diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ libdistrencommon_la_SOURCES = src/common
 	src/common/multiio.c src/common/multiio.h \
 	src/common/options.c src/common/options.h \
 	src/common/protocol.c src/common/protocol.h \
+	src/common/csv.c src/common/csv.h \
 	src/common/remoteio.h \
 	src/common/remoteio.c src/common/libremoteio.h \
 	src/common/request.c src/common/request.h
@@ -85,13 +86,14 @@ EXTRA_DIST = etc/distrendaemon.conf.in \
 
 
 # tests
-TESTS=test/check_execio test/check_asprintf
+TESTS=test/check_execio test/check_asprintf test/check_csv
 check_PROGRAMS=$(TESTS)
 
 #check_execio_LIBS = $(CHECK_LIBS)
 #check_asprintf_LIBS = $(CHECK_LIBS)
+test_check_csv_LDADD = $(CHECK_LIBS) libdistrencommon.la
 test_check_execio_LDADD = $(CHECK_LIBS) libdistrencommon.la
 test_check_asprintf_LDADD = $(CHECK_LIBS) libdistrencommon.la
+test_check_csv_CFLAGS = $(AM_CFLAGS) $(CHECK_CFLAGS)
 test_check_execio_CFLAGS = $(AM_CFLAGS) $(CHECK_CFLAGS)
 test_check_asprintf_CFLAGS = $(AM_CFLAGS) $(CHECK_CFLAGS)
-
diff --git a/src/common/csv.c b/src/common/csv.c
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/common/csv.c
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2010 Nathan Phillip Brink
+ *
+ * This file is a part of DistRen.
+ *
+ * DistRen is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * DistRen 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 Affero General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+ * along with DistRen.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+#include "common/config.h"
+
+#include "common/csv.h"
+
+#include <list.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+/**
+ * \todo
+ *   replace with a more generic function for rendering a CSV file
+ */
+static int csv_print_row(size_t *columns, char *row[])
+{
+  size_t c;
+
+  for (c = 0; c < *columns; c ++)
+    {
+      printf("%s", row[c]);
+      if (c < *columns - 1)
+	printf(", ");
+    }
+  printf("\n");
+
+  return TRUE;
+}
+
+csv_row_t csv_row_init(size_t columns)
+{
+  csv_row_t row;
+
+  row = malloc(sizeof(struct csv_row));
+  if (!row)
+    return NULL;
+
+  row->cols = malloc(sizeof(char *) * columns);
+  if (!row->cols)
+    {
+      free(row);
+      return NULL;
+    }
+  row->num_cols = columns;
+
+  return row;
+}
+
+void csv_row_free(csv_row_t row)
+{
+  size_t c;
+
+  for (c = 0; c < row->num_cols; c ++)
+    free(row->cols[c]);
+  free(row);
+}
+
+list_t csv_parse(const char *inbuf, size_t columns)
+{
+  list_t rows;
+  size_t seek;
+  const char newline = '\n';
+  csv_row_t row;
+
+  size_t cur_col;
+
+  rows = list_init();
+  while(*inbuf)
+    {
+      row = csv_row_init(columns);
+      if (!row)
+	{
+	  list_free(rows, (list_dealloc_func_t)&csv_row_free);
+	  return NULL;
+	}
+
+      for(cur_col = 0; cur_col < columns; cur_col ++)
+	{
+	  for(seek = 0; inbuf[seek]; seek ++)
+	    if (inbuf[seek] == newline
+		|| inbuf[seek] == ',')
+	      break;
+	  row->cols[cur_col] = malloc(seek + 1);
+	  if (seek)
+	    memcpy(row->cols[cur_col], inbuf, seek);
+	  row->cols[cur_col][seek] = '\0';
+
+	  /* get us to the ',' (or NULL or newline char, if things are bad) */
+	  inbuf += seek;
+	  /* skip a comma, but not a NULL char or newline */
+	  if (*inbuf == ',')
+	    inbuf ++;
+	}
+
+      list_insert_after(rows, row, 0);
+
+      /* skip the newline char */
+      while (*inbuf && *inbuf != newline)
+	inbuf ++;
+      if (*inbuf == newline)
+	inbuf ++;
+    }
+
+  return rows;
+}
diff --git a/src/common/csv.h b/src/common/csv.h
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/common/csv.h
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2010 Nathan Phillip Brink
+ *
+ * This file is a part of DistRen.
+ *
+ * DistRen is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * DistRen 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 Affero General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+ * along with DistRen.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+#ifndef _DISTREN_CSV_H
+#define _DISTREN_CSV_H
+
+#include <list.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+/**
+ * \brief
+ *   A single row in a CSV.
+ */
+struct csv_row
+{
+  /**
+   * \brief
+   *   An array of NULL-terminated strings representing each column of
+   *   a row in a CSV
+   *
+   * There are num_cols indexes to this array.
+   */
+  char **cols;
+  size_t num_cols;
+};
+/**
+ * \brief
+ *   A row handle.
