diff --git a/core/definitions.mk b/core/definitions.mk
index 867575a..9420d70 100644
--- a/core/definitions.mk
+++ b/core/definitions.mk
@@ -1695,6 +1695,19 @@
 	$$(copy-file-to-target)
 endef
 
+# Copies many files.
+# $(1): The files to copy.  Each entry is a ':' separated src:dst pair
+# Evaluates to the list of the dst files (ie suitable for a dependency list)
+define copy-many-files
+$(foreach f, $(1), $(strip \
+    $(eval _cmf_tuple := $(subst :, ,$(f))) \
+    $(eval _cmf_src := $(word 1,$(_cmf_tuple))) \
+    $(eval _cmf_dest := $(word 2,$(_cmf_tuple))) \
+    $(eval $(call copy-one-file,$(_cmf_src),$(_cmf_dest))) \
+    $(_cmf_dest)))
+endef
+
+
 # The -t option to acp and the -p option to cp is
 # required for OSX.  OSX has a ridiculous restriction
 # where it's an error for a .a file's modification time