diff --git a/include/fmtmsg.h b/include/fmtmsg.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bdc4a52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/fmtmsg.h
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+#ifndef _FMTMSG_H
+#define _FMTMSG_H
+
+/* Major: source of problem */
+#define	MM_HARD			0x0001
+#define	MM_SOFT			0x0002
+#define	MM_FIRM			0x0004
+
+/* Source subclassification: code encountering the problem */
+#define	MM_APPL			0x0008
+#define	MM_UTIL			0x0010
+#define	MM_OPSYS		0x0020
+
+/* Display subclassification */
+#define	MM_PRINT		0x0100
+#define	MM_CONSOLE		0x0200
+
+/* Can we recover? */
+#define	MM_RECOVER		0x0040
+#define	MM_NRECOV		0x0080
+
+#define	MM_NULLMC		0L
+
+/* Severity */
+#define	MM_HALT			0x1
+#define	MM_ERROR		0x2
+#define	MM_WARNING		0x3
+#define	MM_INFO			0x4
+#define	MM_NOSEV		0x0
+
+/* Return */
+#define	MM_OK			0x00000000
+#define	MM_NOTOK		0xffffffff
+#define	MM_NOMSG		0x00000001
+#define	MM_NOCON		0x00000004
+
+#define MM_NULLLBL		(char*)0
+#define MM_NULLTXT		(char*)0
+#define MM_NULLACT		(char*)0
+#define MM_NULLTAG		(char*)0
+#define MM_NULLSEV		0
+
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+int fmtmsg(long, const char *, int, const char *, const char *, const char *);
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+}
+#endif
+
+#endif
diff --git a/src/misc/fmtmsg.c b/src/misc/fmtmsg.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1cc6fdd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/misc/fmtmsg.c
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+/* Public domain fmtmsg()
+ * Written by Isaac Dunham, 2014
+ */
+#include <fmtmsg.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+static char *_msgtok[] = {
+"label", "severity", "text", "action", "tag", NULL
+};
+
+/* 
+ * If lstr is the first part of bstr, check that the next char in bstr
+ * is either \0 or :
+ */
+static int _strcolcmp(const char *lstr, const char *bstr)
+{
+	size_t i = 0;
+	while (lstr[i] && bstr[i] && (bstr[i] == lstr[i])) i++;
+	if ( lstr[i] || (bstr[i] && bstr[i] != ':')) return 1;
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static int _validenv(char *evar)
+{
+	size_t i;
+
+	while (evar && evar[0]) {
+		for(i=0; _msgtok[i]; i++) {
+			if (!_strcolcmp(_msgtok[i], evar)) break;
+		}
+		if (_msgtok[i] == NULL) return 0;
+		evar = strchr(evar, ':');
+		if (evar) evar++;
+	}
+	return 1;
+}
+
+static int _writemsg(const char *msg)
+{
+	int buflen = strlen(msg);
+	if (write(2, msg, buflen) < buflen) return MM_NOMSG;
+	return 0;
+}
+
+int fmtmsg(long classification, const char *label, int severity,
+	       	const char *text, const char *action, const char *tag)
+{
+	int ret = 0, i = 0, consolefd = 0;
+	char *errstring = MM_NULLSEV, *cmsg = getenv("MSGVERB");
+
+	if (classification & MM_CONSOLE)
+		consolefd = open("/dev/console", O_WRONLY);
+	if (consolefd < 0) {
+		classification &= ~MM_CONSOLE;
+		ret = MM_NOCON;
+		consolefd = 0;
+	}
+	if (severity == MM_HALT) errstring = "HALT";
+	else if (severity == MM_ERROR) errstring = "ERROR";
+	else if (severity == MM_WARNING) errstring = "WARNING";
+	else if (severity == MM_INFO) errstring = "INFO";
+	if (consolefd) {
+		if (dprintf(consolefd, "%s: %s: %s\nTO FIX: %s %s\n", 
+				label, errstring, text, action, tag)<15) 
+			ret = MM_NOCON;
+	}
+
+	if (cmsg && !_validenv(cmsg)) cmsg = (char *)0;
+	while ((classification & MM_PRINT) && (i < 6)) {
+		if (cmsg) i = 0;
+		while (cmsg && _msgtok[i]) {
+			if (!_strcolcmp(_msgtok[i], cmsg)) break;
+			i++;
+		}
+		i++;
+		switch (i) {
+		case 1:
+			ret |= _writemsg(label);
+			ret |= _writemsg(": ");
+			break;
+		case 2:
+		    	if (errstring){
+				ret |= _writemsg(errstring);
+				ret |= _writemsg(": ");
+			}
+			break;
+		case 3:
+			ret |= _writemsg(text);
+			break;
+		case 4:
+			ret |= _writemsg("\nTO FIX: ");
+			ret |= _writemsg(action);
+			break;
+		case 5:
+			ret |= _writemsg(" ");
+			ret |= _writemsg(tag);
+			break;
+		}
+		if (cmsg) {
+			cmsg = strchr(cmsg, ':');
+			if (cmsg) cmsg++;
+			if (!cmsg || !cmsg[0]) i = 6;
+		}
+	}
+	if (classification & MM_PRINT) _writemsg("\n");
+	if ((ret & (MM_NOCON|MM_NOMSG) ) ==  (MM_NOCON|MM_NOMSG))
+		ret = MM_NOTOK;
+	return ret;
+}