diff --git a/src/kernel/core/image.c b/src/kernel/core/image.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..16cb383bcd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/kernel/core/image.c
@@ -0,0 +1,180 @@
+/* Loader API for userspace and the kernel
+** 
+** Copyright 2002, Axel Dörfler, axeld@pinc-software.de. All rights reserved.
+** Distributed under the terms of the OpenBeOS License.
+*/
+
+
+// The image API is mostly a wrapper around the ELF loader in the kernel;
+// but it also adds identifying images and the managing part.
+// It might as well support different loaders in the future, loaded as a
+// modules. The ELF loader will be always built-in, though. But the API
+// for those has yet to be defined.
+
+// The image_key structure is used to identify a loaded image.
+// When we should load an image, we first stat() it, and check if
+// we already have loaded that exact image first, by comparing the
+// stat data with the image_key.
+
+typedef struct image_key {
+	dev_t	device;
+	ino_t	inode;
+
+	// ToDo: should we take the 64bit internal BFS time values like BeOS does?
+	time_t	last_modified_time;
+	time_t	create_time;
+	off_t	size;
+};
+
+// team independent structure for images currently loaded by the kernel
+
+typedef struct loaded_image {
+	loaded_image	*next;
+	image_type		type;
+
+	char			name[MAX_SYS_PATH_LEN];
+	image_key		key;
+} image;
+
+
+// team dependent structure for images
+
+typedef struct team_image {
+	team_image		*next;
+	image_id		id;
+	loaded_image	*image;
+
+	int32			sequence;
+	int32			init_order;
+
+	addr			text;
+	addr			data;
+} team_image;
+
+
+hash_table *gImages;
+
+
+static uint32
+image_hash(void *_image, void *_key, uint32 range)
+{
+}
+
+
+static int
+image_compare(void *_image, void *_key)
+{
+	loaded_image *image = (loaded_image *)*_image;
+
+	return !memcpy(&image->key, _key, sizeof(image_key));
+}
+
+
+image_id
+load_image(const char *path)
+{
+	return B_ERROR;
+}
+
+
+status_t
+unload_image(image_id id)
+{
+	return B_ERROR;
+}
+
+
+//	#pragma mark -
+//	Functions exported for the user space
+
+
+status_t
+user_get_image_info(image_id id, image_info *userInfo, size_t size)
+{
+	image_info info;
+
+	if (size != sizeof(image_info))
+		return B_BAD_VALUE;
+
+	if (!CHECK_USER_ADDRESS(userInfo))
+		return B_BAD_ADDRESS;
+
+	// ToDo: do some real work here!
+
+	if (user_memcpy(userInfo, &info, size) < B_OK)
+		return B_BAD_ADDRESS;
+
+	return B_ERROR;
+}
+
+
+status_t
+user_get_next_image_info(team_id teamID, int32 *_cookie, image_info *userInfo, size_t size)
+{
+	image_info info;
+
+	if (size != sizeof(image_info))
+		return B_BAD_VALUE;
+
+	if (!CHECK_USER_ADDRESS(userInfo) || !CHECK_USER_ADDRESS(_cookie))
+		return B_BAD_ADDRESS;
+
+	// ToDo: do some real work here!
+
+	if (user_memcpy(userInfo, &info, size) < B_OK)
+		return B_BAD_ADDRESS;
+
+	return B_ERROR;
+}
+
+
+status_t
+user_get_image_symbol(image_id id, const char *symbolName, int32 symbolType, void **_location)
+{
+	if (!CHECK_USER_ADDRESS(symbolName) || !CHECK_USER_ADDRESS(_location))
+		return B_BAD_ADDRESS;
+
+	return B_ERROR;
+}
+
+
+status_t
+user_get_nth_image_symbol(image_id id, int32 n, char *name, size_t *_nameLength,
+	int32 *_symbolType, void **_location)
+{
+	if (!CHECK_USER_ADDRESS(name)
+		|| !CHECK_USER_ADDRESS(_nameLength)
+		|| !CHECK_USER_ADDRESS(_symbolType)
+		|| !CHECK_USER_ADDRESS(_location))
+		return B_BAD_ADDRESS;
+
+	return B_ERROR;
+}
+
+
+image_id
+user_load_add_on(const char *userPath)
+{
+	if (!CHECK_USER_ADDRESS(userPath))
+		return B_BAD_ADDRESS;
+
+	return B_ERROR;
+}
+
+
+status_t
+user_unload_add_on(image_id id)
+{
+	return B_ERROR;
+}
+
+
+thread_id
+user_load_image(int argc, const char **argv, const char **env)
+{
+	if (!CHECK_USER_ADDRESS(argv) || !CHECK_USER_ADDRESS(env))
+		return B_BAD_ADDRESS;
+
+	return B_ERROR;
+}
+