diff --git a/src/module_util.cc b/src/module_util.cc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f30f3db938
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/module_util.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+//
+// See the file "COPYING" in the main distribution directory for copyright.
+
+#include <string>
+#include <string.h>
+#include "module_util.h"
+
+static int streq(const char* s1, const char* s2)
+	{
+	return ! strcmp(s1, s2);
+	}
+
+// Returns it without trailing "::".
+string extract_module_name(const char* name)
+	{
+	string module_name = name;
+	string::size_type pos = module_name.rfind("::");
+
+	if ( pos == string::npos )
+		return string(GLOBAL_MODULE_NAME);
+
+	module_name.erase(pos);
+
+	return module_name;
+	}
+
+string extract_var_name(const char *name)
+	{
+	string var_name = name;
+	string::size_type pos = var_name.rfind("::");
+
+	if ( pos == string::npos )
+		return var_name;
+
+	if ( pos + 2 > var_name.size() )
+		return string("");
+
+	return var_name.substr(pos+2);
+	}
+	
+
+
+string normalized_module_name(const char* module_name)
+	{
+	int mod_len;
+	if ( (mod_len = strlen(module_name)) >= 2 &&
+	     streq(module_name + mod_len - 2, "::") )
+		mod_len -= 2;
+
+	return string(module_name, mod_len);
+	}
+
+string make_full_var_name(const char* module_name, const char* var_name)
+	{
+	if ( ! module_name || streq(module_name, GLOBAL_MODULE_NAME) ||
+	     strstr(var_name, "::") )
+		return string(var_name);
+
+	string full_name = normalized_module_name(module_name);
+	full_name += "::";
+	full_name += var_name;
+
+	return full_name;
+	}
+
diff --git a/src/module_util.h b/src/module_util.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ec82ac0b77
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/module_util.h
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+
+#include <string>
+
+using namespace std;
+
+static const char* GLOBAL_MODULE_NAME = "GLOBAL";
+
+extern string extract_module_name(const char* name);
+extern string extract_var_name(const char* name);
+extern string normalized_module_name(const char* module_name); // w/o ::
+
+// Concatenates module_name::var_name unless var_name is already fully
+// qualified, in which case it is returned unmodified.
+extern string make_full_var_name(const char* module_name, const char* var_name);