new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/read-file.c
@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+/* read-file.c -- read file contents into a string
+   Copyright (C) 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+   Written by Simon Josefsson and Bruno Haible.
+
+   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+   the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
+   any later version.
+
+   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+   GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+   along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
+   Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.  */
+
+#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
+# include <config.h>
+#endif
+
+#include "read-file.h"
+
+/* Get realloc, free. */
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+/* Get errno. */
+#include <errno.h>
+
+/* Read a STREAM and return a newly allocated string with the content,
+   and set *LENGTH to the length of the string.  The string is
+   zero-terminated, but the terminating zero byte is not counted in
+   *LENGTH.  On errors, *LENGTH is undefined, errno preserves the
+   values set by system functions (if any), and NULL is returned. */
+char *
+fread_file (FILE * stream, size_t * length)
+{
+  char *buf = malloc (1);
+  size_t alloc = 1;
+  size_t size = 0;
+
+  if (!buf)
+    return NULL;
+
+  while (!feof (stream))
+    {
+      size_t count;
+
+      if (size + BUFSIZ + 1 > alloc)
+	{
+	  char *new_buf;
+
+	  alloc += alloc / 2;
+	  if (alloc < size + BUFSIZ + 1)
+	    alloc = size + BUFSIZ + 1;
+
+	  new_buf = realloc (buf, alloc);
+	  if (!new_buf)
+	    {
+	      int save_errno = errno;
+	      free (buf);
+	      errno = save_errno;
+	      return NULL;
+	    }
+
+	  buf = new_buf;
+	}
+
+      count = fread (buf + size, 1, alloc - size - 1, stream);
+      size += count;
+
+      if (ferror (stream))
+	{
+	  int save_errno = errno;
+	  free (buf);
+	  errno = save_errno;
+	  return NULL;
+	}
+    }
+
+  buf[size] = '\0';
+
+  *length = size;
+
+  return buf;
+}
+
+static char *
+internal_read_file (const char *filename, size_t * length, const char *mode)
+{
+  FILE *stream = fopen (filename, mode);
+  char *out;
+  int save_errno;
+  int rc;
+
+  if (!stream)
+    return NULL;
+
+  out = fread_file (stream, length);
+
+  save_errno = errno;
+
+  if (fclose (stream) != 0)
+    {
+      if (out)
+	{
+	  save_errno = errno;
+	  free (out);
+	}
+      errno = save_errno;
+      return NULL;
+    }
+
+  return out;
+}
+
+/* Open and read the contents of FILENAME, and return a newly
+   allocated string with the content, and set *LENGTH to the length of
+   the string.  The string is zero-terminated, but the terminating
+   zero byte is not counted in *LENGTH.  On errors, *LENGTH is
+   undefined, errno preserves the values set by system functions (if
+   any), and NULL is returned.  */
+char *
+read_file (const char *filename, size_t * length)
+{
+  return internal_read_file (filename, length, "r");
+}
+
+/* Open (on non-POSIX systems, in binary mode) and read the contents
+   of FILENAME, and return a newly allocated string with the content,
+   and set LENGTH to the length of the string.  The string is
+   zero-terminated, but the terminating zero byte is not counted in
+   the LENGTH variable.  On errors, *LENGTH is undefined, errno
+   preserves the values set by system functions (if any), and NULL is
+   returned.  */
+char *
+read_binary_file (const char *filename, size_t * length)
+{
+  return internal_read_file (filename, length, "rb");
+}

new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/read-file.h
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+/* read-file.h -- read file contents into a string
+   Copyright (C) 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+   Written by Simon Josefsson.
+
+   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+   the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
+   any later version.
+
+   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+   GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+   along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
+   Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.  */
+
+#ifndef READ_FILE_H
+#define READ_FILE_H
+
+/* Get size_t.  */
+#include <stddef.h>
+
+/* Get FILE.  */
+#include <stdio.h>
+
+extern char *fread_file (FILE * stream, size_t * length);
+
+extern char *read_file (const char *filename, size_t * length);
+
+extern char *read_binary_file (const char *filename, size_t * length);
+
+#endif /* READ_FILE_H */

new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/m4/read-file.m4
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# read-file.m4 serial 1
+dnl Copyright (C) 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+dnl This file is free software; the Free Software Foundation
+dnl gives unlimited permission to copy and/or distribute it,
+dnl with or without modifications, as long as this notice is preserved.
+
+AC_DEFUN([gl_FUNC_READ_FILE],
+[
+  AC_LIBSOURCES([read-file.c, read-file.h])
+  AC_LIBOBJ([read-file])
+  gl_PREREQ_READ_FILE
+])
+
+# Prerequisites of lib/read-file.c.
+AC_DEFUN([gl_PREREQ_READ_FILE], [:])

new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/read-file
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+Description:
+read_file() function: read the contents of a file into a string
+
+Files:
+lib/read-file.h
+lib/read-file.c
+m4/read-file.m4
+
+Depends-on:
+
+configure.ac:
+gl_FUNC_READ_FILE
+
+Makefile.am:
+
+Include:
+"read-file.h"
+
+License:
+LGPL
+
+Maintainer:
+Simon Josefsson

new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/read-file-tests
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+Files:
+tests/test-read-file.c
+
+Depends-on:
+
+configure.ac:
+
+Makefile.am:
+TESTS += test-read-file$(EXEEXT)
+check_PROGRAMS += test-read-file

new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test-read-file.c
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2006 Free Software Foundation
+ * Written by Simon Josefsson
+ *
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
+ * any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+ * Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
+ * 02110-1301, USA.  */
+
+#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
+# include <config.h>
+#endif
+
+#include "read-file.h"
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+
+#define FILE1 "/etc/resolv.conf"
+#define FILE2 "/dev/null"
+
+int
+main (void)
+{
+  {
+    size_t len;
+    char *out = read_file (FILE1, &len);
+
+    if (!out)
+      perror ("Could not read file");
+
+    if (out[len] != '\0')
+      perror ("BAD: out[len] not zero");
+
+    printf ("Read %d from %s...\n", len, FILE1);
+
+    free (out);
+  }
+
+  {
+    size_t len;
+    char *out = read_file (FILE2, &len);
+
+    if (!out)
+      perror ("Could not read file");
+
+    if (out[len] != '\0')
+      perror ("BAD: out[len] not zero");
+
+    printf ("Read %d from %s...\n", len, FILE2);
+
+    free (out);
+  }
+
+  return 0;
+}