diff --git a/X/xapian/build_tarballs.jl b/X/xapian/build_tarballs.jl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..73d0c8d6cc2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/X/xapian/build_tarballs.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+# Note that this script can accept some limited command-line arguments, run
+# `julia build_tarballs.jl --help` to see a usage message.
+using BinaryBuilder, Pkg
+
+name = "xapian"
+version = v"1.4.20"
+
+# Collection of sources required to complete build
+sources = [
+    ArchiveSource("https://oligarchy.co.uk/xapian/$(version)/xapian-core-$(version).tar.xz", "ce2be5eff72075c8106c0340e70b1093dbcebe2ab42dc1c1be08dd3ad419442d")
+]
+
+# Bash recipe for building across all platforms
+script = raw"""
+cd $WORKSPACE/srcdir
+cd xapian-core-*
+./configure --prefix=${prefix} --build=${MACHTYPE} --host=${target}
+make -j${nproc}
+make install
+"""
+
+# These are the platforms we will build for by default, unless further
+# platforms are passed in on the command line
+platforms = supported_platforms(; exclude=p -> Sys.iswindows(p) || libc(p) == "musl")
+
+platforms = expand_cxxstring_abis(platforms)
+
+# The products that we will ensure are always built
+products = [
+    LibraryProduct("libxapian", :libxapian)
+]
+
+# Dependencies that must be installed before this package can be built
+dependencies = [
+    Dependency(PackageSpec(name="Zlib_jll", uuid="83775a58-1f1d-513f-b197-d71354ab007a"))
+    Dependency(PackageSpec(name="Libuuid_jll", uuid="38a345b3-de98-5d2b-a5d3-14cd9215e700"))
+    Dependency(PackageSpec(name="ICU_jll", uuid="a51ab1cf-af8e-5615-a023-bc2c838bba6b"); compat="69.1")
+]
+
+# Build the tarballs, and possibly a `build.jl` as well.
+build_tarballs(ARGS, name, version, sources, script, platforms, products, dependencies; julia_compat="1.6")