diff --git a/base/expr.jl b/base/expr.jl
index d094f01e069e2..2e8c350e5b270 100644
--- a/base/expr.jl
+++ b/base/expr.jl
@@ -145,15 +145,6 @@ macro propagate_inbounds(ex)
     end
 end
 
-"""
-    @polly
-
-Tells the compiler to apply the polyhedral optimizer Polly to a function.
-"""
-macro polly(ex)
-    esc(isa(ex, Expr) ? pushmeta!(ex, :polly) : ex)
-end
-
 ## some macro utilities ##
 
 find_vars(e) = find_vars(e, [])
diff --git a/base/polly.jl b/base/polly.jl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..113c385b08889
--- /dev/null
+++ b/base/polly.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,152 @@
+# This file is a part of Julia. License is MIT: http://julialang.org/license
+
+# Support for @polly
+
+module Polly
+
+export @polly
+
+import Base: start, next, done
+
+"""
+Tells the compiler to apply the polyhedral optimizer Polly to a function.
+"""
+macro polly(func)
+    (isa(func, Expr) && func.head == :function) || throw(ArgumentError("@polly can only be applied to functions"))
+    canonicalize!(func)
+    return esc(Base.pushmeta!(func, :polly))
+end
+
+# This range type only differs from `Base.UnitRange` in its representation of
+# emptiness. An empty `Base.UnitRange` will always have `stop == start - 1`.
+# For example, constructing a range `5:2` will actually result in `5:4`.
+# `Polly.UnitRange` drops this requirement, i.e. `5:2` would be used as is,
+# which allows for a simpler constructor. When iterating over a
+# `Polly.UnitRange` loop bounds will therefore be more obvious to Polly than
+# with a `Base.UnitRange`.
+immutable UnitRange{T<:Real} <: AbstractUnitRange{T}
+    start::T
+    stop::T
+    UnitRange(start, stop) = new(start, stop)
+end
+UnitRange{T<:Real}(start::T, stop::T) = Polly.UnitRange{T}(start, stop)
+
+# This method was directly adopted from `Base.UnitRange`.
+start{T}(r::Polly.UnitRange{T}) = oftype(r.start + one(T), r.start)
+
+# This has to be different than for `Base.UnitRange` to reflect the different
+# behavior of the `Polly.UnitRange` constructor.
+done{T}(r::Polly.UnitRange{T}, i) = (i < oftype(i, r.start)) | (i > oftype(i, r.stop))
+
+# `Base.StepRange` uses the same representation of emptiness as described above
+# for `Base.UnitRange` with `stop == start - 1` but additionally, in the case of
+# non-emptiness, its constructor will precompute the last value that is actually
+# part of the range. For example, `5:2:8` would actually result in `5:2:7`. In
+# `Polly.StepRange` we simplify construction by dropping these requirements,
+# i.e. `5:2:8` would also be used as is. When iterating over a `Polly.StepRange`
+# loop bounds will therefore be more obvious to Polly than with a
+# `Base.StepRange`.
+immutable StepRange{T,S} <: OrdinalRange{T,S}
+    start::T
+    step::S
+    stop::T
+    StepRange(start::T, step::S, stop::T) = new(start, step, stop)
+end
+StepRange{T,S}(start::T, step::S, stop::T) = Polly.StepRange{T,S}(start, step, stop)
+
+# This method was directly adopted from `Base.StepRange`.
+start(r::Polly.StepRange) = oftype(r.start + r.step, r.start)
+
+# This method was directly adopted from `Base.StepRange`.
+next{T}(r::Polly.StepRange{T}, i) = (convert(T,i), i + r.step)
+
+# We have to use a simpler condition as for `Base.StepRange` in order to
+# be able to derive the loop bounds in Polly. For now it also ignores
+# wrap-arounds which could for example happen for `1:1:typemax(Int64)` which we
+# consider a rare application.
+done{T,S}(r::Polly.StepRange{T,S}, i) = (r.step > zero(r.step)) ? (i > oftype(i, r.stop)) :
+                                                                  (i < oftype(i, r.stop))
+
+# This was directly adopted from `Base.UnitRange` and `Base.StepRange` to avoid
+# overflows for smaller `Integer` types.
+let smallint = (Int === Int64 ?
