diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index a26f11e01a4a70d33a360bdca11823fd3bc60ab9..378a935f3a179e571491f4cc5071e5a5a71c8700 100755
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -407,6 +407,7 @@ bininstall: all
 	mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(ASTSBINDIR)
 	mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(ASTVARRUNDIR)
 	mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(ASTSPOOLDIR)/voicemail
+	mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(ASTSPOOLDIR)/system
 	mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(ASTSPOOLDIR)/tmp
 	install -m 755 asterisk $(DESTDIR)$(ASTSBINDIR)/
 	install -m 755 contrib/scripts/astgenkey $(DESTDIR)$(ASTSBINDIR)/
diff --git a/app.c b/app.c
index ebda3f7658af6cd7ec7d17736d7ff070ff244699..d740b9d1a777b7fe00a3cb90d3ff832d69a27bc3 100755
--- a/app.c
+++ b/app.c
@@ -1393,3 +1393,37 @@ int ast_ivr_menu_run(struct ast_channel *chan, struct ast_ivr_menu *menu, void *
 		res = 0;
 	return res;
 }
+	
+char *ast_read_textfile(const char *filename)
+{
+	int fd;
+	char *output=NULL;
+	struct stat filesize;
+	int count=0;
+	int res;
+	if(stat(filename,&filesize)== -1){
+		ast_log(LOG_WARNING,"Error can't stat %s\n", filename);
+		return NULL;
+	}
+	count=filesize.st_size + 1;
+	fd = open(filename, O_RDONLY);
+	if (fd < 0) {
+		ast_log(LOG_WARNING, "Cannot open file '%s' for reading: %s\n", filename, strerror(errno));
+		return NULL;
+	}
+	output=(char *)malloc(count);
+	if (output) {
+		res = read(fd, output, count - 1);
+		if (res == count - 1) {
+			output[res] = '\0';
+		} else {
+			ast_log(LOG_WARNING, "Short read of %s (%d of %d): %s\n", filename, res, count -  1, strerror(errno));
+			free(output);
+			output = NULL;
+		}
+	} else 
+		ast_log(LOG_WARNING, "Out of memory!\n");
+	close(fd);
+	return output;
+}
+
diff --git a/apps/Makefile b/apps/Makefile
index 7b527d343b96d727d111029eda7f56836f52cd68..f37aadab766c92c8623be6d2e17cad259c1be0b7 100755
--- a/apps/Makefile
+++ b/apps/Makefile
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ APPS=app_dial.so app_playback.so app_voicemail.so app_directory.so app_mp3.so\
      app_talkdetect.so app_alarmreceiver.so app_userevent.so app_verbose.so \
      app_test.so app_forkcdr.so app_math.so app_realtime.so \
      app_dumpchan.so app_waitforsilence.so app_while.so app_setrdnis.so \
-     app_md5.so
+     app_md5.so app_readfile.so
 
 ifneq (${OSARCH},Darwin)
 ifneq (${OSARCH},SunOS)
diff --git a/apps/app_readfile.c b/apps/app_readfile.c
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..3adc79a9ce5d2cc578b27286044e84e3829ba10c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/app_readfile.c
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+/*
+ * Asterisk -- A telephony toolkit for Linux.
+ *
+ * ReadFile application -- Reads in a File for you.
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2005 Digium, Inc.
+ *
+ * Matt O'Gorman <mogorman@digium.com>
+ *
+ * This program is free software, distributed under the terms of
+ * the GNU General Public License
+ *
+ */
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <asterisk/file.h>
+#include <asterisk/logger.h>
+#include <asterisk/options.h>
+#include <asterisk/channel.h>
+#include <asterisk/pbx.h>
+#include <asterisk/app.h>
+#include <asterisk/module.h>
+
+static char *tdesc = "Stores output of file into a variable";
+
+static char *app_readfile = "ReadFile";
+
+static char *readfile_synopsis = "ReadFile(varname=file,length)";
+
+static char *readfile_descrip =
+"ReadFile(varname=file,length)\n"
+"  Varname - Result stored here.\n"
+"  File - The name of the file to read.\n"
+"  Length   - Maximum number of lines to capture.\n";
+
+STANDARD_LOCAL_USER;
+
+LOCAL_USER_DECL;
+
+
+static int readfile_exec(struct ast_channel *chan, void *data)
+{
+	int res=0;
+	struct localuser *u;
+	char *s, *varname=NULL, *file=NULL, *length=NULL, *returnvar=NULL;
+	int len=0;
+
+
+	s = ast_strdupa(data);
+	if (!s) {
+		ast_log(LOG_ERROR, "Out of memory\n");
+		return -1;
+	}
+
+	varname = strsep(&s, "=");
+	file = strsep(&s, "|");
+	length = s;
+
+	if (!varname || !file) {
+		ast_log(LOG_ERROR, "No file or variable specified!\n");
+		return -1;
+	}
+
+	LOCAL_USER_ADD(u);
+	if (length) {
+		if ((sscanf(length, "%d", &len) != 1) || (len < 0)) {
+			ast_log(LOG_WARNING, "%s is not a positive number, defaulting length to max\n", length);
+			len = 0;
+		}
+	}
+	
+	
+	returnvar = ast_read_textfile(file);
+	if(len > 0){
+		if(len < strlen(returnvar))
+			returnvar[len]='\0';
+		else
+			ast_log(LOG_WARNING,"%s is longer than %i, and %i \n",file,len,strlen(returnvar));
+	}
+	pbx_builtin_setvar_helper(chan, varname, returnvar);
+	free(returnvar);
+	LOCAL_USER_REMOVE(u);
+	return res;
+}
+
+
+int unload_module(void)
+{
+	STANDARD_HANGUP_LOCALUSERS;
+	return ast_unregister_application(app_readfile);
+}
+
+int load_module(void)
+{
+	return ast_register_application(app_readfile, readfile_exec, readfile_synopsis, readfile_descrip);
+}
+
+char *description(void)
+{
+	return tdesc;
+}
+
+int usecount(void)
+{
+	int res;
+	STANDARD_USECOUNT(res);
+	return res;
+}
+
+char *key()
+{
+	return ASTERISK_GPL_KEY;
+}
diff --git a/include/asterisk/app.h b/include/asterisk/app.h
index 222dbaeb4b58e44fc31c18574e37317a1285e222..5dc5fbc51ee1e6a46287c03d0eb74b6aa467c4be 100755
--- a/include/asterisk/app.h
+++ b/include/asterisk/app.h
@@ -132,6 +132,9 @@ int ast_lock_path(const char *path);
 /* Unlock a path */
 int ast_unlock_path(const char *path);
 
+/*Read a file into asterisk*/
+char *ast_read_textfile(const char *file);
+
 #define GROUP_CATEGORY_PREFIX "GROUP"
 
 /*! Split a group string into group and category, returning a default category if none is provided. */