diff --git a/doc/source/distutils.rst b/doc/source/distutils.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..80926548cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/source/distutils.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+
+distutils/setuptools integration
+================================
+
+Instead of running p4a via the command line, you can integrate with
+distutils and setup.py.
+
+The base command is::
+
+    python setup.py apk
+
+The files included in the APK will be all those specified in the
+``package_data`` argument to setup. For instance, the following
+example will include all .py and .png files in the ``testapp``
+folder::
+
+    from distutils.core import setup
+    from setup
+
+    setup(
+        name='testapp_setup',
+        version='1.1',
+        description='p4a setup.py example',
+        author='Your Name',
+        author_email='youremail@address.com',
+        packages=find_packages(),
+        options=options,
+        package_data={'testapp': ['*.py', '*.png']}
+    )
+
+The app name and version will also be read automatically from the
+setup.py.
+
+The Android package name uses ``org.test.lowercaseappname``
+if not set explicitly.
+
+The ``--private`` argument is set automatically using the
+package_data, you should *not* set this manually.
+
+The target architecture defaults to ``--armeabi``.
+
+All of these automatic arguments can be overridden by passing them manually on the command line, e.g.::
+
+    python setup.py apk --name="Testapp Setup" --version=2.5
+
+Adding p4a arguments in setup.py
+--------------------------------
+
+Instead of providing extra arguments on the command line, you can
+store them in setup.py by passing the ``options`` parameter to
+:code:`setup`. For instance::
+
+    from distutils.core import setup
+    from setuptools import find_packages
+
+    options = {'apk': {'debug': None,  # use None for arguments that don't pass a value
+                       'requirements': 'sdl2,pyjnius,kivy,python2',
+                       'android-api': 19,
+                       'ndk-dir': '/path/to/ndk',
+                       'dist-name': 'bdisttest',
+                       }}
+
+    packages = find_packages()
+    print('packages are', packages)
+
+    setup(
+        name='testapp_setup',
+        version='1.1',
+        description='p4a setup.py example',
+        author='Your Name',
+        author_email='youremail@address.com',
+        packages=find_packages(),
+        options=options,
+        package_data={'testapp': ['*.py', '*.png']}
+    )
+
+These options will be automatically included when you run ``python
+setup.py apk``. Any options passed on the command line will override
+these values.
+
+Adding p4a arguments in setup.cfg
+---------------------------------
+
+You can also provide p4a arguments in the setup.cfg file, as normal
+for distutils. The syntax is::
+
+    [apk]
+
+    argument=value
+
+    requirements=sdl2,kivy
diff --git a/doc/source/index.rst b/doc/source/index.rst
index c7ec2cf922..84fd26dbb3 100644
--- a/doc/source/index.rst
+++ b/doc/source/index.rst
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ Contents
    quickstart
    buildoptions
    commands
+   distutils
    recipes
    bootstraps
    services
diff --git a/pythonforandroid/bdist_apk.py b/pythonforandroid/bdist_apk.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 5e58781d2e..0000000000
--- a/pythonforandroid/bdist_apk.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-from __future__ import print_function
-from setuptools import Command
-from pythonforandroid import toolchain
-
-class BdistAPK(Command):
-    description = 'Create an APK with python-for-android'
-    user_options = []
-
-    def initialize_options(sel):
-        print('initialising!')
-
-    def finalize_options(self):
-        print('finalising!')
-
-    def run(self):
-        print('running!')
diff --git a/pythonforandroid/bdistapk.py b/pythonforandroid/bdistapk.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a87fc76c20
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pythonforandroid/bdistapk.py
@@ -0,0 +1,140 @@
+from __future__ import print_function
+from setuptools import Command
+from pythonforandroid import toolchain
+
+import sys
+from os.path import realpath, join, exists, dirname, curdir, basename, split
+from os import makedirs
+from glob import glob
+from shutil import rmtree, copyfile
+
+
+def argv_contains(t):
+    for arg in sys.argv:
+        if arg.startswith(t):
+            return True
+    return False
+
+
+class BdistAPK(Command):
+    description = 'Create an APK with python-for-android'
+
+    user_options = []
+
+    def initialize_options(self):
+        for option in self.user_options:
+            setattr(self, option[0].strip('=').replace('-', '_'), None)
+
+        option_dict = self.distribution.get_option_dict('apk')
+
+        # This is a hack, we probably aren't supposed to loop through
+        # the option_dict so early because distutils does exactly the
+        # same thing later to check that we support the
+        # options. However, it works...
