diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 550dcb07..91a498c3 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 /*.user
-/build
-/build-x86
+/build*
 .DS_Store
 
diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..aa392190
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "dependencies/external/protobuf"]
+	path = dependencies/external/protobuf
+	url = https://github.com/tvdzwan/protobuf.git
diff --git a/dependencies/external/protobuf b/dependencies/external/protobuf
new file mode 160000
index 00000000..f644b9c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dependencies/external/protobuf
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit f644b9c73281e8c0ee3a400b20d3b8b6f63bafdd