diff --git a/net/ipv4/utils.c b/net/ipv4/utils.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6aecd7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/net/ipv4/utils.c
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+/*
+ * INET		An implementation of the TCP/IP protocol suite for the LINUX
+ *		operating system.  INET is implemented using the  BSD Socket
+ *		interface as the means of communication with the user level.
+ *
+ *		Various kernel-resident INET utility functions; mainly
+ *		for format conversion and debugging output.
+ *
+ * Version:	$Id: utils.c,v 1.8 2000/10/03 07:29:01 anton Exp $
+ *
+ * Author:	Fred N. van Kempen, <waltje@uWalt.NL.Mugnet.ORG>
+ *
+ * Fixes:
+ *		Alan Cox	:	verify_area check.
+ *		Alan Cox	:	removed old debugging.
+ *		Andi Kleen	:	add net_ratelimit()  
+ *
+ *		This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ *		modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+ *		as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version
+ *		2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ */
+
+#include <linux/module.h>
+#include <linux/types.h>
+#include <asm/byteorder.h>
+
+/*
+ *	Convert an ASCII string to binary IP. 
+ */
+ 
+__u32 in_aton(const char *str)
+{
+	unsigned long l;
+	unsigned int val;
+	int i;
+
+	l = 0;
+	for (i = 0; i < 4; i++) 
+	{
+		l <<= 8;
+		if (*str != '\0') 
+		{
+			val = 0;
+			while (*str != '\0' && *str != '.') 
+			{
+				val *= 10;
+				val += *str - '0';
+				str++;
+			}
+			l |= val;
+			if (*str != '\0') 
+				str++;
+		}
+	}
+	return(htonl(l));
+}
+
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(in_aton);