+ */
+typedef struct csv_row *csv_row_t;
+
+/**
+ * \brief
+ *   Initialize a row handle.
+ * \param columns
+ *   The number of columns this row handle shall have.
+ */
+csv_row_t csv_row_init(size_t columns);
+
+/**
+ * \brief
+ *   Parses a CSV file with a predetermined number of columns.
+ *
+ * If a line of the CSV file contains fewer columns than passed in by
+ * the columns parameter, then the missing columns are just set to
+ * instances of the empty string. If a line of the CSV file contains
+ * more columns than specified by the columns parameter, then the
+ * extra columns of the input are silently ignored.
+ *
+ * \param inbuf
+ *   A NULL-terminated string to parse as CSV.
+ * \param columns
+ *   The number of columns the result should have.
+ *
+ * \return
+ *   A list of csv_row_t handles.
+ */
+list_t csv_parse(const char *inbuf, size_t columns);
+
+/**
+ * \brief
+ *   Frees a row allocated by csv_parse() or csv_row()
+ *
+ * You may use this in conjunction with list_free() to free an entire
+ * CSV. Use list_free(csv_row_list,
+ * (list_dealloc_func_t)&csv_row_free);
+ *
+ * \param row
+ *   The row to free.
+ */
+void csv_row_free(csv_row_t row);
+
+#endif /* _DISTREN_CSV_H */
diff --git a/test/check_csv.c b/test/check_csv.c
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/check_csv.c
@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2010 Nathan Phillip Brink
+ *
+ * This file is a part of DistRen.
+ *
+ * DistRen is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * DistRen 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 Affero General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+ * along with DistRen.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+#include "common/csv.h"
+
+#include <check.h>
+#include <list.h>
+#include <stdarg.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+struct check_correct_vals
+{
+  size_t row;
+  size_t num_cols;
+  char ***correct_vals;
+};
+
+static void **array_init(size_t num_elems, ...)
+{
+  va_list args;
+  void **array;
+  size_t c;
+
+  array = malloc(sizeof(void *) * (num_elems + 1));
+  if (!array)
+    return NULL;
+
+  va_start(args, num_elems);
+
+  for (c = 0; c < num_elems; c ++)
+    array[c] = va_arg(args, void *);
+  array[c] = NULL;
+
+  va_end(args);
+
+  return array;
+}
+
+static int check_correct_vals(struct check_correct_vals *state, csv_row_t row)
+{
+  size_t c;
+
+  fail_unless (state->num_cols == row->num_cols,
+	       "We asked for %d columns but got %d on row %d",
+	       state->num_cols, row->num_cols, state->row);
+
+  for (c = 0; c < row->num_cols; c ++)
+    {
+      fail_if(strcmp(state->correct_vals[state->row][c],
+		     row->cols[c]),
+	      "%d:%d: Expecting %s: got %s",
+	      state->row, c,
+	      state->correct_vals[state->row][c],
+	      row->cols[c]
+	      );
+    }
+
+  state->row ++;
+  if (state->correct_vals[state->row])
+    /* there is yet another row to process */
+    return TRUE;
+  return FALSE;
+}
+
+START_TEST(check_csv)
+{
+  list_t rows;
+  struct check_correct_vals vals;
+
+  char ***correct_vals;
+  
+  correct_vals =
+    (char ***)array_init(4,
+			 array_init(3, "23", "1" , "0.0"),
+			 array_init(3, "a" , " b", ""   ),
+			 array_init(3, "f" , "df", ""   ),
+			 array_init(3, "d" , "f" , "ss" ));
+  fail_if(correct_vals == NULL, "array_init() returned NULL");
+
+  vals.num_cols = 3;
+  vals.correct_vals = correct_vals;
+  vals.row = 0;
+
+  rows = csv_parse("23,1,0.0\n\
+a, b,,d\n\
+f,df\n\
+d,f,ss,e\n", vals.num_cols);
+  fail_if(rows == NULL, "csv_parse() returned NULL");
+  list_traverse(rows, &vals, (list_traverse_func_t)&check_correct_vals, LIST_FRNT|LIST_SAVE|LIST_FORW);
+
+  list_free(rows, (list_dealloc_func_t)&csv_row_free);
+}
+END_TEST
+
+static Suite *csv_suite()
+{
+  Suite *s;
+  TCase *tc;
+
+  s = suite_create("csv");
+
+  tc = tcase_create("core");
+  tcase_add_test(tc, check_csv);
+  suite_add_tcase(s, tc);
+
+  return s;
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char *argv[])
+{
+  int number_failed;
+  Suite *s;
+  SRunner *sr;
+
+  s = csv_suite();
+  sr = srunner_create(s);
+
+  srunner_run_all(sr, CK_NORMAL);
+  number_failed = srunner_ntests_failed(sr);
+  srunner_free(sr);
+
+  if (number_failed)
+    return EXIT_FAILURE;
+  return EXIT_SUCCESS;
+}