diff --git a/src/server/slavefuncs.c b/src/server/slavefuncs.c
--- a/src/server/slavefuncs.c
+++ b/src/server/slavefuncs.c
@@ -403,3 +403,41 @@ int unpackJob(char *pathtoTar, int jobnu
   free(outdir);
   return 0;
 }
+
+void prepareJobPaths(int jobnum,char *datadir, char **urltoTar,char **pathtoTar,char **pathtoJobfile,char **urltoOutput,char **pathtoXml){
+  // Variable Preparation
+  char *jobdatapath;
+   _distren_asprintf(&jobdatapath, "job%d", jobnum);
+   _distren_asprintf(urltoTar, "http://data.distren.org/job%d/job%d.tar.gz", jobnum); // Prepares URL to download from
+   _distren_asprintf(pathtoTar, "%s/stor/jobdata/job%d.tar.gz", datadir, jobnum); // Prepares destination to save to
+   _distren_asprintf(pathtoJobfile, "%s/%s/job.blend", datadir, jobdatapath ); // Prepares the path to the jobfile
+   _distren_asprintf(urltoOutput, "http://data.distren.org/tmp/", jobdatapath ); // Prepares the URL where output is posted
+   _distren_asprintf(pathtoXml, "%s/job%d/job%d.xml", datadir, jobnum ); // Prepares the path to the job's XML file
+   free(jobdatapath);
+}
+
+int checkUsername(char *username){
+  if(username == NULL || strcmp(username, "!username") == 0 ) {
+     fprintf(stderr, "\nPlease ensure that your username is present in distrenslave.conf\n");
+     return 0;
+   }
+   else
+     if( username != NULL || strcmp(username, "!username") != 0 )
+       {
+         // Log in the user
+         if(login_user(username) == 1){
+           fprintf(stderr, "You should now be logged into distren.\n");
+           return 0;
+         }
+         else
+           {
+             fprintf(stderr, "Login failed, please check your username. If you have not registered, please do so on the DistRen website.\n");
+             return 1;
+           }
+       }
+     else
+       {
+         fprintf(stderr, "Please check your distrenslave.conf, it appears to be incorrectly formatted.\n");
+         return 1;
+       }
+}