diff --git a/common/action_pipe.h b/common/action_pipe.h
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+//
+// Copyright (C) 2009 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.
+//
+
+#ifndef UPDATE_ENGINE_COMMON_ACTION_PIPE_H_
+#define UPDATE_ENGINE_COMMON_ACTION_PIPE_H_
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+
+#include <map>
+#include <memory>
+#include <string>
+
+#include <base/logging.h>
+#include <base/macros.h>
+
+// The structure of these classes (Action, ActionPipe, ActionProcessor, etc.)
+// is based on the KSAction* classes from the Google Update Engine code at
+// http://code.google.com/p/update-engine/ . The author of this file sends
+// a big thanks to that team for their high quality design, implementation,
+// and documentation.
+
+// This class serves as a temporary holding area for an object passed out
+// from one Action and into another Action. It's templated so that it may
+// contain any type of object that an Action outputs/inputs. Actions
+// cannot be bonded (i.e., connected with a pipe) if their output/input
+// object types differ (a compiler error will result).
+//
+// An ActionPipe is generally created with the Bond() method and owned by
+// the two Action objects. a shared_ptr is used so that when the last Action
+// pointing to an ActionPipe dies, the ActionPipe dies, too.
+
+namespace chromeos_update_engine {
+
+// Used by Actions an InputObjectType or OutputObjectType to specify that
+// for that type, no object is taken/given.
+class NoneType {};
+
+template<typename T>
+class Action;
+
+template<typename ObjectType>
+class ActionPipe {
+ public:
+  virtual ~ActionPipe() {}
+
+  // This should be called by an Action on its input pipe.
+  // Returns a reference to the stored object.
+  const ObjectType& contents() const { return contents_; }
+
+  // This should be called by an Action on its output pipe.
+  // Stores a copy of the passed object in this pipe.
+  void set_contents(const ObjectType& contents) { contents_ = contents; }
+
+  // Bonds two Actions together with a new ActionPipe. The ActionPipe is
+  // jointly owned by the two Actions and will be automatically destroyed
+  // when the last Action is destroyed.
+  template<typename FromAction, typename ToAction>
+  static void Bond(FromAction* from, ToAction* to) {
+    std::shared_ptr<ActionPipe<ObjectType>> pipe(new ActionPipe<ObjectType>);
+    from->set_out_pipe(pipe);
+
+    to->set_in_pipe(pipe);  // If you get an error on this line, then
+    // it most likely means that the From object's OutputObjectType is
+    // different from the To object's InputObjectType.
+  }
+
+ private:
+  ObjectType contents_;
+
+  // The ctor is private. This is because this class should construct itself
+  // via the static Bond() method.
+  ActionPipe() {}
+  DISALLOW_COPY_AND_ASSIGN(ActionPipe);
+};
+
+// Utility function
+template<typename FromAction, typename ToAction>
+void BondActions(FromAction* from, ToAction* to) {
+  // TODO(adlr): find something like this that the compiler accepts:
+  // COMPILE_ASSERT(typeof(typename FromAction::OutputObjectType) ==
+  //                typeof(typename ToAction::InputObjectType),
+  //     FromAction_OutputObjectType_doesnt_match_ToAction_InputObjectType);
+  ActionPipe<typename FromAction::OutputObjectType>::Bond(from, to);
+}
+
+}  // namespace chromeos_update_engine
+
+#endif  // UPDATE_ENGINE_COMMON_ACTION_PIPE_H_