diff --git a/build/ab.py b/build/ab.py
index 75f84c98d..81e3c9fff 100644
--- a/build/ab.py
+++ b/build/ab.py
@@ -388,6 +388,10 @@ def _filetarget(value, cwd):
     return t
 
 
+def getcwd():
+    return cwdStack[-1]
+
+
 def targetof(value, cwd=None):
     if not cwd:
         cwd = cwdStack[-1]
@@ -544,12 +548,14 @@ def shell(*args):
 
 def add_commanddb_entry(commands, file):
     global commandsDb
-    commandsDb += [{
-        "directory": os.getcwd(),
-                "command": (" && ".join(commands)),
-                "file": file
-    }
-        ]
+    commandsDb += [
+        {
+            "directory": os.getcwd(),
+            "command": (" && ".join(commands)),
+            "file": file,
+        }
+    ]
+
 
 def emit_rule(self, ins, outs, cmds=[], label=None):
     name = self.name
diff --git a/build/utils.py b/build/utils.py
index e0af59110..7c786a066 100644
--- a/build/utils.py
+++ b/build/utils.py
@@ -4,16 +4,19 @@
     Targets,
     filenameof,
     filenamesof,
-    cwdStack,
+    getcwd,
     error,
     simplerule,
-    G
+    G,
 )
-from os.path import relpath, splitext, join, basename, isfile
+from os.path import relpath, splitext, join, basename, isfile, normpath
+from os import walk
 from glob import iglob
 import fnmatch
 import subprocess
 import shutil
+import re
+import functools
 
 
 def filenamesmatchingof(xs, pattern):
@@ -35,9 +38,64 @@ def collectattrs(*, targets, name, initial=[]):
     return sorted(s)
 
 
+@functools.cache
+def _glob_to_re(glob_str):
+    opts = re.compile("([.]|[*][*]/|[*]|[?])|(.)")
+    out = ""
+    for pattern_match, literal_text in opts.findall(glob_str):
+        if pattern_match == ".":
+            out += "[.]"
+        elif pattern_match == "**/":
+            out += "(?:.*/)?"
+        elif pattern_match == "*":
+            out += "[^/]*"
+        elif pattern_match == "?":
+            out += "."
+        elif literal_text:
+            out += literal_text
+    return re.compile(out)
+
+
+def _glob_filter(paths, pattern):
+    r = _glob_to_re(pattern)
+    for f in paths:
+        if r.match(f):
+            yield f
+
+
+def _glob_matches(path, pattern):
+    r = _glob_to_re(pattern)
+    return r.match(path)
+
+
+def glob(include=["*"], exclude=[], dir=None, relative_to="."):
+    if not dir:
+        dir = getcwd()
+    if dir.startswith("./"):
+        dir = normpath(join(getcwd(), dir))
+    if relative_to.startswith("./"):
+        relative_to = normpath(join(getcwd(), relative_to))
+
+    def iterate():
+        for dirpath, dirnames, filenames in walk(
+            dir, topdown=True, followlinks=True
+        ):
+            dirpath = relpath(dirpath, dir)
+            filenames = [normpath(join(dirpath, f)) for f in filenames]
+            matching = set()
+            for p in include:
+                matching.update(_glob_filter(filenames, p))
+            for p in exclude:
+                matching = [n for n in matching if not _glob_matches(n, p)]
+            for f in matching:
+                yield normpath(relpath(join(dir, f), relative_to))
+
+    return list(iterate())
+
+
 def itemsof(pattern, root=None, cwd=None):
     if not cwd:
-        cwd = cwdStack[-1]
+        cwd = getcwd()
     if not root:
         root = "."