+                Union{Int8,UInt8,Int16,UInt16,Int32,UInt32} :
+                Union{Int8,UInt8,Int16,UInt16})
+    global start
+    global next
+    start{T<:smallint}(r::Polly.StepRange{T}) = convert(Int, r.start)
+    next{T<:smallint}(r::Polly.StepRange{T}, i) = (i % T, i + r.step)
+    start{T<:smallint}(r::Polly.UnitRange{T}) = convert(Int, r.start)
+end
+
+# Find assigments of the form `i = start:stop` and `i = start:step:stop` that
+# occur in `for`-loop headers in `func` and replace them by
+# `i = Polly.UnitRange(start,stop)` and `i = Polly.StepRange(start,step,stop)`.
+function canonicalize!(func)
+    worklist = [func]
+    while !isempty(worklist)
+        expr = pop!(worklist)
+        if expr.head == :for
+            loop_header = expr.args[1]
+            canonicalize_ranges_in_loop_header!(loop_header)
+            # The loop body might contain further loops that should be
+            # canonicalized, so push it to the worklist for later examination.
+            loop_body = expr.args[2]
+            push!(worklist, loop_body)
+        else
+            # If `Expr` isn't a `for`-loop, it might contain nested expressions
+            # which themselves contain `for`-loops.
+            for arg in expr.args
+                if isa(arg, Expr)
+                    push!(worklist, arg)
+                end
+            end
+        end
+    end
+end
+
+# Find assigments of the form `i = start:stop` and `i = start:step:stop` in
+# the given `loop_header` and replace them by `i = Polly.UnitRange(start,stop)`
+# and `i = Polly.StepRange(start,step,stop)`.
+function canonicalize_ranges_in_loop_header!(loop_header)
+    if loop_header.head == :block
+        # If `loop_header` is a `:block` expression we are dealing with a loop
+        # of the form `for i1 = ..., i2 = ..., ...` which uses multiple
+        # iteration variables.
+        for assignment in loop_header.args
+            canonicalize_range_in_assignment!(assignment)
+        end
+    else
+        # If `loop_header` is not a `:block` expression we have just a simple
+        # `for i = ...` with a single iteration variable.
+        canonicalize_range_in_assignment!(loop_header)
+    end
+end
+
+# If the given assignment has the form `i = start:stop` or `i = start:step:stop`
+# then rewrite it to `i = Polly.UnitRange(start,stop)` or
+# `i = Polly.StepRange(start,step,stop)`.
+function canonicalize_range_in_assignment!(assignment)
+    @assert(assignment.head == :(=))
+    rhs = assignment.args[2]
+    new_rhs = nothing
+
+    if rhs.head == :(:)
+        if length(rhs.args) == 2
+            start = rhs.args[1]
+            stop = rhs.args[2]
+            new_rhs = :(Base.Polly.UnitRange($start,$stop))
+        elseif length(rhs.args) == 3
+            start = rhs.args[1]
+            step = rhs.args[2]
+            stop = rhs.args[3]
+            new_rhs = :(Base.Polly.StepRange($start,$step,$stop))
+        end
+    end
+
+    if new_rhs != nothing
+        assignment.args[2] = new_rhs
+    end
+end
+
+end # module Polly
diff --git a/base/sysimg.jl b/base/sysimg.jl
index 82b4d45cc0a90..787262d92f778 100644
--- a/base/sysimg.jl
+++ b/base/sysimg.jl
@@ -119,6 +119,10 @@ include("arraymath.jl")
 include("simdloop.jl")
 importall .SimdLoop
 
+# The polyhedral optimizer Polly
+include("polly.jl")
+importall .Polly
+
 # map-reduce operators
 include("reduce.jl")
 
diff --git a/test/choosetests.jl b/test/choosetests.jl
index 5a377a54d1371..df34e6e1b8e77 100644
--- a/test/choosetests.jl
+++ b/test/choosetests.jl
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ function choosetests(choices = [])
         "enums", "cmdlineargs", "i18n", "workspace", "libdl", "int",
         "checked", "intset", "floatfuncs", "compile", "parallel", "inline",
         "boundscheck", "error", "ambiguous", "cartesian", "asmvariant",
-        "channels"
+        "channels", "polly"
     ]
     profile_skipped = false
     if startswith(string(Sys.ARCH), "arm")
diff --git a/test/polly.jl b/test/polly.jl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..04934d5794938
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/polly.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,156 @@
+# This file is a part of Julia. License is MIT: http://julialang.org/license
+
+function is_syntax_equal(x::Expr, y::Expr)
+    if x.head === y.head
+        if x.head === :line
+            # `:line` expressions are treated as syntactically equivalent
+            # regardless of their actual arguments
+            return true
+        else
+            return is_syntax_of_args_equal(x, y)
+        end
+    end
+    return false
+end
+
+is_syntax_equal(x, y) = x == y
+
+function is_syntax_of_args_equal(x::Expr, y::Expr)
+    if length(x.args) != length(y.args)
+        return false
+    end
+
+    for i in eachindex(x.args)
+        if !is_syntax_equal(x.args[i], y.args[i])
+            return false
+        end
+    end
+
+    return true
+end
+
+# Test whether `Base.Polly.canonicalize!()` works for a `UnitRange`-based loop.
