diff --git a/include/fmtmsg.h b/include/fmtmsg.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4bc34d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/fmtmsg.h
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+#ifndef _FMTMSG_H
+#define _FMTMSG_H
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
+#define MM_HARD			0x0001
+#define MM_SOFT			0x0002
+#define MM_FIRM			0x0004
+
+#define MM_APPL			0x0008
+#define MM_UTIL			0x0010
+#define MM_OPSYS		0x0020
+
+#define MM_PRINT		0x0100
+#define MM_CONSOLE		0x0200
+
+#define MM_RECOVER		0x0040
+#define MM_NRECOV		0x0080
+
+#define MM_NULLMC		0L
+
+#define MM_HALT			0x1
+#define MM_ERROR		0x2
+#define MM_WARNING		0x3
+#define MM_INFO			0x4
+#define MM_NOSEV		0x0
+
+#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
+
+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..be75142
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/misc/fmtmsg.c
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+/* 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>
+
+
+/* 
+ * 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 _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, consolefd = 0;
+	char *errstring = MM_NULLSEV, *cmsg = getenv("MSGVERB");
+	char *const msgs[] = {
+		"label", "severity", "text", "action", "tag", NULL
+	};
+
+	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) {
+		char *evar = cmsg;
+		while (evar && evar[0]) {
+			for(i=0; msgs[i]; i++) {
+				if (!_strcolcmp(msgs[i], evar)) break;
+			}
+			if (msgs[i] == NULL) cmsg = 0;
+			evar = strchr(evar, ':');
+			if (evar) evar++;
+		}
+	}
+	for (i=0; (classification & MM_PRINT) && (i < 6);) {
+		if (cmsg) i = 0;
+		while (cmsg && msgs[i]) {
+			if (!_strcolcmp(msgs[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;
+}