diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c111b33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+*.gem
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rdoc b/CHANGELOG.rdoc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..170d065
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rdoc
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+*0.1.0* (Nov 16th, 2009)
+
+* initial release
diff --git a/README.rdoc b/README.rdoc
index 57be2da..3ce7115 100644
--- a/README.rdoc
+++ b/README.rdoc
@@ -7,12 +7,18 @@ This assumes you already have an authentication solution (such as Authlogic) whi
 
 == Installation
 
-Install it as a Rails plugin.
+You can set it up as a gem in your environment.rb file.
+  
+  config.gem "cancan", :source => "http://gemcutter.org"
+  
+And then install the gem.
+
+  gem install cancan
+
+Alternatively you can install it as a Rails plugin.
 
   script/plugin install git://github.com/ryanb/cancan.git
 
-It will be available as a gem soon.
-
 
 == Setup
 
diff --git a/cancan.gemspec b/cancan.gemspec
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c06cd16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cancan.gemspec
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+Gem::Specification.new do |s|
+  s.name = "cancan"
+  s.summary = "Simple authorization solution for Rails."
+  s.description = "Simple authorization solution for Rails which is completely decoupled from the user's roles. All permissions are stored in a single location for convenience."
+  s.homepage = "http://github.com/ryanb/cancan"
+  
+  s.version = "0.1.0"
+  s.date = "2009-11-16"
+  
+  s.authors = ["Ryan Bates"]
+  s.email = "ryan@railscasts.com"
+  
+  s.require_paths = ["lib"]
+  s.files = Dir["lib/**/*"] + Dir["spec/**/*"] + ["LICENSE", "README.rdoc", "Rakefile", "CHANGELOG.rdoc", "init.rb"]
+  s.extra_rdoc_files = ["README.rdoc", "CHANGELOG.rdoc", "LICENSE"]
+  
+  s.has_rdoc = true
+  s.rdoc_options = ["--line-numbers", "--inline-source", "--title", "CanCan", "--main", "README.rdoc"]
+  
+  s.rubygems_version = "1.3.4"
+  s.required_rubygems_version = Gem::Requirement.new(">= 1.2")
+end