diff --git a/src/tools/exec.c b/src/tools/exec.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5b93fcdab8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tools/exec.c
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2019, Haiku, Inc. All rights reserved.
+ * Distributed under the terms of the MIT License.
+ *
+ * Authors:
+ *		Augustin Cavalier <waddlesplash>
+ */
+
+/* Pass this tool a string, and it will parse it into an argv and execvp(). */
+
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <errno.h>
+
+
+static void
+append_char(char c, char** arg, int* argLen, int* argBufferLen)
+{
+	if ((*argLen + 1) >= *argBufferLen) {
+		*arg = realloc(*arg, *argBufferLen + 32);
+		if (*arg == NULL) {
+			puts("oom");
+			exit(1);
+		}
+		*argBufferLen += 32;
+	}
+
+	(*arg)[*argLen] = c;
+	(*argLen)++;
+}
+
+
+static void
+parse_quoted(const char* str, int* pos, char** currentArg, int* currentArgLen,
+	int* currentArgBufferLen)
+{
+	char end = str[*pos];
+	while (1) {
+		char c;
+		(*pos)++;
+		c = str[*pos];
+		if (c == '\0') {
+			puts("mismatched quotes");
+			exit(1);
+		}
+		if (c == end)
+			break;
+
+		switch (c) {
+		case '\\':
+			(*pos)++;
+			// fall through
+		default:
+			append_char(str[*pos], currentArg, currentArgLen,
+				currentArgBufferLen);
+		break;
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+
+int
+main(int argc, const char* argv[])
+{
+	char** args = NULL, *currentArg = NULL;
+	const char* str;
+	int argsLen = 0, argsBufferLen = 0, currentArgLen = 0,
+		currentArgBufferLen = 0, pos;
+
+	if (argc != 2) {
+		printf("usage: %s \"program arg 'arg1' ...\"\n", argv[0]);
+		return 1;
+	}
+
+	str = argv[1];
+	pos = 0;
+	while (1) {
+		switch (str[pos]) {
+		case ' ':
+		case '\t':
+		case '\r':
+		case '\n':
+		case '\0':
+			if (currentArgLen == 0)
+				break; // do nothing
+
+			append_char('\0', &currentArg, &currentArgLen,
+				&currentArgBufferLen);
+
+			if ((argsLen + 2) >= argsBufferLen) {
+				args = realloc(args, (argsBufferLen + 8) * sizeof(char*));
+				if (args == NULL) {
+					puts("oom");
+					return 1;
+				}
+				argsBufferLen += 8;
+			}
+
+			args[argsLen] = currentArg;
+			args[argsLen + 1] = NULL;
+			argsLen++;
+
+			currentArg = NULL;
+			currentArgLen = 0;
+			currentArgBufferLen = 0;
+		break;
+
+		case '\'':
+		case '"':
+			parse_quoted(str, &pos, &currentArg, &currentArgLen,
+				&currentArgBufferLen);
+		break;
+
+		case '\\':
+			pos++;
+			// fall through
+		default:
+			append_char(str[pos], &currentArg, &currentArgLen,
+				&currentArgBufferLen);
+		break;
+		}
+		if (str[pos] == '\0')
+			break;
+		pos++;
+	}
+
+	pos = execvp(args[0], args);
+	if (pos != 0)
+		printf("exec failed: %s\n", strerror(errno));
+	return pos;
+}