diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7577f24
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+*.beam
+/ct_report/
diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..47cc9eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "escalus"]
+        path = escalus
+        url = https://github.com/esl/escalus.git
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 36dd451..526cf2b 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@ test: escalus/ebin
 		`pwd`/escalus/deps/exmpp/ebin -s run_common_test ct
 
 escalus/ebin:
-	(cd ../; git submodule init; git submodule update)
-	(cd escalus; make)
+	git submodule update --init --recursive
+	cd escalus; make
 
 console:
 	erl -sname test -setcookie ejabberd \