc : %.rdef
+	$(RESCOMP) -o $@ $<
+$(OBJ_DIR)/%.rsrc : %.RDEF
+	$(RESCOMP) -o $@ $<
+
 #	rules to handle lex/flex and yacc/bison files
 
 $(OBJ_DIR)/%.o: %.l