diff --git a/src/system/helpers.cpp b/src/system/helpers.cpp
index 4e1152323..85a369ff6 100644
--- a/src/system/helpers.cpp
+++ b/src/system/helpers.cpp
@@ -740,3 +740,20 @@ void hdd_flush(const char * fname)
 		close(fd);
 	}
 }
+
+/* split string like PARAM1=value1 PARAM2=value2 into map */
+bool split_config_string(const std::string &str, std::map<std::string,std::string> &smap)
+{
+	smap.clear();
+	std::string::size_type start = 0;
+	std::string::size_type end = 0;
+	while ((end = str.find(" ", start)) != std::string::npos) {
+		std::string param = str.substr(start, end - start);
+		std::string::size_type i = param.find("=");
+		if (i != std::string::npos) {
+			smap[param.substr(0,i).c_str()] = param.substr(i+1).c_str();
+		}
+		start = end + 1;
+	}
+	return !smap.empty();
+}
diff --git a/src/system/helpers.h b/src/system/helpers.h
index 480c43f03..de994141a 100644
--- a/src/system/helpers.h
+++ b/src/system/helpers.h
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 #include <string.h>
 #include <string>
 #include <sstream>
+#include <map>
  
 int my_system(const char * cmd);
 int my_system(int argc, const char *arg, ...); /* argc is number of arguments including command */
@@ -85,4 +86,5 @@ template<class C> std::string to_string(C i)
 
 inline void cstrncpy(char *dest, const char * const src, size_t n) { n--; strncpy(dest, src, n); dest[n] = 0; }
 inline void cstrncpy(char *dest, const std::string &src, size_t n) { n--; strncpy(dest, src.c_str(), n); dest[n] = 0; }
+bool split_config_string(const std::string &str, std::map<std::string,std::string> &smap);
 #endif