--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/cmake/ParseArguments.cmake	Mon Feb 10 16:14:55 2014 +0000
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+# Parse arguments passed to a function into several lists separated by
+# upper-case identifiers and options that do not have an associated list e.g.:
+#
+# SET(arguments
+#   hello OPTION3 world
+#   LIST3 foo bar
+#   OPTION2
+#   LIST1 fuz baz
+#   )
+# PARSE_ARGUMENTS(ARG "LIST1;LIST2;LIST3" "OPTION1;OPTION2;OPTION3" ${arguments})
+#
+# results in 7 distinct variables:
+#  * ARG_DEFAULT_ARGS: hello;world
+#  * ARG_LIST1: fuz;baz
+#  * ARG_LIST2:
+#  * ARG_LIST3: foo;bar
+#  * ARG_OPTION1: FALSE
+#  * ARG_OPTION2: TRUE
+#  * ARG_OPTION3: TRUE
+#
+# taken from http://www.cmake.org/Wiki/CMakeMacroParseArguments 
+
+MACRO(PARSE_ARGUMENTS prefix arg_names option_names)
+    SET(DEFAULT_ARGS)
+    FOREACH(arg_name ${arg_names})    
+        SET(${prefix}_${arg_name})
+    ENDFOREACH(arg_name)
+    FOREACH(option ${option_names})
+        SET(${prefix}_${option} FALSE)
+    ENDFOREACH(option)
+    
+    SET(current_arg_name DEFAULT_ARGS)
+    SET(current_arg_list)
+    FOREACH(arg ${ARGN})            
+        SET(larg_names ${arg_names})    
+        LIST(FIND larg_names "${arg}" is_arg_name)                   
+        IF (is_arg_name GREATER -1)
+            SET(${prefix}_${current_arg_name} ${current_arg_list})
+            SET(current_arg_name ${arg})
+            SET(current_arg_list)
+        ELSE (is_arg_name GREATER -1)
+            SET(loption_names ${option_names})    
+            LIST(FIND loption_names "${arg}" is_option)            
+            IF (is_option GREATER -1)
+                SET(${prefix}_${arg} TRUE)
+            ELSE (is_option GREATER -1)
+                SET(current_arg_list ${current_arg_list} ${arg})
+            ENDIF (is_option GREATER -1)
+        ENDIF (is_arg_name GREATER -1)
+    ENDFOREACH(arg)
+    SET(${prefix}_${current_arg_name} ${current_arg_list})
+ENDMACRO(PARSE_ARGUMENTS)