+let single_unit_range_loop = quote
+        for i = 1:10
+        end
+    end
+
+    expected = quote
+        for i = Base.Polly.UnitRange(1,10)
+        end
+    end
+
+    Base.Polly.canonicalize!(single_unit_range_loop)
+    @test is_syntax_equal(single_unit_range_loop, expected)
+end
+
+# Test whether `Base.Polly.canonicalize!()` works for a `StepRange`-based loop.
+let single_step_range_loop = quote
+        for i = 1:2:10
+        end
+    end
+
+    expected = quote
+        for i = Base.Polly.StepRange(1,2,10)
+        end
+    end
+
+    Base.Polly.canonicalize!(single_step_range_loop)
+    @test is_syntax_equal(single_step_range_loop, expected)
+end
+
+# Test whether `Base.Polly.canonicalize!()` works for nested range-based loops.
+let nested_loops = quote
+        for i = 1:10, j = i:3:20
+            for k = i:j
+            end
+        end
+    end
+
+    expected = quote
+        for i = Base.Polly.UnitRange(1,10), j = Base.Polly.StepRange(i,3,20)
+            for k = Base.Polly.UnitRange(i,j)
+            end
+        end
+    end
+
+    Base.Polly.canonicalize!(nested_loops)
+    @test is_syntax_equal(nested_loops, expected)
+end
+
+# Test whether `Base.Polly.canonicalize!()` works for successive range-based
+# loops.
+let successive_loops = quote
+        for i = 1:10
+        end
+
+        for j = 1:2:10
+        end
+    end
+
+    expected = quote
+        for i = Base.Polly.UnitRange(1,10)
+        end
+
+        for j = Base.Polly.StepRange(1,2,10)
+        end
+    end
+
+    Base.Polly.canonicalize!(successive_loops)
+    @test is_syntax_equal(successive_loops, expected)
+end
+
+# Test whether `Base.Polly.canonicalize!()` works for loops nested inside
+# `if`-statements
+let loops_inside_if = quote
+        if some_condition
+            for i = 1:10
+            end
+        else
+            for j = 1:2:10
+            end
+        end
+    end
+
+    expected = quote
+        if some_condition
+            for i = Base.Polly.UnitRange(1,10)
+            end
+        else
+            for j = Base.Polly.StepRange(1,2,10)
+            end
+        end
+    end
+
+    Base.Polly.canonicalize!(loops_inside_if)
+    @test is_syntax_equal(loops_inside_if, expected)
+end
+
+# Test whether `Base.Polly.canonicalize!()` works for a more complex AST.
+let trmm = quote
+       function trmm(alpha, A, B)
+           m,n = size(B)
+           for i = 1:m, j = 1:n
+               for k = (i+1):m
+                   B[i,j] += A[k,i] * B[k,j]
+               end
+               B[i,j] = alpha * B[i,j]
+           end
+       end
+    end
+
+    expected = quote
+        function trmm(alpha, A, B)
+            m,n = size(B)
+            for i = Base.Polly.UnitRange(1,m), j = Base.Polly.UnitRange(1,n)
+                for k = Base.Polly.UnitRange((i+1),m)
+                    B[i,j] += A[k,i] * B[k,j]
+                end
+                B[i,j] = alpha * B[i,j]
+            end
+        end
+    end
+
+    Base.Polly.canonicalize!(trmm)
+    @test is_syntax_equal(trmm, expected)
+end