diff --git a/common/Makefile.am b/common/Makefile.am
index 6f9d96d9a..759800bab 100644
--- a/common/Makefile.am
+++ b/common/Makefile.am
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ module_tests = t-stringhelp t-timestuff \
t-mapstrings t-zb32 t-mbox-util t-iobuf t-strlist \
t-name-value t-ccparray t-recsel
if !HAVE_W32CE_SYSTEM
-module_tests += t-exechelp
+module_tests += t-exechelp t-exectool
endif
if HAVE_W32_SYSTEM
module_tests += t-w32-reg
@@ -196,6 +196,7 @@ t_helpfile_LDADD = $(t_common_ldadd)
t_sexputil_LDADD = $(t_common_ldadd)
t_b64_LDADD = $(t_common_ldadd)
t_exechelp_LDADD = $(t_common_ldadd)
+t_exectool_LDADD = $(t_common_ldadd)
t_session_env_LDADD = $(t_common_ldadd)
t_openpgp_oid_LDADD = $(t_common_ldadd)
t_ssh_utils_LDADD = $(t_common_ldadd)
diff --git a/common/t-exectool.c b/common/t-exectool.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bbbf8fab5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/t-exectool.c
@@ -0,0 +1,223 @@
+/* t-exectool.c - Module test for exectool.c
+ * Copyright (C) 2016 g10 Code GmbH
+ *
+ * This file is part of GnuPG.
+ *
+ * GnuPG 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 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * GnuPG 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, see .
+ */
+
+#include
+#include
+#include
+#include
+#include
+#include
+
+#include "util.h"
+#include "exectool.h"
+
+static int verbose;
+
+#define fail(msg, err) \
+ do { fprintf (stderr, "%s:%d: %s failed: %s\n", \
+ __FILE__,__LINE__, (msg), gpg_strerror (err)); \
+ exit (1); \
+ } while(0)
+
+static void
+test_executing_true (void)
+{
+ gpg_error_t err;
+ const char *argv[] = { "/bin/true", NULL };
+ char *result;
+ size_t len;
+
+ if (access (argv[0], X_OK))
+ {
+ fprintf (stderr, "skipping test: %s not executable: %s",
+ argv[0], strerror (errno));
+ return;
+ }
+
+ if (verbose)
+ fprintf (stderr, "Executing %s...\n", argv[0]);
+
+ err = gnupg_exec_tool (argv[0], &argv[1], "", &result, &len);
+ if (err)
+ fail ("gnupg_exec_tool", err);
+
+ assert (result);
+ assert (len == 0);
+ free (result);
+}
+
+static void
+test_executing_false (void)
+{
+ gpg_error_t err;
+ const char *argv[] = { "/bin/false", NULL };
+ char *result;
+ size_t len;
+
+ if (access (argv[0], X_OK))
+ {
+ fprintf (stderr, "skipping test: %s not executable: %s",
+ argv[0], strerror (errno));
+ return;
+ }
+
+ if (verbose)
+ fprintf (stderr, "Executing %s...\n", argv[0]);
+
+ err = gnupg_exec_tool (argv[0], &argv[1], "", &result, &len);
+ assert (err == GPG_ERR_GENERAL);
+}
+
+static void
+test_executing_cat (const char *vector)
+{
+ gpg_error_t err;
+ const char *argv[] = { "/bin/cat", NULL };
+ char *result;
+ size_t len;
+
+ if (access (argv[0], X_OK))
+ {
+ fprintf (stderr, "skipping test: %s not executable: %s",
+ argv[0], strerror (errno));
+ return;
+ }
+
+ if (verbose)
+ fprintf (stderr, "Executing %s...\n", argv[0]);
+
+ err = gnupg_exec_tool (argv[0], &argv[1], vector, &result, &len);
+ if (err)
+ fail ("gnupg_exec_tool", err);
+
+ assert (result);
+
+ /* gnupg_exec_tool returns the correct length... */
+ assert (len == strlen (vector));
+ /* ... but 0-terminates data for ease of use. */
+ assert (result[len] == 0);
+
+ assert (strcmp (result, vector) == 0);
+ free (result);
+}
+
+
+static void
+test_catting_cat (void)
+{
+ gpg_error_t err;
+ const char *argv[] = { "/bin/cat", "/bin/cat", NULL };
+ char *result;
+ size_t len;
+ estream_t in;
+ char *reference, *p;
+ size_t reference_len;
+
+ if (access (argv[0], X_OK))
+ {
+ fprintf (stderr, "skipping test: %s not executable: %s",
+ argv[0], strerror (errno));
+ return;
+ }
+
+ in = es_fopen (argv[1], "r");
+ if (in == NULL)
+ {
+ fprintf (stderr, "skipping test: could not open %s: %s",
+ argv[1], strerror (errno));
+ return;
+ }
+
+ err = es_fseek (in, 0L, SEEK_END);
+ if (err)
+ {
+ fprintf (stderr, "skipping test: could not seek in %s: %s",
+ argv[1], gpg_strerror (err));
+ return;
+ }
+
+ reference_len = es_ftell (in);
+ err = es_fseek (in, 0L, SEEK_SET);
+ assert (!err || !"rewinding failed");
+
+ reference = malloc (reference_len);
+ assert (reference || !"allocating reference buffer failed");
+
+ for (p = reference; p - reference < reference_len; )
+ {
+ size_t bytes_read, left;
+ left = reference_len - (p - reference);
+ if (left > 4096)
+ left = 4096;
+ err = es_read (in, p, left, &bytes_read);
+ if (err)
+ {
+ fprintf (stderr, "error reading %s: %s",
+ argv[1], gpg_strerror (err));
+ exit (1);
+ }
+
+ p += bytes_read;
+ }
+ es_fclose (in);
+
+ if (verbose)
+ fprintf (stderr, "Executing %s %s...\n", argv[0], argv[1]);
+
+ err = gnupg_exec_tool (argv[0], &argv[1], "", &result, &len);
+ if (err)
+ fail ("gnupg_exec_tool", err);
+
+ assert (result);
+
+ /* gnupg_exec_tool returns the correct length... */
+ assert (len == reference_len);
+ assert (memcmp (result, reference, reference_len) == 0);
+ free (reference);
+ free (result);
+}
+
+
+int
+main (int argc, char **argv)
+{
+ int i;
+ char binjunk[256];
+
+ if (argc)
+ { argc--; argv++; }
+ if (argc && !strcmp (argv[0], "--verbose"))
+ {
+ verbose = 1;
+ argc--; argv++;
+ }
+
+ test_executing_true ();
+ test_executing_false ();
+ test_executing_cat ("Talking to myself here...");
+
+ for (i = 0; i < 255 /* one less */; i++)
+ binjunk[i] = i + 1; /* avoid 0 */
+ binjunk[255] = 0;
+
+ test_executing_cat (binjunk);
+ test_catting_cat ();
+
+ return 0;
+}