diff --git a/lib/uuid.php b/lib/uuid.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..93153504f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/uuid.php
@@ -0,0 +1,109 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * StatusNet - the distributed open-source microblogging tool
+ * Copyright (C) 2010, StatusNet, Inc.
+ *
+ * UUID generation
+ * 
+ * PHP version 5
+ *
+ * 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/>.
+ *
+ * @category  UUID
+ * @package   StatusNet
+ * @author    Evan Prodromou <evan@status.net>
+ * @copyright 2010 StatusNet, Inc.
+ * @license   http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/agpl-3.0.html AGPL 3.0
+ * @link      http://status.net/
+ */
+
+if (!defined('STATUSNET')) {
+    // This check helps protect against security problems;
+    // your code file can't be executed directly from the web.
+    exit(1);
+}
+
+/**
+ * UUID generation
+ *
+ * @category  General
+ * @package   StatusNet
+ * @author    Evan Prodromou <evan@status.net>
+ * @copyright 2010 StatusNet, Inc.
+ * @license   http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/agpl-3.0.html AGPL 3.0
+ * @link      http://status.net/
+ */
+
+class UUID
+{
+    protected $str = null;
+
+    /**
+     * Constructor for a UUID
+     * 
+     * Uses gen() to create a new UUID
+     */
+
+    function __construct()
+    {
+        $this->str = self::gen();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * For serializing to a string
+     *
+     * @return string version of self
+     */
+
+    function __toString()
+    {
+        return $this->str;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * For serializing to a string
+     *
+     * @return string version of self
+     */
+
+    function getString()
+    {
+        return $this->str;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Generate a new UUID
+     *
+     * @return 36-char v4 (random-ish) UUID
+     */
+
+    static function gen()
+    {
+        return sprintf('%s-%s-%04x-%04x-%s',
+                       // 32 bits for "time_low"
+                       common_good_rand(4),
+                       // 16 bits for "time_mid"
+                       common_good_rand(2),
+                       // 16 bits for "time_hi_and_version",
+                       // four most significant bits holds version number 4
+                       (hexdec(common_good_rand(2)) & 0x0fff) | 0x4000,
+                       // 16 bits, 8 bits for "clk_seq_hi_res",
+                       // 8 bits for "clk_seq_low",
+                       // two most significant bits holds zero and one
+                       // for variant DCE1.1
+                       (hexdec(common_good_rand(2)) & 0x3fff) | 0x8000,
+                       // 48 bits for "node"
+                       common_good_rand(6));
+    }   
+}
diff --git a/tests/UUIDTest.php b/tests/UUIDTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..de256ffa1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/UUIDTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+<?php
+
+if (isset($_SERVER) && array_key_exists('REQUEST_METHOD', $_SERVER)) {
+    print "This script must be run from the command line\n";
+    exit();
+}
+
+define('INSTALLDIR', realpath(dirname(__FILE__) . '/..'));
+define('STATUSNET', true);
+
+require_once INSTALLDIR . '/lib/common.php';
+
+class UUIDTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
+{
+    public function testGenerate()
+    {
+        $result = UUID::gen();
+        $this->assertRegExp('/^[0-9a-z]{8}-[0-9a-z]{4}-[0-9a-z]{4}-[0-9a-z]{4}-[0-9a-z]{12}$/',
+                            $result);
+        // Check version number
+        $this->assertEquals(0x4000, hexdec(substr($result, 14, 4)) & 0xF000);
+        $this->assertEquals(0x8000, hexdec(substr($result, 19, 4)) & 0xC000);
+    }
+}
+