new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cutils.h
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+/*
+
+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_cutils_h)
+#define octave_cutils_h 1
+
+#include <stdarg.h>
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
+OCTINTERP_API void octave_sleep (unsigned int seconds);
+
+OCTINTERP_API void octave_usleep (unsigned int useconds);
+
+OCTINTERP_API int
+octave_raw_vsnprintf (char *buf, size_t n, const char *fmt, va_list args);
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+}
+#endif
+
+#endif