diff --git a/src/server/distrenjob.c b/src/server/distrenjob.c
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/server/distrenjob.c
@@ -0,0 +1,151 @@
+/*
+  Copyright 2009 Nathan Phillip Brink <ohnobinki@ohnopublishing.net>
+  
+  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 "blendjob.h"
+#include "slavefuncs.h"
+#include "asprintf.h"
+
+#include <libxml/tree.h>
+#include <libxml/parser.h>
+
+void distrenjob_free(struct blendjob **distrenjob)
+{
+  struct blendjob *dj;
+
+  dj = *distrenjob;
+  xmlFree(dj->name);
+  xmlFree(dj->submitter);
+  xmlFree(dj->email);
+
+  free(dj);
+  *distrenjob = NULL;
+}
+
+int distrenjob_new(struct blendjob **distrenjob)
+{
+  struct blendjob *dj;
+
+  dj = malloc(sizeof(struct blendjob));
+  if(!dj)
+    {
+      /* try to catch code that doesn't respect return values
+       faster: */
+      *distrenjob = NULL;
+      return 1;
+    }
+  *distrenjob = dj;
+
+  dj->next = NULL;
+  dj->name = (char *)NULL;
+  dj->submitter = (char *)NULL;
+  dj->email = (char *)NULL;
+  dj->jobnum = 0; /*< @todo there should be a central jobnum allocator and a way to save the maximum jobnumber allocated */
+  dj->priority = 0;
+  dj->percent_done = 0;
+  dj->completed_frames = 0;
+  dj->assigned_frames = 0;
+  dj->avg_render_time = 0;
+  dj->time_remaining = (unsigned int)-1;
+  dj->frameset = (struct frameset *)NULL; /*< @todo does frameset need to be initialized here? */
+  
+  return 0;
+}
+
+/**
+   writes struct from xml 
+*/
+int xml2distrenjob(struct blendjob **distrenjob, char *pathtoxml)
+{
+  struct blendjob *dj;
+
+  xmlDocPtr xmldoc;
+  xmlNodePtr xmlnode;
+  xmlChar *xmlchar;
+
+  xmlXPathContextPtr xmlxpathcontext;
+
+  int tmp;
+
+  if(distrenjob_new(distrenjob))
+    return 1;
+  dj = *distrenjob;
+  
+  xmldoc = xmlReadFile(pathtoxml, NULL, XML_PARSE_PEDANTIC);
+  if(!xmldoc)
+    {
+      /**
+	 @todo are we able to depend on libxml2's printed errors or 
+	 channel them into syslog output (eventually)? Currently,
+	 this error is repetitious of a libxml2 error printed on stderr
+	 for us.
+       */
+      fprintf(stderr, "error reading XML file ``%s''\n", pathtoxml);
+
+      distrenjob_free(distrenjob);
+      return 2;
+    }
+  
+  xmlxpathcontext = xmlXPathNewContext(xmldoc);
+  xmlnode = xml_quickxpath(xmlxpathcontext, (xmlChar *)"/distren/job");
+  if(!xmlnode)
+    {
+      distrenjob_free(distrenjob);
+      return 3;
+    }
+  
+  /*< @todo should we use xmlChar everywhere too? */
+  dj->name = (char *)xmlGetProp(xmlnode, (xmlChar *)"name");
+  if(!dj->name)
+    {
+      distrenjob_free(distrenjob);
+      return 4;
+    }
+  
+  /*< @todo validation needs to be done on usernames. e.g., currently, they shouldn't contain the '"' char  */
+  dj->submitter = (char *)xmlGetProp(xmlnode, (xmlChar *)"submitter");
+  if(!dj->submitter)
+    {
+      distrenjob_free(distrenjob);
+      return 5;
+    }
+
+  tmp = _distren_asprintf((char **)&xmlchar, "/distren/submitters/submitter[attribute::name=\"%s\"]", dj->submitter);
+  if(tmp <= 0
+     || !xmlchar)
+    {
+      fprintf(stderr, "error using _distren_asprintf\n");
+      distrenjob_free(distrenjob);
+      return 6;
+    }
+  xmlnode = xml_quickxpath(xmlxpathcontext, xmlchar);
+  free(xmlchar);
+  dj->email = (char *)xmlGetProp(xmlnode, (xmlChar *)"email");
+  if(!dj->email)
+    {
+      fprintf(stderr, "error getting email for user ``%s'' from ``%s''\n",
+	      dj->submitter, pathtoxml);
+      distrenjob_free(distrenjob);
+      return 7;
+    }
+
+  xmlXPathFreeContext(xmlxpathcontext);
+  xmlFreeDoc(xmldoc);
+  return 0;
+}
+