diff --git a/tools/build/bazel/jdk_genrule.bzl b/tools/build/bazel/jdk_genrule.bzl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..14e5aa2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/build/bazel/jdk_genrule.bzl
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+"""
+ Copyright 2018-present Open Networking Foundation
+
+ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ limitations under the License.
+"""
+
+"""
+Extension to genrule that has the JDK bin directory in the PATH, thus allowing
+to invoke commands like jar directly in the genrule "cmd" attribute.
+This allows using JDK-related tools on a host system that does not have the JDK
+installed, instead using the current JDK used by Bazel, e.g. the embedded or
+remote one.
+"""
+
+def jdk_genrule(
+        cmd,
+        tools = [],
+        toolchains = [],
+        **kwargs):
+    new_tools = tools + ["@bazel_tools//tools/jdk:current_java_runtime"]
+    new_toolchains = toolchains + ["@bazel_tools//tools/jdk:current_java_runtime"]
+    new_cmd = "echo \"export PATH=$$PWD/$(JAVABASE)/bin:$$PATH:\" > jdk_genrule_setup.sh; " + \
+              "source jdk_genrule_setup.sh; " + cmd
+
+    native.genrule(
+        cmd = new_cmd,
+        tools = new_tools,
+        toolchains = new_toolchains,
+        **kwargs
+    )