diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 6fe38ff5b4..cda5827075 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 .pyenv
 *.pyc
-generated/
-target
+**target/
 .api.deps
-Cargo.lock
+**Cargo.lock
 *.sublime-workspace
-*.xml
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 737494e8c4..9f54140ccb 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.PHONY:  json-to-xml clean help api-deps
+.PHONY:  json-to-xml clean help api-deps rebuild-apis
 .SUFFIXES:
 
 include Makefile.helpers
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ help:
 	$(info Targets)
 	$(info help         -   print this help)
 	$(info api-deps     -   generate a file to tell make what API file dependencies will be)
+	$(info rebuild-apis -   clear out all generated apis, and regenerate them)
 	$(info help-api     -   show all api targets to build individually)
 
 $(PYTHON):
@@ -39,6 +40,8 @@ api-deps: $(API_DEPS)
 
 include $(API_DEPS)
 
+rebuild-apis: clean-apis apis
+
 clean: clean-apis
 	-rm -Rf $(VENV_DIR)
 	-rm $(API_DEPS)
diff --git a/etc/api/shared.yaml b/etc/api/shared.yaml
index e47e9c65fb..fed2e4156b 100644
--- a/etc/api/shared.yaml
+++ b/etc/api/shared.yaml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # Contains values shared among all API implementations
 directories:
   # directory under which all generated sources should reside
-  output: generated
+  output: lib
   # how to get from `output` back to common library
   common: ../
   # where are all the API meta files
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ api:
   base_path: "etc/api"
   templates:
   # all output directories are relative to the one set for the respective API
+    - source: README.md
     - source: cargo.toml
       # output_dir:  optional - not there if unset
 cargo:
diff --git a/etc/bin/mako-render b/etc/bin/mako-render
index 2dc01bc1a5..2150eaf5fb 100644
--- a/etc/bin/mako-render
+++ b/etc/bin/mako-render
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 # the MIT License: http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php
 from argparse import ArgumentParser
 from os.path import isfile, dirname
+import os
 import sys
 from mako.template import Template
 from mako.lookup import TemplateLookup
@@ -307,6 +308,8 @@ def cmdline(argv=None):
         try:
             result = template.render(**data_converted)
             if output_file:
+                if not os.path.isdir(dirname(output_file)):
+                    os.makedirs(dirname(output_file))
                 fh = open(output_file, "wb")
                 fh.write(result)
                 fh.close()
diff --git a/src/mako/deps.mako b/src/mako/deps.mako
index a6fd635c6a..a1bd62ebff 100644
--- a/src/mako/deps.mako
+++ b/src/mako/deps.mako
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 	api_info.append((api_name, api_clean, gen_root))
 %>\
 ${gen_root}: ${' '.join(i[0] for i in sds)} ${api_json_inputs} $(MAKO_LIB_FILES) $(MAKO_RENDER)
-	@mkdir -p $@
 	PYTHONPATH=$(MAKO_LIB_DIR) $(TPL) --template-dir '.' --var OUTPUT_DIR=$@ -io ${' '.join("%s=%s" % (s, d) for s, d in sds)} --data-files ${api_json_inputs}
 
 ${api_name}: ${gen_root}
@@ -28,7 +27,7 @@ ${api_clean}:
 	-rm -Rf ${gen_root}
 % endfor
 
-.PHONY += $(.PHONY) ${' '.join(a[0] for a in api_info)} ${' '.join(a[1] for a in api_info)}
+.PHONY += $(.PHONY) help-api clean-apis apis ${' '.join(a[0] for a in api_info)} ${' '.join(a[1] for a in api_info)}
 
 help-api:
 	$(info apis       -    make all APIs)
diff --git a/src/mako/lib/util.py b/src/mako/lib/util.py
index ac9d21348f..e871dc52ea 100644
--- a/src/mako/lib/util.py
+++ b/src/mako/lib/util.py
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+
+# rust module doc comment filter
+def rmdc(s):
+    return '//! ' + s
+
+# rust doc comment filter
+def rdc(s):
+    return '/// ' + s
+
+# Expects v to be 'v\d+', throws otherwise
 def to_api_version(v):
 	assert len(v) >= 2 and v[0] == 'v'
 	return v[1:]