diff --git a/src/freedombone-utils-git b/src/freedombone-utils-git
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..eceebd0a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/freedombone-utils-git
@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# .---.                  .              .
+# |                      |              |
+# |--- .--. .-.  .-.  .-.|  .-. .--.--. |.-.  .-. .--.  .-.
+# |    |   (.-' (.-' (   | (   )|  |  | |   )(   )|  | (.-'
+# '    '     --'  --'  -' -  -' '  '   -' -'   -' '   -  --'
+#
+#                    Freedom in the Cloud
+#
+# Useful git functions
+#
+# License
+# =======
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2014-2016 Bob Mottram <bob@robotics.uk.to>
+#
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program 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 Affero General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+NO_OF_ARGS=$#
+
+PROJECT_NAME='freedombone'
+
+export TEXTDOMAIN=$PROJECT_NAME-utils-git
+export TEXTDOMAINDIR="/usr/share/locale"
+
+# An optional configuration file which overrides some of these variables
+CONFIGURATION_FILE="${PROJECT_NAME}.cfg"
+
+if [ -f ~/${PROJECT_NAME}.cfg ]; then
+	CONFIGURATION_FILE=~/${PROJECT_NAME}.cfg
+fi
+
+# friends repo mirrors
+FRIENDS_MIRRORS_SERVER=
+FRIENDS_MIRRORS_PASSWORD=
+FRIENDS_MIRRORS_SSH_PORT=
+
+function get_friends_servers {
+	if [ -f $CONFIGURATION_FILE ]; then
+		if grep -q "FRIENDS_MIRRORS_SERVER" $CONFIGURATION_FILE; then
+			FRIENDS_MIRRORS_SERVER=$(grep "FRIENDS_MIRRORS_SERVER" $CONFIGURATION_FILE | awk -F '=' '{print $2}')
+		fi
+		if grep -q "FRIENDS_MIRRORS_PASSWORD" $CONFIGURATION_FILE; then
+			FRIENDS_MIRRORS_PASSWORD=$(grep "FRIENDS_MIRRORS_PASSWORD" $CONFIGURATION_FILE | awk -F '=' '{print $2}')
+		fi
+		if grep -q "FRIENDS_MIRRORS_SSH_PORT" $CONFIGURATION_FILE; then
+			FRIENDS_MIRRORS_SSH_PORT=$(grep "FRIENDS_MIRRORS_SSH_PORT" $CONFIGURATION_FILE | awk -F '=' '{print $2}')
+		fi
+	fi
+
+	if [ ! $FRIENDS_MIRRORS_SERVER ]; then
+		echo "1"
+		return
+	fi
+	if [ ${#FRIENDS_MIRRORS_SERVER} -lt 2 ]; then
+		echo "1"
+		return
+	fi
+	echo "0"
+}
+
+function git_clone {
+	repo_url="$1"
+	destination_dir="$2"
+
+	if [[ "$repo_url" == "ssh:"* ]]; then
+		retval=$(get_friends_servers)
+		if [[ $retval == "0" ]]; then
+			if [ "${FRIENDS_MIRRORS_SERVER}" ]; then
+				if [ ${#FRIENDS_MIRRORS_SERVER} -gt 2 ]; then
+					if [ "$FRIENDS_MIRRORS_PASSWORD" ]; then
+						if [ ${#FRIENDS_MIRRORS_PASSWORD} -gt 2 ]; then
+							echo "sshpass -p \"$FRIENDS_MIRRORS_PASSWORD\" git clone $repo_url $destination_dir"
+							sshpass -p "$FRIENDS_MIRRORS_PASSWORD" git clone "$repo_url" "$destination_dir"
+							return
+						fi
+					fi
+				fi
+			fi
+		fi
+	fi
+	echo "git clone $repo_url $destination_dir"
+	git clone "$repo_url" "$destination_dir"
+}
+
+function git_pull {
+	if [ ! $1 ]; then
+		echo $'git_pull no repo specified'
+	fi
+
+	git stash
+	git remote set-url origin $1
+	git checkout master
+	get_friends_servers
+	if [ "${FRIENDS_MIRRORS_SERVER}" ]; then
+		if [ ${#FRIENDS_MIRRORS_SERVER} -gt 2 ]; then
+			if [ "$FRIENDS_MIRRORS_PASSWORD" ]; then
+				if [ ${#FRIENDS_MIRRORS_PASSWORD} -gt 2 ]; then
+					sshpass -p "$FRIENDS_MIRRORS_PASSWORD" git pull
+					if [ $2 ]; then
+						git checkout $2 -b $2
+					fi
+					return
+				fi
+			fi
+		fi
+	fi
+	git pull
+
+	if [ $2 ]; then
+		# delete any existing branch
+		git branch -D $2
+		# check out the new branch
+		git checkout $2 -b $2
+		if [ ! "$?" = "0" ]; then
+			echo $"Unable to checkout $1 $2"
+			exit 72357
+		fi
+	fi
+}
+
+# NOTE: deliberately no exit 0