diff --git a/scripts/build-rocksdb.sh b/scripts/build-rocksdb.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..36e4565
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/build-rocksdb.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,147 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# Builds rocksdb once, with the shared and the static library, and installs it
+# into a prefix of its own (default: $HOME/rocksdb). Works on Fedora, Rocky
+# Linux, RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu and MacOS.
+#
+# The version to build is, in this order:
+#   1. the one given with -v
+#   2. the one of the rocksdb package of the distribution, so that the static
+#      library matches the headers and the shared library collocatordb was
+#      built against
+#   3. a pinned one that is known to compile with the compilers of Rocky Linux
+#      9 (gcc 11) up to Fedora (gcc 16) and MacOS (clang)
+#
+# Examples:
+#   scripts/build-rocksdb.sh                  # build the version of the distribution
+#   scripts/build-rocksdb.sh -v 10.2.1        # build a specific version
+#   scripts/build-rocksdb.sh -p /opt/rocksdb  # install somewhere else
+#
+set -euo pipefail
+
+PINNED_VERSION=10.2.1
+PREFIX=$HOME/rocksdb
+VERSION=
+SOURCE_DIR=
+STATIC_ONLY=0
+
+usage() {
+    sed -n '2,17p' "$0"
+    exit "${1:-0}"
+}
+
+while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
+    case $1 in
+        -p|--prefix)  PREFIX=$2; shift 2 ;;
+        -v|--version) VERSION=$2; shift 2 ;;
+        -s|--source)  SOURCE_DIR=$2; shift 2 ;;
+        --static-only) STATIC_ONLY=1; shift ;;
+        -h|--help)    usage 0 ;;
+        *) echo "Unknown option: $1" >&2; usage 1 ;;
+    esac
+done
+
+SOURCE_DIR=${SOURCE_DIR:-$PREFIX-src}
+
+# --- the version -------------------------------------------------------------
+if [ -z "$VERSION" ]; then
+    if command -v rpm > /dev/null && rpm -q rocksdb > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+        VERSION=$(rpm -q --qf '%{VERSION}' rocksdb)
+    elif command -v dpkg-query > /dev/null && dpkg-query -W librocksdb-dev > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+        VERSION=$(dpkg-query -W -f '${Version}' librocksdb-dev | cut -d- -f1)
+    elif command -v brew > /dev/null && brew list --versions rocksdb > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+        VERSION=$(brew list --versions rocksdb | awk '{print $2}' | cut -d' ' -f1)
+    else
+        VERSION=$PINNED_VERSION
+        echo "No rocksdb package found, building the pinned version $VERSION."
+        echo "Give another one with -v, see https://github.com/facebook/rocksdb/tags"
+    fi
+fi
+echo "Building rocksdb $VERSION"
+
+# --- the prerequisites -------------------------------------------------------
+missing=
+for tool in git cmake make; do
+    command -v $tool > /dev/null || missing="$missing $tool"
+done
+if ! command -v c++ > /dev/null && ! command -v g++ > /dev/null && ! command -v clang++ > /dev/null; then
+    missing="$missing c++"
+fi
+# The compression libraries rocksdb is built with below. Where they are
+# missing the build still succeeds, just without them, so this is a hint.