+        for (option, (source, value)) in option_dict.items():
+            setattr(self, option, str(value))
+
+
+    def finalize_options(self):
+
+        setup_options = self.distribution.get_option_dict('apk')
+        for (option, (source, value)) in setup_options.items():
+            if source == 'command line':
+                continue
+            if not argv_contains('--' + option):
+                if value in (None, 'None'):
+                    sys.argv.append('--{}'.format(option))
+                else:
+                    sys.argv.append('--{}={}'.format(option, value))
+
+        # Inject some argv options from setup.py if the user did not
+        # provide them
+        if not argv_contains('--name'):
+            name = self.distribution.get_name()
+            sys.argv.append('--name={}'.format(name))
+            self.name = name
+
+        if not argv_contains('--package'):
+            package = 'org.test.{}'.format(self.name.lower().replace(' ', ''))
+            print('WARNING: You did not supply an Android package '
+                  'identifier, trying {} instead.'.format(package))
+            print('         This may fail if this is not a valid identifier')
+            sys.argv.append('--package={}'.format(package))
+
+        if not argv_contains('--version'):
+            version = self.distribution.get_version()
+            sys.argv.append('--version={}'.format(version))
+
+        if not argv_contains('--arch'):
+            arch = 'armeabi'
+            self.arch = arch
+            sys.argv.append('--arch={}'.format(arch))
+
+    def run(self):
+
+        self.prepare_build_dir()
+
+        from pythonforandroid.toolchain import main
+        sys.argv[1] = 'apk'
+        main()
+
+    def prepare_build_dir(self):
+
+        if argv_contains('--private'):
+            print('WARNING: Received --private argument when this would '
+                  'normally be generated automatically.')
+            print('         This is probably bad unless you meant to do '
+                  'that.')
+
+        bdist_dir = 'build/bdist.android-{}'.format(self.arch)
+        rmtree(bdist_dir)
+        makedirs(bdist_dir)
+
+        globs = []
+        for directory, patterns in self.distribution.package_data.items():
+            for pattern in patterns:
+                globs.append(join(directory, pattern))
+
+        filens = []
+        for pattern in globs:
+            filens.extend(glob(pattern))
+
+        main_py_dirs = []
+        for filen in filens:
+            new_dir = join(bdist_dir, dirname(filen))
+            if not exists(new_dir):
+                makedirs(new_dir)
+            print('Including {}'.format(filen))
+            copyfile(filen, join(bdist_dir, filen))
+            if basename(filen) in ('main.py', 'main.pyo'):
+                main_py_dirs.append(filen)
+
+        # This feels ridiculous, but how else to define the main.py dir?
+        # Maybe should just fail?
+        if len(main_py_dirs) == 0:
+            print('ERROR: Could not find main.py, so no app build dir defined')
+            print('You should name your app entry point main.py')
+            exit(1)
+        if len(main_py_dirs) > 1:
+            print('WARNING: Multiple main.py dirs found, using the shortest path')
+        main_py_dirs = sorted(main_py_dirs, key=lambda j: len(split(j)))
+
+        sys.argv.append('--private={}'.format(join(realpath(curdir), bdist_dir,
+                                                   dirname(main_py_dirs[0]))))
+
+
+def _set_user_options():
+    # This seems like a silly way to do things, but not sure if there's a
+    # better way to pass arbitrary options onwards to p4a
+    user_options = [('requirements=', None, None),]
+    for i, arg in enumerate(sys.argv):
+        if arg.startswith('--'):
+            if ('=' in arg or
+                (i < (len(sys.argv) - 1) and not sys.argv[i+1].startswith('-'))):
+                user_options.append((arg[2:].split('=')[0] + '=', None, None))
+            else:
+                user_options.append((arg[2:], None, None))
+
+    BdistAPK.user_options = user_options
+
+_set_user_options()
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 97ed536fbb..6e228f3cba 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ def recursively_include(results, directory, patterns):
               'p4a = pythonforandroid.toolchain:main',
               ],
           'distutils.commands': [
-              'bdist_apk = pythonforandroid.bdist_apk:BdistAPK',
+              'apk = pythonforandroid.bdistapk:BdistAPK',
               ],
           },
       classifiers = [
diff --git a/testapps/testapp_setup/setup.cfg b/testapps/testapp_setup/setup.cfg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/testapps/testapp_setup/setup.py b/testapps/testapp_setup/setup.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e6d7148720
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testapps/testapp_setup/setup.py
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+
+from distutils.core import setup
+from setuptools import find_packages
+
+options = {'apk': {'debug': None,
+                   'requirements': 'sdl2,pyjnius,kivy,python2',
+                   'android-api': 19,
+                   'ndk-dir': '/home/asandy/android/crystax-ndk-10.3.1',
+                   'dist-name': 'bdisttest',
+                   'ndk-version': '10.3.1',
+                   }}
+
+package_data = {'': ['*.py',
+                     '*.png']
+                }
+
+packages = find_packages()
+print('packages are', packages)
+
+setup(
+    name='testapp_setup',
+    version='1.1',
+    description='p4a setup.py test',
+    author='Alexander Taylor',
+    author_email='alexanderjohntaylor@gmail.com',
+    packages=find_packages(),
+    options=options,
+    package_data={'testapp': ['*.py', '*.png']}
+)
diff --git a/testapps/testapp_setup/testapp/colours.png b/testapps/testapp_setup/testapp/colours.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..30b685e32b
Binary files /dev/null and b/testapps/testapp_setup/testapp/colours.png differ
diff --git a/testapps/testapp_setup/testapp/main.py b/testapps/testapp_setup/testapp/main.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a9f8f47e06
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testapps/testapp_setup/testapp/main.py
@@ -0,0 +1,150 @@
+print('main.py was successfully called')
+
+import os
+print('imported os')
+
+print('contents of ./lib/python2.7/site-packages/ etc.')
