diff --git a/tools/releasetools/merge/merge_utils.py b/tools/releasetools/merge/merge_utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e822061
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/releasetools/merge/merge_utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,187 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2022 The Android Open Source Project
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not
+# use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of
+# the License at
+#
+#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+# WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+# License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under
+# the License.
+#
+"""Common utility functions shared by merge_* scripts.
+
+Expects items in OPTIONS prepared by merge_target_files.py.
+"""
+
+import fnmatch
+import logging
+import os
+import re
+import shutil
+import zipfile
+
+import common
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+OPTIONS = common.OPTIONS
+
+
+def ExtractItems(input_zip, output_dir, extract_item_list):
+  """Extracts items in extract_item_list from a zip to a dir."""
+
+  # Filter the extract_item_list to remove any items that do not exist in the
+  # zip file. Otherwise, the extraction step will fail.
+
+  with zipfile.ZipFile(input_zip, allowZip64=True) as input_zipfile:
+    input_namelist = input_zipfile.namelist()
+
+  filtered_extract_item_list = []
+  for pattern in extract_item_list:
+    if fnmatch.filter(input_namelist, pattern):
+      filtered_extract_item_list.append(pattern)
+
+  common.UnzipToDir(input_zip, output_dir, filtered_extract_item_list)
+
+
+def CopyItems(from_dir, to_dir, patterns):
+  """Similar to ExtractItems() except uses an input dir instead of zip."""
+  file_paths = []
+  for dirpath, _, filenames in os.walk(from_dir):
+    file_paths.extend(
+        os.path.relpath(path=os.path.join(dirpath, filename), start=from_dir)
+        for filename in filenames)
+
+  filtered_file_paths = set()
+  for pattern in patterns:
+    filtered_file_paths.update(fnmatch.filter(file_paths, pattern))
+
+  for file_path in filtered_file_paths:
+    original_file_path = os.path.join(from_dir, file_path)
+    copied_file_path = os.path.join(to_dir, file_path)
+    copied_file_dir = os.path.dirname(copied_file_path)
+    if not os.path.exists(copied_file_dir):
+      os.makedirs(copied_file_dir)
+    if os.path.islink(original_file_path):
+      os.symlink(os.readlink(original_file_path), copied_file_path)
+    else:
+      shutil.copyfile(original_file_path, copied_file_path)
+
+
+def WriteSortedData(data, path):
+  """Writes the sorted contents of either a list or dict to file.
+
+  This function sorts the contents of the list or dict and then writes the
+  resulting sorted contents to a file specified by path.
+
+  Args:
+    data: The list or dict to sort and write.
+    path: Path to the file to write the sorted values to. The file at path will
+      be overridden if it exists.
+  """
+  with open(path, 'w') as output:
+    for entry in sorted(data):
+      out_str = '{}={}\n'.format(entry, data[entry]) if isinstance(
+          data, dict) else '{}\n'.format(entry)
+      output.write(out_str)
+
+
+# The merge config lists should not attempt to extract items from both
+# builds for any of the following partitions. The partitions in
+# SINGLE_BUILD_PARTITIONS should come entirely from a single build (either
+# framework or vendor, but not both).
+
+_SINGLE_BUILD_PARTITIONS = (
+    'BOOT/',
+    'DATA/',
+    'ODM/',
+    'PRODUCT/',
+    'SYSTEM_EXT/',
+    'RADIO/',
+    'RECOVERY/',
+    'ROOT/',
+    'SYSTEM/',
+    'SYSTEM_OTHER/',
+    'VENDOR/',
+    'VENDOR_DLKM/',
+    'ODM_DLKM/',
+    'SYSTEM_DLKM/',
+)
+
+
+def ValidateConfigLists():
+  """Performs validations on the merge config lists.
+
+  Returns:
+    False if a validation fails, otherwise true.
+  """
+  has_error = False
+
+  # Check that partitions only come from one input.
+  for partition in _SINGLE_BUILD_PARTITIONS:
+    image_path = 'IMAGES/{}.img'.format(partition.lower().replace('/', ''))
+    in_framework = (
+        any(item.startswith(partition) for item in OPTIONS.framework_item_list)
+        or image_path in OPTIONS.framework_item_list)
+    in_vendor = (
+        any(item.startswith(partition) for item in OPTIONS.vendor_item_list) or
+        image_path in OPTIONS.vendor_item_list)
+    if in_framework and in_vendor:
+      logger.error(
+          'Cannot extract items from %s for both the framework and vendor'
+          ' builds. Please ensure only one merge config item list'
+          ' includes %s.', partition, partition)
+      has_error = True
+
+  if any([
+      key in OPTIONS.framework_misc_info_keys
+      for key in ('dynamic_partition_list', 'super_partition_groups')
+  ]):
+    logger.error('Dynamic partition misc info keys should come from '
+                 'the vendor instance of META/misc_info.txt.')
+    has_error = True
+
+  return not has_error
+
+
+# In an item list (framework or vendor), we may see entries that select whole
+# partitions. Such an entry might look like this 'SYSTEM/*' (e.g., for the
+# system partition). The following regex matches this and extracts the
+# partition name.
+
+_PARTITION_ITEM_PATTERN = re.compile(r'^([A-Z_]+)/\*$')
+
+
+def ItemListToPartitionSet(item_list):
+  """Converts a target files item list to a partition set.
+
+  The item list contains items that might look like 'SYSTEM/*' or 'VENDOR/*' or
+  'OTA/android-info.txt'. Items that end in '/*' are assumed to match entire
+  directories where 'SYSTEM' or 'VENDOR' is a directory name that identifies the
+  contents of a partition of the same name. Other items in the list, such as the
+  'OTA' example contain metadata. This function iterates such a list, returning
+  a set that contains the partition entries.
+
+  Args:
+    item_list: A list of items in a target files package.
+
+  Returns:
+    A set of partitions extracted from the list of items.
+  """
+
+  partition_set = set()
+
+  for item in item_list:
+    partition_match = _PARTITION_ITEM_PATTERN.search(item.strip())
+    partition_tag = partition_match.group(
+        1).lower() if partition_match else None
+
+    if partition_tag:
+      partition_set.add(partition_tag)
+
+  return partition_set