+compression_hint=
+if command -v pkg-config > /dev/null; then
+    for lib in snappy zlib bzip2 liblz4 libzstd; do
+        pkg-config --exists $lib 2> /dev/null || compression_hint="$compression_hint $lib"
+    done
+fi
+if [ -n "$missing" ]; then
+    echo "Missing build tools:$missing" >&2
+    echo >&2
+    echo "Install them and the compression libraries:" >&2
+    echo "  Fedora, Rocky, RHEL: sudo dnf install cmake gcc-c++ git snappy-devel zlib-devel bzip2-devel lz4-devel libzstd-devel" >&2
+    echo "  Debian, Ubuntu:      sudo apt-get install cmake g++ git libsnappy-dev zlib1g-dev libbz2-dev liblz4-dev libzstd-dev" >&2
+    echo "  MacOS:               brew install cmake snappy zlib bzip2 lz4 zstd" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+if [ -n "$compression_hint" ]; then
+    echo "Warning: pkg-config does not find:$compression_hint" >&2
+    echo "rocksdb will be built without them. The devel packages named above provide them." >&2
+fi
+
+# --- the sources -------------------------------------------------------------
+if [ -d "$SOURCE_DIR/.git" ]; then
+    echo "Reusing the checkout in $SOURCE_DIR"
+    git -C "$SOURCE_DIR" fetch --depth 1 origin "refs/tags/v$VERSION"
+    git -C "$SOURCE_DIR" checkout -q FETCH_HEAD
+else
+    git clone https://github.com/facebook/rocksdb.git --branch "v$VERSION" --depth 1 "$SOURCE_DIR"
+fi
+
+# --- the build ---------------------------------------------------------------
+# lib64 where the distribution has one (Fedora, Rocky, RHEL, openSUSE), lib
+# elsewhere. Both are searched for a prefix by cmake, this is for the user.
+if [ -d /usr/lib64 ] && [ ! -e /etc/debian_version ]; then
+    LIBDIR=lib64
+else
+    LIBDIR=lib
+fi
+
+# WITH_GFLAGS and WITH_LIBURING are off so that the static library does not
+# drag them into everything that links it. FAIL_ON_WARNINGS off so that a
+# newer compiler does not turn rocksdb's own warnings into errors. And
+# -include cstdint because older rocksdb versions declare uint64_t and friends
+# without including it, which newer compilers no longer tolerate - Fedora 44
+# packages 10.2.1 and builds it with gcc 16, for instance. Where it is already
+# included, the flag changes nothing.
+cmake -S "$SOURCE_DIR" -B "$SOURCE_DIR/build" \
+      -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
+      -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="-include cstdint" \
+      -DFAIL_ON_WARNINGS=OFF \
+      -DWITH_TESTS=OFF -DWITH_ALL_TESTS=OFF \
+      -DWITH_BENCHMARK_TOOLS=OFF -DWITH_TOOLS=OFF -DWITH_CORE_TOOLS=OFF \
+      -DWITH_GFLAGS=OFF -DWITH_LIBURING=OFF \
+      -DWITH_SNAPPY=ON -DWITH_LZ4=ON -DWITH_ZLIB=ON -DWITH_ZSTD=ON -DWITH_BZ2=ON \
+      -DROCKSDB_BUILD_SHARED=$([ $STATIC_ONLY = 1 ] && echo OFF || echo ON) \
+      -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="$PREFIX" \
+      -DCMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR="$LIBDIR"
+cmake --build "$SOURCE_DIR/build" -j "$(getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN 2> /dev/null || sysctl -n hw.ncpu)"
+cmake --install "$SOURCE_DIR/build"
+
+# --- what to do with it ------------------------------------------------------
+echo
+echo "Installed rocksdb $VERSION:"
+echo "  headers:  $PREFIX/include"
+echo "  static:   $PREFIX/$LIBDIR/librocksdb.a"
+[ $STATIC_ONLY = 1 ] || echo "  shared:   $PREFIX/$LIBDIR/$( [ "$(uname)" = Darwin ] && echo librocksdb.dylib || echo librocksdb.so )"
+echo
+echo "Build collocatordb against it with:"
+echo "  cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$PREFIX -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local"
+echo
+echo "Build dereko2vec against it with:"
+echo "  cmake -S . -B build -DSTATIC_ROCKSDB=ON -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$PREFIX"
+if [ $STATIC_ONLY = 0 ] && [ "$(uname)" = Linux ]; then
+    echo
+    echo "Programs that use the shared library find it after:"
+    echo "  echo $PREFIX/$LIBDIR | sudo tee /etc/ld.so.conf.d/rocksdb.conf && sudo ldconfig"
+fi