--- a/liboctave/lo-utils.cc
+++ b/liboctave/lo-utils.cc
@@ -26,7 +26,19 @@
 #endif
 
 #include <climits>
+#include <cstdlib>
+#include <cstdio>
 
+#include <string>
+
+#ifdef HAVE_UNISTD_H
+#ifdef HAVE_SYS_TYPES_H
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#endif
+#include <unistd.h>
+#endif
+
+#include "lo-error.h"
 #include "lo-mappers.h"
 #include "lo-utils.h"
 
@@ -53,6 +65,103 @@
     return floor (x + 0.5);
 }
 
+// Save a string.
+
+char *
+strsave (const char *s)
+{
+  if (! s)
+    return 0;
+
+  int len = strlen (s);
+  char *tmp = new char [len+1];
+  tmp = strcpy (tmp, s);
+  return tmp;
+}
+
+// This function was adapted from xputenv from Karl Berry's kpathsearch
+// library.
+
+// XXX FIXME XXX -- make this do the right thing if we don't have a
+// SMART_PUTENV.
+
+void
+octave_putenv (const string& name, const string& value)
+{
+  int new_len = name.length () + value.length () + 2;
+
+  char *new_item = static_cast<char*> (malloc (new_len));
+
+  sprintf (new_item, "%s=%s", name.c_str (), value.c_str ());
+
+  // As far as I can see there's no way to distinguish between the
+  // various errors; putenv doesn't have errno values.
+
+  if (putenv (new_item) < 0)
+    (*current_liboctave_error_handler) ("putenv (%s) failed", new_item);
+}
+
+string
+octave_fgets (FILE *f)
+{
+  string retval;
+
+  int grow_size = 1024;
+  int max_size = grow_size;
+
+  char *buf = static_cast<char *> (malloc (max_size));
+  char *bufptr = buf;
+  int len = 0;
+
+  do
+    {
+      if (fgets (bufptr, grow_size, f))
+	{
+	  len = strlen (bufptr);
+
+	  if (len == grow_size - 1)
+	    {
+	      int tmp = bufptr - buf + grow_size - 1;
+	      grow_size *= 2;
+	      max_size += grow_size;
+	      buf = static_cast<char *> (realloc (buf, max_size));
+	      bufptr = buf + tmp;
+
+	      if (*(bufptr-1) == '\n')
+		{
+		  *bufptr = '\0';
+		  retval = buf;
+		}
+	    }
+	  else if (bufptr[len-1] != '\n')
+	    {
+	      bufptr[len++] = '\n';
+	      bufptr[len] = '\0';
+	      retval = buf;
+	    }
+	  else
+	    retval = buf;
+	}
+      else
+	{
+	  if (len == 0)
+	    {
+	      free (buf);
+
+	      buf = 0;
+	    }
+
+	  break;
+	}
+    }
+  while (retval.empty ());
+
+  if (buf)
+    free (buf);
+
+  return retval;
+}
+
 /*
 ;;; Local Variables: ***
 ;;; mode: C++ ***