diff --git a/src/librc/librc-misc.c b/src/librc/librc-misc.c
index 7244deef..97fa54c8 100644
--- a/src/librc/librc-misc.c
+++ b/src/librc/librc-misc.c
@@ -54,6 +54,54 @@ rc_yesno(const char *value)
 }
 librc_hidden_def(rc_yesno)
 
+
+/**
+ * Read the entire @file into the buffer and set @len to the
+ * size of the buffer when finished. For C strings, this will
+ * be strlen(buffer) + 1.
+ * Don't forget to free the buffer afterwards!
+ */
+bool
+rc_getfile(const char *file, char **buffer, size_t *len)
+{
+	bool ret = false;
+	FILE *fp;
+	int fd;
+	struct stat st;
+	size_t done, left;
+
+	fp = fopen(file, "re");
+	if (!fp)
+		return false;
+
+	/* assume fileno() never fails */
+	fd = fileno(fp);
+
+	if (fstat(fd, &st))
+		goto finished;
+
+	left = st.st_size;
+	*len = left + 1; /* NUL terminator */
+	*buffer = xrealloc(*buffer, *len);
+	while (left) {
+		done = fread(*buffer, sizeof(*buffer[0]), left, fp);
+		if (done == 0 && ferror(fp))
+			goto finished;
+		left -= done;
+	}
+	ret = true;
+
+ finished:
+	if (!ret) {
+		free(*buffer);
+		*len = 0;
+	} else
+		(*buffer)[*len - 1] = '\0';
+	fclose(fp);
+	return ret;
+}
+librc_hidden_def(rc_getfile)
+
 ssize_t
 rc_getline(char **line, size_t *len, FILE *fp)
 {
diff --git a/src/librc/librc.h b/src/librc/librc.h
index 43b01570..876c0472 100644
--- a/src/librc/librc.h
+++ b/src/librc/librc.h
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ librc_hidden_proto(rc_deptree_order)
 librc_hidden_proto(rc_deptree_update)
 librc_hidden_proto(rc_deptree_update_needed)
 librc_hidden_proto(rc_find_pids)
+librc_hidden_proto(rc_getfile)
 librc_hidden_proto(rc_getline)
 librc_hidden_proto(rc_newer_than)
 librc_hidden_proto(rc_older_than)
diff --git a/src/librc/rc.h.in b/src/librc/rc.h.in
index 2a7c054a..350f518e 100644
--- a/src/librc/rc.h.in
+++ b/src/librc/rc.h.in
@@ -544,6 +544,9 @@ typedef LIST_HEAD(rc_pidlist, rc_pid) RC_PIDLIST;
  * @return NULL terminated list of pids */
 RC_PIDLIST *rc_find_pids(const char *, const char *const *, uid_t, pid_t);
 
+/* Basically the same as rc_getline() below, it just returns multiple lines */
+bool rc_getfile(const char *, char **, size_t *);
+
 /* getline is a handy glibc function that not all libcs have, so
  * we have our own */
 ssize_t rc_getline(char **, size_t *, FILE *);
diff --git a/src/librc/rc.map b/src/librc/rc.map
index c5f10ade..0f45cdfe 100644
--- a/src/librc/rc.map
+++ b/src/librc/rc.map
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ global:
 	rc_deptree_update_needed;
 	rc_environ_fd;
 	rc_find_pids;
+	rc_getfile;
 	rc_getline;
 	rc_newer_than;
 	rc_older_than;
diff --git a/src/test/rc.funcs.list b/src/test/rc.funcs.list
index a8b011ff..f0416b7d 100644
--- a/src/test/rc.funcs.list
+++ b/src/test/rc.funcs.list
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ rc_deptree_update_needed
 rc_deptree_update_needed@@RC_1.0
 rc_find_pids
 rc_find_pids@@RC_1.0
+rc_getfile
+rc_getfile@@RC_1.0
 rc_getline
 rc_getline@@RC_1.0
 rc_newer_than