new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/xstrndup.c
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/* Duplicate a bounded initial segment of a string, with out-of-memory
+   checking.
+   Copyright (C) 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+
+   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, 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.  */
+
+#if HAVE_CONFIG_H
+# include <config.h>
+#endif
+
+/* Specification.  */
+#include "xstrndup.h"
+
+#include "strndup.h"
+#include "xalloc.h"
+
+/* Return a newly allocated copy of at most N bytes of STRING.
+   In other words, return a copy of the initial segment of length N of
+   STRING.  */
+char *
+xstrndup (const char *string, size_t n)
+{
+  char *s = strndup (string, n);
+  if (! s)
+    xalloc_die ();
+  return s;
+}