diff --git a/Lib/distutils/text_file.py b/Lib/distutils/text_file.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9fff941ec90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Lib/distutils/text_file.py
@@ -0,0 +1,206 @@
+"""text_file
+
+provides the TextFile class, which gives an interface to text files
+that (optionally) takes care of stripping comments, ignoring blank
+lines, and joining lines with backslashes."""
+
+# created 1999/01/12, Greg Ward
+
+__revision__ = "$Id$"
+
+from types import *
+import os, string, re
+
+
+class TextFile:
+    filename = None
+    file = None
+    current_line = None
+
+    default_options = { 'strip_comments': 1,
+                        'comment_re':     re.compile (r'\s*#.*'),
+                        'skip_blanks':    1,
+                        'join_lines':     0,
+                        'lstrip_ws':      0,
+                        'rstrip_ws':      1,
+                      }
+
+    def __init__ (self, filename=None, **options):
+
+        # set values for all options -- either from client option hash
+        # or fallback to default_options
+        for opt in self.default_options.keys():
+            if options.has_key (opt):
+                if opt == 'comment_re' and type (options[opt]) is StringType:
+                    self.comment_re = re.compile (options[opt])
+                else:
+                    setattr (self, opt, options[opt])
+
+            else:
+                setattr (self, opt, self.default_options[opt])
+
+        # sanity check client option hash
+        for opt in options.keys():
+            if not self.default_options.has_key (opt):
+                raise KeyError, "invalid TextFile option '%s'" % opt
+
+        self.filename = filename
+        if self.filename:
+            self.open ()
+        
+
+    def open (self, filename=None):
+        if not self.filename:
+            if not filename:
+                raise RuntimeError, "must provide a filename somehow"
+
+            self.filename = filename
+
+        self.file = open (self.filename, 'r')
+        self.current_line = 0
+
+
+    def close (self):
+        self.file.close ()
+        self.file = None
+        self.filename = None
+        self.current_line = None
+
+
+    def readline (self):
+
+        buildup_line = ''
+
+        while 1:
+            # read the line, optionally strip comments
+            line = self.file.readline()
+            if self.strip_comments and line:
+                line = self.comment_re.sub ('', line)
+
+            # did previous line end with a backslash? then accumulate
+            if self.join_lines and buildup_line:
+                # oops: end of file
+                if not line:
+                    self.warn ("continuation line immediately precedes "
+                               "end-of-file")
+                    return buildup_line
+
+                line = buildup_line + line
+
+                # careful: pay attention to line number when incrementing it
+                if type (self.current_line) is ListType:
+                    self.current_line[1] = self.current_line[1] + 1
+                else:
+                    self.current_line = [self.current_line, self.current_line+1]
+            # just an ordinary line, read it as usual
+            else:
+                if not line:
+                    return None
+
+                # still have to be careful about incrementing the line number!
+                if type (self.current_line) is ListType:
+                    self.current_line = self.current_line[1] + 1
+                else:
+                    self.current_line = self.current_line + 1
+                
+
+            # strip whitespace however the client wants (leading and
+            # trailing, or one or the other, or neither)
+            if self.lstrip_ws and self.rstrip_ws:
+                line = string.strip (line)
+            else:
+                if self.lstrip_ws:
+                    line = string.lstrip (line)
+                if self.rstrip_ws:
+                    line = string.rstrip (line)
+
+            # blank line (whether we rstrip'ed or not)? skip to next line
+            # if appropriate
+            if line == '' or line == '\n' and self.skip_blanks:
+                continue
+
+            if self.join_lines:
+                if line[-1] == '\\':
+                    buildup_line = line[:-1]
+                    continue
+
+                if line[-2:] == '\\\n':
+                    buildup_line = line[0:-2] + '\n'
+                    continue
+
+            # well, I guess there's some actual content there: return it
+            return line
+
+    # end readline
+
+
+    def readlines (self):
+        lines = []
+        while 1:
+            line = self.readline()
+            if line is None:
+                return lines
+            lines.append (line)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    test_data = """# test file
+
+line 3 \\
+continues on next line
+"""
+
+    # result 1: no fancy options
+    result1 = map (lambda x: x + "\n", string.split (test_data, "\n")[0:-1])
+
+    # result 2: just strip comments
+    result2 = ["\n", "\n", "line 3 \\\n", "continues on next line\n"]
+
+    # result 3: just strip blank lines
+    result3 = ["# test file\n", "line 3 \\\n", "continues on next line\n"]
+
+    # result 4: default, strip comments, blank lines, and trailing whitespace
+    result4 = ["line 3 \\", "continues on next line"]
+
+    # result 5: full processing, strip comments and blanks, plus join lines
+    result5 = ["line 3 continues on next line"]
+
+    def test_input (count, description, file, expected_result):
+        result = file.readlines ()
+        # result = string.join (result, '')
+        if result == expected_result:
+            print "ok %d (%s)" % (count, description)
+        else:
+            print "not ok %d (%s):" % (count, description)
+            print "** expected:"
+            print expected_result
+            print "** received:"
+            print result
+            
+
+    filename = "test.txt"
+    out_file = open (filename, "w")
+    out_file.write (test_data)
+    out_file.close ()
+
+    in_file = TextFile (filename, strip_comments=0, skip_blanks=0,
+                   lstrip_ws=0, rstrip_ws=0)
+    test_input (1, "no processing", in_file, result1)
+
+    in_file = TextFile (filename, strip_comments=1, skip_blanks=0,
+                   lstrip_ws=0, rstrip_ws=0)
+    test_input (2, "strip comments", in_file, result2)
+
+    in_file = TextFile (filename, strip_comments=0, skip_blanks=1,
+                   lstrip_ws=0, rstrip_ws=0)
+    test_input (3, "strip blanks", in_file, result3)
+
+    in_file = TextFile (filename)
+    test_input (4, "default processing", in_file, result4)
+
+    in_file = TextFile (filename, strip_comments=1, skip_blanks=1,
+                        join_lines=1, rstrip_ws=1)
+    test_input (5, "full processing", in_file, result5)
+
+    os.remove (filename)
+