diff --git a/src/config.c b/src/config.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..627bb371b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/config.c
@@ -0,0 +1,417 @@
+/*
+ * This file is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2,
+ * as published by the Free Software Foundation.
+ *
+ * In addition to the permissions in the GNU General Public License,
+ * the authors give you unlimited permission to link the compiled
+ * version of this file into combinations with other programs,
+ * and to distribute those combinations without any restriction
+ * coming from the use of this file.  (The General Public License
+ * restrictions do apply in other respects; for example, they cover
+ * modification of the file, and distribution when not linked into
+ * a combined executable.)
+ *
+ * This file is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+ * WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+ * General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to
+ * the Free Software Foundation, 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
+ * Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+ */
+
+#include "common.h"
+#include "fileops.h"
+#include "hashtable.h"
+#include "config.h"
+
+struct git_config {
+	char *file_path;
+
+	struct {
+		gitfo_buf buffer;
+		char *read_ptr;
+		int line_number;
+		int eof;
+	} reader;
+
+	git_hashtable *vars;
+};
+
+typedef enum {
+	GIT_VAR_INT,
+	GIT_VAR_BOOL,
+	GIT_VAR_STR
+} git_config_type;
+
+struct git_config_var {
+	git_config_type type;
+	char *name;
+	union {
+		unsigned char boolean;
+		long integer;
+		char *string;
+	} value;
+};
+
+typedef struct git_config git_config;
+
+
+uint32_t config_table_hash(const void *key)
+{
+	const char *var_name = (char *)key;
+	return git__hash(key, strlen(var_name), 0x5273eae3);
+}
+
+int config_table_haskey(void *object, const void *key)
+{
+	git_config_var *var = (git_config_var *)object;
+	const char *var_name = (const char *)key;
+
+	return (strcmp(var->name, var_name) == 0);
+}
+
+int git_config_open(git_config **cfg_out, const char *path)
+{
+	git_config *cfg;
+
+	assert(cfg_out && path);
+
+	cfg = git__malloc(sizeof(git_config));
+	if (cfg == NULL)
+		return GIT_ENOMEM;
+
+	memset(cfg, 0x0, sizeof(git_config));
+
+	cfg->file_path = git__strdup(path);
+	if (cfg->file_path == NULL)
+		return GIT_ENOMEM;
+
+	cfg->vars = git_hashtable_alloc(16, config_table_hash, config_table_haskey);
+	if (cfg->vars == NULL)
+		return GIT_ENOMEM;
+
+	*cfg_out = cfg;
+	return GIT_SUCCESS;
+}
+
+void git_config_free(git_config *cfg)
+{
+	if (cfg == NULL)
+		return;
+
+	free(cfg->file_path);
+	git_hashtable_free(cfg->vars);
+	gitfo_free_buf(&cfg->reader.buffer);
+
+	free(cfg);
+}
+
+static int cfg_getchar_raw(git_config *cfg)
+{
+	int c;
+
+	c = *cfg->reader.read_ptr++;
+
+	/*
+	Win 32 line breaks: if we find a \r\n sequence,
+	return only the \n as a newline
+	*/
+	if (c == '\r' && *cfg->reader.read_ptr == '\n') {
+		cfg->reader.read_ptr++;
+		c = '\n';
+	}
+
+	if (c == '\n')
+		cfg->reader.line_number++;
+
+	if (c == 0) {
+		cfg->reader.eof = 1;
+		c = '\n';
+	}
+
+	return c;
+}
+
+#define SKIP_WHITESPACE (1 << 1)
+#define SKIP_COMMENTS (1 << 2)
+
+static int cfg_getchar(git_config *cfg_file, int flags)
+{
+	const int skip_whitespace = (flags & SKIP_WHITESPACE);
+	const int skip_comments = (flags & SKIP_COMMENTS);
+	int c;
+
+	assert(cfg_file->reader.read_ptr);
+
+	do c = cfg_getchar_raw(cfg_file);
+	while (skip_whitespace && isspace(c));
+
+	if (skip_comments && (c == '#' || c == ';')) {
+    	do c = cfg_getchar_raw(cfg_file);
+    	while (c != '\n');
+	}
+
+	return c;
+}
+
+static const char *LINEBREAK_UNIX = "\\\n";
+static const char *LINEBREAK_WIN32 = "\\\r\n";
+
+static int is_linebreak(const char *pos)
+{
+	return	memcmp(pos - 1, LINEBREAK_UNIX, sizeof(LINEBREAK_UNIX)) == 0 ||
+			memcmp(pos - 2, LINEBREAK_WIN32, sizeof(LINEBREAK_WIN32)) == 0;
+}
+
+static char *cfg_readline(git_config *cfg)
+{
+	char *line = NULL;
+	char *line_src, *line_end;
+	int line_len;
+
+	line_src = cfg->reader.read_ptr;
+    line_end = strchr(line_src, '\n');
+
+	while (is_linebreak(line_end))
+		line_end = strchr(line_end + 1, '\n');
+
+    /* no newline at EOF */
+	if (line_end == NULL)
+		line_end = strchr(line_src, 0);
+
+	while (line_src < line_end && isspace(*line_src))
+		line_src++;
+
+	line = (char *)git__malloc((size_t)(line_end - line_src) + 1);
+	if (line == NULL)
+		return NULL;
+
+	line_len = 0;
+	while (line_src < line_end) {
+
+		if (memcmp(line_src, LINEBREAK_UNIX, sizeof(LINEBREAK_UNIX)) == 0) {
+			line_src += sizeof(LINEBREAK_UNIX);
+			continue;
+		}
+
+		if (memcmp(line_src, LINEBREAK_WIN32, sizeof(LINEBREAK_WIN32)) == 0) {
+			line_src += sizeof(LINEBREAK_WIN32);
+			continue;
+		}
+
+		line[line_len++] = *line_src++;
+	}
+
+	line[line_len] = '\0';
+
+	while (--line_len >= 0 && isspace(line[line_len]))
+		line[line_len] = '\0';
+
+	if (*line_end == '\n')
+		line_end++;
+
+	if (*line_end == '\0')
+		cfg->reader.eof = 1;
+
+	cfg->reader.line_number++;
+	cfg->reader.read_ptr = line_end;
+
+	return line;
+}
+
+static inline int config_keychar(int c)
+{
+	return isalnum(c) || c == '-';
+}
+
+static char *parse_section_header_ext(char *base_name, git_config *cfg)
+{
+	return base_name;
+}
+
+static int parse_section_header(char **section_out, const char *line)
+{
+	char *name, *name_start, *name_end;
+	int name_length, c;
+
+	/* find the end of the variable's name */
+	name_end = strchr(name_start, ']');
+	if (name_end == NULL)
+		return NULL;
+
+	name = (char *)git__malloc((size_t)(name_end - name_start) + 1);
+	if (name == NULL)
+		return NULL;
+
+	name_length = 0;
+	c = cfg_getchar(cfg, SKIP_WHITESPACE | SKIP_COMMENTS);
+
+	do {
+		if (cfg->reader.eof)
+			goto error;
+
+		if (isspace(c))
+			return parse_section_name_ext(name, cfg);
+
+		if (!config_keychar(c) && c != '.')
