diff --git a/wscript b/wscript
index 3e72fbc972..0986252e79 100644
--- a/wscript
+++ b/wscript
@@ -186,6 +186,13 @@ V = MAJOR + '.' + MINOR + '.' + MICRO
 VERSION = str (V.encode ('ascii', 'ignore'))
 PROGRAM_VERSION = str (MAJOR.encode ('ascii', 'ignore'))
 
+if len (sys.argv) > 1 and sys.argv[1] == 'dist':
+        if not 'APPNAME' in os.environ:
+                print "You must define APPNAME in the environment when running ./waf dist"
+                sys.exit (1)
+        APPNAME = os.environ['APPNAME'];
+                
+
 # Mandatory variables
 top = '.'
 out = 'build'