new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/liboctave/lo-cutils.h
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+/*
+
+Copyright (C) 2011 John W. Eaton
+
+This file is part of Octave.
+
+Octave 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 3 of the License, or (at your
+option) any later version.
+
+Octave 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 Octave; see the file COPYING.  If not, see
+<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+*/
+
+#if !defined (octave_liboctave_cutils_h)
+#define octave_liboctave_cutils_h 1
+
+#ifdef HAVE_LOADLIBRARY_API
+#define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN
+#include <windows.h>
+#endif
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
+OCTAVE_API void
+octave_qsort (void *base, size_t n, size_t size,
+              int (*cmp) (const void *, const void *));
+
+OCTAVE_API int
+octave_strcasecmp (const char *s1, const char *s2);
+
+OCTAVE_API int
+octave_strncasecmp (const char *s1, const char *s2, size_t n);
+
+#ifdef HAVE_LOADLIBRARY_API
+OCTAVE_API void *
+octave_w32_library_search (HINSTANCE handle, const char *name);
+#endif
+
+OCTAVE_API pid_t
+octave_waitpid (pid_t pid, int *status, int options);
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+}
+#endif
+
+#endif