+			goto error;
+
+		name[name_length++] = tolower(c);
+
+	} while ((c = cfg_getchar(cfg, SKIP_COMMENTS)) != ']');
+	
+	name[name_length] = 0;
+	return name;
+
+error:
+	free(name);
+	return NULL;
+}
+
+static int skip_bom(git_config *cfg)
+{
+	static const unsigned char *utf8_bom = "\xef\xbb\xbf";
+
+	if (memcmp(cfg->reader.read_ptr, utf8_bom, sizeof(utf8_bom)) == 0)
+		cfg->reader.read_ptr += sizeof(utf8_bom);
+
+	/*  TODO: the reference implementation does pretty stupid
+		shit with the BoM
+	*/
+
+	return GIT_SUCCESS;
+}
+
+/*
+	(* basic types *)
+	digit = "0".."9"
+	integer = digit { digit }
+	alphabet = "a".."z" + "A" .. "Z"
+
+	section_char = alphabet | "." | "-"
+	extension_char = (* any character except newline *)
+	any_char = (* any character *)
+	variable_char = "alphabet" | "-"
+
+
+	(* actual grammar *)
+	config = { section }
+
+	section = header { definition }
+
+	header = "[" section [subsection | subsection_ext] "]"
+
+	subsection = "." section
+	subsection_ext = "\"" extension "\""
+
+	section = section_char { section_char }
+	extension = extension_char { extension_char }
+
+	definition = variable_name ["=" variable_value] "\n"
+
+	variable_name = variable_char { variable_char }
+	variable_value = string | boolean | integer
+
+	string = quoted_string | plain_string
+	quoted_string = "\"" plain_string "\""
+	plain_string = { any_char }
+
+	boolean = boolean_true | boolean_false
+	boolean_true = "yes" | "1" | "true" | "on"
+	boolean_false = "no" | "0" | "false" | "off"
+*/
+
+static void strip_comments(char *line)
+{
+	int quote_count = 0;
+	char *ptr;
+
+	for (ptr = line; *ptr; ++ptr) {
+		if (ptr[0] == '"' && ptr > line && ptr[-1] != '\\')
+			quote_count++;
+
+		if ((ptr[0] == ';' || ptr[0] == '#') && (quote_count % 2) == 0) {
+			ptr[0] = '\0';
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+
+	if (isspace(ptr[-1])) {
+		/* TODO skip whitespace */
+	}
+}
+
+static int config_parse(git_config *cfg_file)
+{
+	int error = GIT_SUCCESS;
+	char *current_section = NULL;
+
+	skip_bom(cfg_file);
+
+	while (error == GIT_SUCCESS && !cfg_file->reader.eof) {
+
+		char *line = cfg_readline(cfg_file);
+
+		/* not enough memory to allocate line */
+		if (line == NULL)
+			return GIT_ENOMEM;
+
+		strip_comments(line);
+
+		switch (line[0]) {
+		case '\0': /* empty line (only whitespace) */
+			break;
+
+		case '[': /* section header, new section begins */
+			error = parse_section_header(&current_section, line);
+			break;
+
+		default: /* assume variable declaration */
+			error = parse_variable(cfg_file, current_section, line);
+			break;
+		}
+
+		free(line);
+	}
+	
+	return error;
+}
+
+static int parse_variable(git_config *cfg, const char *section_name, const char *line)
+{
+	int error;
+	int has_value = 1;
+
+	const char *var_end = NULL;
+	const char *value_start = NULL;
+
+	var_end = strchr(line, '=');
+
+	if (var_end == NULL)
+		var_end = strchr(line, '\0');
+	else
+		value_start = var_end + 1;
+
+	if (isspace(var_end[-1])) {
+		do var_end--;
+		while (isspace(var_end[0]));
+	}
+
+	if (value_start != NULL) {
+
+		while (isspace(value_start[0]))
+			value_start++;
+
+		if (value_start[0] == '\0')
+			goto error;
+	}
+
+	return GIT_SUCCESS;
+
+error:
+	return GIT_EOBJCORRUPTED;
+}