diff --git a/src/includes/rc-misc.h b/src/includes/rc-misc.h
index 684ace59..384328e7 100644
--- a/src/includes/rc-misc.h
+++ b/src/includes/rc-misc.h
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include <stdbool.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <time.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 
 #include "helpers.h"
@@ -68,5 +69,7 @@ RC_DEPTREE *_rc_deptree_load (int, int *);
 bool _rc_can_find_pids(void);
 
 RC_SERVICE lookup_service_state(const char *service);
+char *from_time_t(time_t tv);
+time_t to_time_t(char *timestring);
 
 #endif
diff --git a/src/rc/rc-misc.c b/src/rc/rc-misc.c
index 8afff0a2..b75c3b4e 100644
--- a/src/rc/rc-misc.c
+++ b/src/rc/rc-misc.c
@@ -442,3 +442,37 @@ RC_SERVICE lookup_service_state(const char *service)
 			return service_bits[i].bit;
 	return 0;
 }
+
+char *from_time_t(time_t tv)
+{
+	char time_string[20];
+
+	strftime(time_string, 20, "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", localtime(&tv));
+	return time_string;
+}
+
+time_t to_time_t(char *timestring)
+{
+	int check = 0;
+	int year = 0;
+	int month = 0;
+	int day = 0;
+	int hour = 0;
+	int min = 0;
+	int sec = 0;
+	struct tm breakdown = {0};
+	time_t result = -1;
+
+	check = sscanf(timestring, "%4d-%2d-%2d %2d:%2d:%2d",
+			&year, &month, &day, &hour, &min, &sec);
+	if (check == 6) {
+		breakdown.tm_year = year - 1900; /* years since 1900 */
+		breakdown.tm_mon = month - 1;
+		breakdown.tm_mday = day;
+		breakdown.tm_hour = hour;
+		breakdown.tm_min = min;
+		breakdown.tm_sec = sec;
+		result = mktime(&breakdown);
+	}
+	return result;
+}
diff --git a/src/rc/supervise-daemon.c b/src/rc/supervise-daemon.c
index bc5fd3d0..a971e6a3 100644
--- a/src/rc/supervise-daemon.c
+++ b/src/rc/supervise-daemon.c
@@ -185,7 +185,6 @@ static void child_process(char *exec, char **argv, char *svcname,
 	char **c;
 	char cmdline[PATH_MAX];
 	time_t start_time;
-	char start_time_string[20];
 	char start_count_string[20];
 
 #ifdef HAVE_PAM
@@ -344,8 +343,7 @@ static void child_process(char *exec, char **argv, char *svcname,
 	syslog(LOG_INFO, "Running command line: %s", cmdline);
 	if (svcname) {
 start_time = time(NULL);
-strftime(start_time_string, 20, "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", localtime(&start_time));
-		rc_service_value_set(svcname, "start_time", start_time_string);
+		rc_service_value_set(svcname, "start_time", from_time_t(start_time));
 sprintf(start_count_string, "%i", start_count);
 		rc_service_value_set(svcname, "start_count", start_count_string);
 	}