diff --git a/tools/buildman/bsettings.py b/tools/buildman/bsettings.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7e66c63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/buildman/bsettings.py
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2012 The Chromium OS Authors.
+#
+# See file CREDITS for list of people who contributed to this
+# project.
+#
+# 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.
+#
+# 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 General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston,
+# MA 02111-1307 USA
+#
+
+import ConfigParser
+import os
+
+
+def Setup(fname=''):
+    """Set up the buildman settings module by reading config files
+
+    Args:
+        config_fname:   Config filename to read ('' for default)
+    """
+    global settings
+    global config_fname
+
+    settings = ConfigParser.SafeConfigParser()
+    config_fname = fname
+    if config_fname == '':
+        config_fname = '%s/.buildman' % os.getenv('HOME')
+    if config_fname:
+        settings.read(config_fname)
+
+def GetItems(section):
+    """Get the items from a section of the config.
+
+    Args:
+        section: name of section to retrieve
+
+    Returns:
+        List of (name, value) tuples for the section
+    """
+    try:
+        return settings.items(section)
+    except ConfigParser.NoSectionError as e:
+        print e
+        print ("Warning: No tool chains - please add a [toolchain] section "
+                "to your buildman config file %s. See README for details" %
+                config_fname)
+        return []
+    except:
+        raise