diff --git a/src/tools/make_etags b/src/tools/make_etags
index afc57e3e89..d0cfdb23d8 100755
--- a/src/tools/make_etags
+++ b/src/tools/make_etags
@@ -1,6 +1,25 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 # src/tools/make_etags
 
-cdir=`dirname $0`
-dir=`(cd $cdir && pwd)`
-exec $dir/make_ctags -e $*
+IS_EXUBERANT=""
+command -v ctags >/dev/null && \
+ctags --version 2>&1 | grep Exuberant && IS_EXUBERANT="Y"
+
+if [ "$IS_EXUBERANT" ]; then
+    cdir=`dirname $0`
+    dir=`(cd $cdir && pwd)`
+    exec $dir/make_ctags -e $*
+else
+    command -v etags >/dev/null || \
+        { echo "'etags' program not found" 1>&2; exit 1; }
+
+    rm -f ./TAGS
+
+    find `pwd`/ -type f -name '*.[chyl]' -print |
+        xargs etags --append -o TAGS
+
+    find . \( -name CVS -prune \) -o \( -name .git -prune \) -o -type d -print |
+    while read DIR
+    do    [ "$DIR" != "." ] && ln -f -s `pwd`/TAGS "$DIR"
+    done
+fi