diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 52d5a8b1ded..fb5f898b21a 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,19 +1,19 @@
-# This makefile does nothing but delegating the actual compilation to build.py.
+# This makefile does nothing but delegating the actual building to cmake.
 
 all:
 	@mkdir -p build && cd build && cmake .. && make
 
-#android:
-#	@python brewtool/build_android.py build
+local:
+	@./scripts/build_local.sh
 
-clean:
-	@rm -r build/
+android:
+	@./scripts/build_android.sh
 
-#test:
-#	@python brewtool/build.py test
+ios:
+	@./scripts/build_ios.sh
 
-#lint:
-#	@find caffe2 -type f -exec python brewtool/cpplint.py {} \;
+clean: # This will remove ALL build folders.
+	@rm -r build*/
 
 linecount:
 	@cloc --read-lang-def=caffe.cloc caffe2 || \
diff --git a/caffe2/CMakeLists.txt b/caffe2/CMakeLists.txt
index 89ea255a243..a09b272a039 100644
--- a/caffe2/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/caffe2/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -118,6 +118,10 @@ endif()
 
 if (BUILD_PYTHON)
   # ---[ Python.
+  # ---[ Apple specific
+  if (APPLE)
+    set(CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_SUFFIX ".so")
+  endif()
   add_library(caffe2_pybind11_state SHARED ${Caffe2_CPU_PYTHON_SRCS})
   add_dependencies(caffe2_pybind11_state ${Caffe2_MAIN_LIBS_ORDER})
   set_target_properties(caffe2_pybind11_state PROPERTIES PREFIX "")
diff --git a/cmake/ProtoBuf.cmake b/cmake/ProtoBuf.cmake
index 39335b8929f..7ae0a4a295d 100644
--- a/cmake/ProtoBuf.cmake
+++ b/cmake/ProtoBuf.cmake
@@ -1,30 +1,43 @@
 # Finds Google Protocol Buffers library and compilers and extends
 # the standard cmake script with version and python generation support
-
-if (ANDROID OR IOS OR WIN32)
+function(custom_protobuf_find)
   option(protobuf_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS "" OFF)
   option(protobuf_BUILD_TESTS "" OFF)
   option(protobuf_BUILD_EXAMPLES "" OFF)
   if (APPLE)
     # Protobuf generated files triggers a deprecated atomic operation warning
     # so we turn it off here.
-    set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -Wno-deprecated-declarations")
+    set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -Wno-deprecated-declarations" PARENT_SCOPE)
   endif()
   add_subdirectory(${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/third_party/protobuf/cmake)
   include_directories(SYSTEM ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/third_party/protobuf/src)
   list(APPEND Caffe2_DEPENDENCY_LIBS libprotobuf)
+  set(Caffe2_DEPENDENCY_LIBS ${Caffe2_DEPENDENCY_LIBS} PARENT_SCOPE)
   if(NOT EXISTS ${PROTOBUF_PROTOC_EXECUTABLE})
     message(FATAL_ERROR
-            "To build with Android/iOS/Windows, you will need to manually "
-            "specify a PROTOBUF_PROTOC_EXECUTABLE. See "
-            "scripts/build_host_protoc.{sh,bat} for more details.")
+            "To build protobufs locally (required for Android/iOS/Windows), "
+            "you will need to manually specify a PROTOBUF_PROTOC_EXECUTABLE. "
+            "See scripts/build_host_protoc.{sh,bat} for more details.")
   else()
     message(STATUS "Using protobuf compiler ${PROTOBUF_PROTOC_EXECUTABLE}.")
   endif()
+  set(Protobuf_FOUND TRUE PARENT_SCOPE)
+endfunction()
+
+if (ANDROID OR IOS OR WIN32)
+  custom_protobuf_find()
 else()
-  find_package( Protobuf REQUIRED )
-  list(APPEND Caffe2_DEPENDENCY_LIBS ${PROTOBUF_LIBRARIES})
-  include_directories(SYSTEM ${PROTOBUF_INCLUDE_DIR})
+  find_package( Protobuf )
+  if ( NOT (Protobuf_FOUND OR PROTOBUF_FOUND) )
+    custom_protobuf_find()
+  else()
+    list(APPEND Caffe2_DEPENDENCY_LIBS ${PROTOBUF_LIBRARIES})
+    include_directories(SYSTEM ${PROTOBUF_INCLUDE_DIR})
+  endif()
+endif()
+
+if (NOT (Protobuf_FOUND OR PROTOBUF_FOUND) )
+  message(FATAL_ERROR "Could not find Protobuf or compile local version.")
 endif()
 
 # place where to generate protobuf sources
diff --git a/scripts/build_local.sh b/scripts/build_local.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..4e0d62b7e43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/build_local.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+##############################################################################
+# Example command to build Caffe2 locally without installing many dependencies
+##############################################################################
+#
+# This script builds protoc locally and then sets the appropriate dependencies
+# to remove the need for many external dependencies.
+#
+
+CAFFE2_ROOT="$( cd "$(dirname "$0")"/.. ; pwd -P)"
+echo "Caffe2 codebase root is: $CAFFE2_ROOT"
+
+# We are going to build the target into build.
+BUILD_ROOT=$CAFFE2_ROOT/build
+mkdir -p $BUILD_ROOT
+echo "Build Caffe2 into: $BUILD_ROOT"
+
+# Build protobuf from third_party so we have a host protoc binary.
+echo "Building protoc"
+$CAFFE2_ROOT/scripts/build_host_protoc.sh || exit 1
+
+# Now, actually build the target.
+echo "Building caffe2"
+cd $BUILD_ROOT
+
+cmake .. \
+    -DPROTOBUF_PROTOC_EXECUTABLE=$CAFFE2_ROOT/build_host_protoc/bin/protoc \
+    -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF \
+    || exit 1
+make
diff --git a/scripts/start_ipython_notebook.sh b/scripts/start_ipython_notebook.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..324b87f0b40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/start_ipython_notebook.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env sh
+# This script simply starts the ipython notebook and allows all network machines
+# to access it.
+
+# Use the following command for very verbose prints.
+# GLOG_logtostderr=1 GLOG_v=1 PYTHONPATH=../../../build:$PYTHONPATH ipython notebook --ip='*'
+
+# Use the following command for a normal run.
+PYTHONPATH=build:$PYTHONPATH ipython notebook --notebook-dir=caffe2/python/tutorial --ip='*'