+print(os.listdir('./lib'))
+print(os.listdir('./lib/python2.7'))
+print(os.listdir('./lib/python2.7/site-packages'))
+
+print('contents of this dir', os.listdir('./'))
+
+with open('./lib/python2.7/site-packages/kivy/app.pyo', 'rb') as fileh:
+    print('app.pyo size is', len(fileh.read()))
+
+import sys
+print('pythonpath is', sys.path)
+
+import kivy
+print('imported kivy')
+print('file is', kivy.__file__)
+
+from kivy.app import App
+
+from kivy.lang import Builder
+from kivy.properties import StringProperty
+
+from kivy.uix.popup import Popup
+from kivy.clock import Clock
+
+print('Imported kivy')
+from kivy.utils import platform
+print('platform is', platform)
+
+
+kv = '''
+#:import Metrics kivy.metrics.Metrics
+
+<FixedSizeButton@Button>:
+    size_hint_y: None
+    height: dp(60)
+
+
+ScrollView:
+    GridLayout:
+        cols: 1
+        size_hint_y: None
+        height: self.minimum_height
+        FixedSizeButton:
+            text: 'test pyjnius'
+            on_press: app.test_pyjnius()
+        Image:
+            keep_ratio: False
+            allow_stretch: True
+            source: 'colours.png'
+            size_hint_y: None
+            height: dp(100)
+        Label:
+            height: self.texture_size[1]
+            size_hint_y: None
+            font_size: 100
+            text_size: self.size[0], None
+            markup: True
+            text: '[b]Kivy[/b] on [b]SDL2[/b] on [b]Android[/b]!'
+            halign: 'center'
+        Widget:
+            size_hint_y: None
+            height: 20
+        Label:
+            height: self.texture_size[1]
+            size_hint_y: None
+            font_size: 50
+            text_size: self.size[0], None
+            markup: True
+            text: 'dpi: {}\\ndensity: {}\\nfontscale: {}'.format(Metrics.dpi, Metrics.density, Metrics.fontscale)
+            halign: 'center'
+        FixedSizeButton:
+            text: 'test ctypes'
+            on_press: app.test_ctypes()
+        FixedSizeButton:
+            text: 'test numpy'
+            on_press: app.test_numpy()
+        Widget:
+            size_hint_y: None
+            height: 1000
+            on_touch_down: print 'touched at', args[-1].pos
+
+<ErrorPopup>:
+    title: 'Error' 
+    size_hint: 0.75, 0.75
+    Label:
+        text: root.error_text
+'''
+
+
+class ErrorPopup(Popup):
+    error_text = StringProperty('')
+
+def raise_error(error):
+    print('ERROR:',  error)
+    ErrorPopup(error_text=error).open()
+
+class TestApp(App):
+    def build(self):
+        root = Builder.load_string(kv)
+        Clock.schedule_interval(self.print_something, 2)
+        # Clock.schedule_interval(self.test_pyjnius, 5)
+        print('testing metrics')
+        from kivy.metrics import Metrics
+        print('dpi is', Metrics.dpi)
+        print('density is', Metrics.density)
+        print('fontscale is', Metrics.fontscale)
+        return root
+
+    def print_something(self, *args):
+        print('App print tick', Clock.get_boottime())
+
+    def on_pause(self):
+        return True
+
+    def test_pyjnius(self, *args):
+        try:
+            from jnius import autoclass
+        except ImportError:
+            raise_error('Could not import pyjnius')
+            return
+        
+        print('Attempting to vibrate with pyjnius')
+        # PythonActivity = autoclass('org.renpy.android.PythonActivity')
+        # activity = PythonActivity.mActivity
+        PythonActivity = autoclass('org.kivy.android.PythonActivity')
+        activity = PythonActivity.mActivity
+        Intent = autoclass('android.content.Intent')
+        Context = autoclass('android.content.Context')
+        vibrator = activity.getSystemService(Context.VIBRATOR_SERVICE)
+
+        vibrator.vibrate(1000)
+
+    def test_ctypes(self, *args):
+        import ctypes
+            
+    def test_numpy(self, *args):
+        import numpy
+
+        print(numpy.zeros(5))
+        print(numpy.arange(5))
+        print(numpy.random.random((3, 3)))
+                    
+
+TestApp().run()