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..98fdaca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/misc/fmtmsg.c
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+/* 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;
+}
+int fmtmsg(long classification, const char *label, int severity,
+	       	const char *text, const char *action, const char *tag)
+{
+	int ret = 0, i, consolefd = 0, verb = 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%s%s%s%s%s\n",
+			    label?label:"", label?": ":"",
+			    severity?errstring:"", text?text:"",
+			    action?"\nTO FIX: ":"",
+			    action?action:"", action?" ":"", tag?tag:"" )<1) 
+			ret = MM_NOCON;
+	}
+
+	if (cmsg) {
+		while (cmsg && cmsg[0]) {
+			for(i=0; msgs[i]; i++) {
+				if (!_strcolcmp(msgs[i], cmsg)) break;
+			}
+			if (msgs[i] == NULL) {
+				//ignore MSGVERB-unrecognized component 
+				verb =0xFF;
+				break;
+			} else {
+				verb |= (1 << i);
+				cmsg = strchr(cmsg, ':');
+				if (cmsg) cmsg++;
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	if (!verb) verb = 0xFF;
+	if (classification & MM_PRINT) {
+		if (dprintf(2, "%s%s%s%s%s%s%s%s\n",
+			    (verb&1 && label) ? label : "",
+			    (verb&1 && label) ? ": " : "",
+			    (verb&2 && severity) ? errstring : "",
+			    (verb&4 && text) ? text : "",
+			    (verb&8 && action) ? "\nTO FIX: " : "",
+			    (verb&8 && action) ? action : "",
+			    (verb&8 && action) ? " " : "",
+			    (verb&16 && tag) ? tag : "" ) < 1)
+			ret |= MM_NOMSG;
+	}
+	if ((ret & (MM_NOCON|MM_NOMSG) ) ==  (MM_NOCON|MM_NOMSG))
+		ret = MM_NOTOK;
+	return ret;
+}