diff --git a/include/cutils/ashmem.h b/include/cutils/ashmem.h
index fd71352..6e19ad4 100644
--- a/include/cutils/ashmem.h
+++ b/include/cutils/ashmem.h
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
 #ifndef _CUTILS_ASHMEM_H
 #define _CUTILS_ASHMEM_H
 
+#include <stdint.h>
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 extern "C" {
 #endif
diff --git a/include/cutils/native_handle.h b/include/cutils/native_handle.h
index 2b64893..298270b 100644
--- a/include/cutils/native_handle.h
+++ b/include/cutils/native_handle.h
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@
 #ifndef NATIVE_HANDLE_H_
 #define NATIVE_HANDLE_H_
 
+#include <sys/cdefs.h>
+
+__BEGIN_DECLS
+
 typedef struct
 {
     int version;        /* sizeof(native_handle) */
@@ -25,4 +29,66 @@
     int data[0];        /* numFds + numInts ints */
 } native_handle;
 
+
+/*
+ * native_handle_dup
+ * 
+ * duplicates a native handle. All source file descriptors are dup()'ed.
+ * 
+ * lhs.numFds must be 0 or match rhs.numFds
+ * lhs.numInts must be 0 or match rhs.numInts
+ * 
+ * if lhs.numFds and lhs.numInts are set to 0, they are the only fields
+ * updated, this can be used to figure out the size needed for copying rhs.
+ * 
+ * return 0 on success, or a negative error code on failure
+ * 
+ */
+int native_handle_dup(native_handle* lhs, native_handle const* rhs);
+
+
+/*
+ * native_handle_close
+ * 
+ * closes the file descriptors contained in this native_handle
+ * 
+ * return 0 on success, or a negative error code on failure
+ * 
+ */
+int native_handle_close(const native_handle* h);
+
+
+/*
+ * native_handle_create
+ * 
+ * creates a native_handle and initializes it. must be destroyed with
+ * native_handle_delete().
+ * 
+ */
+native_handle* native_handle_create(int numFds, int numInts);
+
+/*
+ * native_handle_delete
+ * 
+ * frees a native_handle allocated with native_handle_create().
+ * This ONLY frees the memory allocated for the native_handle, but doesn't
+ * close the file descriptors; which can be achieved with native_handle_close().
+ * 
+ * return 0 on success, or a negative error code on failure
+ * 
+ */
+int native_handle_delete(native_handle* h);
+
+
+/*
+ * native_handle_copy
+ * 
+ * makes a deep copy of rhs. If rhs is null, returns null.
+ * 
+ */
+native_handle* native_handle_copy(const native_handle* rhs);
+
+
+__END_DECLS
+
 #endif /* NATIVE_HANDLE_H_ */
diff --git a/libcutils/Android.mk b/libcutils/Android.mk
index b6d806e..3bc48fb 100644
--- a/libcutils/Android.mk
+++ b/libcutils/Android.mk
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 	array.c \
 	hashmap.c \
 	atomic.c \
+	native_handle.c \
 	buffer.c \
 	socket_inaddr_any_server.c \
 	socket_local_client.c \
diff --git a/libcutils/native_handle.c b/libcutils/native_handle.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..47f6950
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libcutils/native_handle.c
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2007 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.
+ */
+
+#define LOG_TAG "Gralloc"
+
+#include <stdint.h>
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+#include <cutils/log.h>
+#include <cutils/native_handle.h>
+
+native_handle* native_handle_create(int numFds, int numInts)
+{
+    native_handle* h = malloc(
+            sizeof(native_handle) + sizeof(int)*(numFds+numInts));
+    
+    h->version = sizeof(native_handle);
+    h->numFds = numFds;
+    h->numInts = numInts;
+    return h;
+}
+
+int native_handle_delete(native_handle* h)
+{
+    if (h) {
+        if (h->version != sizeof(native_handle))
+            return -EINVAL;
+        free(h);
+    }
+    return 0;
+}
+
+int native_handle_dup(native_handle* lhs, native_handle const* rhs)
+{
+    if (rhs->version != sizeof(native_handle))
+        return -EINVAL;
+
+    if (lhs->version != sizeof(native_handle))
+        return -EINVAL;
+    
+    const int numFds = rhs->numFds;
+    const int numInts = rhs->numInts;
+
+    if (lhs->numFds == 0 && lhs->numInts == 0) {
+        lhs->numFds = numFds; 
+        lhs->numInts = numInts;
+        return 0;
+    }
+
+    if (lhs->numFds != numFds)
+        return -EINVAL;
+
+    if (lhs->numInts != numInts)
+        return -EINVAL;
+    
+    int i;
+    for (i=0 ; i<numFds ; i++) {
+        lhs->data[i] = dup( rhs->data[i] );
+    }
+    memcpy(&lhs->data[i], &rhs->data[i], numInts*sizeof(int));
+    return 0;
+}
+
+int native_handle_close(const native_handle* h)
+{
+    if (h->version != sizeof(native_handle))
+        return -EINVAL;
+
+    const int numFds = h->numFds;
+    int i;
+    for (i=0 ; i<numFds ; i++) {
+        close(h->data[i]);
+    }
+    return 0;
+}
+
+native_handle* native_handle_copy(const native_handle* rhs)
+{
+    if (rhs == 0)
+        return 0;
+    
+    native_handle* lhs = native_handle_create(rhs->numFds, rhs->numInts);
+    if (native_handle_dup(lhs, rhs) < 0) {
+        native_handle_delete(lhs);
+        lhs = 0;
+    }
+    return lhs;
+}