diff --git a/headers/private/shared/ArgumentVector.h b/headers/private/shared/ArgumentVector.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0b32a8743d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/headers/private/shared/ArgumentVector.h
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2007-2012, Ingo Weinhold, ingo_weinhold@gmx.de.
+ * Distributed under the terms of the MIT License.
+ */
+#ifndef _ARGUMENT_VECTOR_H
+#define _ARGUMENT_VECTOR_H
+
+
+#include <SupportDefs.h>
+
+
+namespace BPrivate {
+
+
+class ArgumentVector {
+public:
+	enum ParseError {
+		NO_ERROR,
+		NO_MEMORY,
+		UNTERMINATED_QUOTED_STRING,
+		TRAILING_BACKSPACE
+	};
+
+public:
+								ArgumentVector();
+								~ArgumentVector();
+
+			int32				ArgumentCount() const	{ return fCount; }
+			const char* const*	Arguments() const		{ return fArguments; }
+
+			char**				DetachArguments();
+				// Caller must free() -- it's all one big allocation at the
+				// returned pointer.
+
+			ParseError			Parse(const char* commandLine,
+									const char** _errorLocation = NULL);
+
+private:
+			struct Parser;
+
+private:
+			char**				fArguments;
+			int32				fCount;
+};
+
+
+} // namespace BPrivate
+
+
+using BPrivate::ArgumentVector;
+
+
+#endif	// _ARGUMENT_VECTOR_H
diff --git a/src/kits/shared/ArgumentVector.cpp b/src/kits/shared/ArgumentVector.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c678f5de7c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/kits/shared/ArgumentVector.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,203 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2007-2012, Ingo Weinhold, ingo_weinhold@gmx.de.
+ * Distributed under the terms of the MIT License.
+ */
+
+
+#include <ArgumentVector.h>
+
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+#include <string>
+#include <vector>
+
+
+struct ArgumentVector::Parser {
+	ParseError Parse(const char* commandLine, const char*& _errorLocation)
+	{
+		// init temporary arg/argv storage
+		fCurrentArg.clear();
+		fCurrentArgStarted = false;
+		fArgVector.clear();
+		fTotalStringSize = 0;
+
+		for (; *commandLine; commandLine++) {
+			char c = *commandLine;
+
+			// whitespace delimits args and is otherwise ignored
+			if (isspace(c)) {
+				_PushCurrentArg();
+				continue;
+			}
+
+			const char* errorBase = commandLine;
+
+			switch (c) {
+				case '\'':
+					// quoted string -- no quoting
+					while (*++commandLine != '\'') {
+						c = *commandLine;
+						if (c == '\0') {
+							_errorLocation = errorBase;
+							return UNTERMINATED_QUOTED_STRING;
+						}
+						_PushCharacter(c);
+					}
+					break;
+
+				case '"':
+					// quoted string -- some quoting
+					while (*++commandLine != '"') {
+						c = *commandLine;
+						if (c == '\0') {
+							_errorLocation = errorBase;
+							return UNTERMINATED_QUOTED_STRING;
+						}
+
+						if (c == '\\') {
+							c = *++commandLine;
+							if (c == '\0') {
+								_errorLocation = errorBase;
+								return UNTERMINATED_QUOTED_STRING;
+							}
+
+							// only '\' and '"' can be quoted, otherwise the
+							// the '\' is treated as a normal char
+							if (c != '\\' && c != '"')
+								_PushCharacter('\\');
+						}
+
+						_PushCharacter(c);
+					}
+					break;
+
+				case '\\':
+					// quoted char
+					c = *++commandLine;
+					if (c == '\0') {
+						_errorLocation = errorBase;
+						return TRAILING_BACKSPACE;
+					}
+					_PushCharacter(c);
+					break;
+
+				default:
+					// normal char
+					_PushCharacter(c);
+					break;
+			}
+		}
+
+		// commit last arg
+		_PushCurrentArg();
+
+		return NO_ERROR;
+	}
+
+	const std::vector<std::string>& ArgVector() const
+	{
+		return fArgVector;
+	}
+
+	size_t TotalStringSize() const
+	{
+		return fTotalStringSize;
+	}
+
+private:
+	void _PushCurrentArg()
+	{
+		if (fCurrentArgStarted) {
+			fArgVector.push_back(fCurrentArg);
+			fTotalStringSize += fCurrentArg.length() + 1;
+			fCurrentArgStarted = false;
+		}
+	}
+
+	void _PushCharacter(char c)
+	{
+		if (!fCurrentArgStarted) {
+			fCurrentArg = "";
+			fCurrentArgStarted = true;
+		}
+
+		fCurrentArg += c;
+	}
+
+private:
+	// temporaries
+	std::string					fCurrentArg;
+	bool						fCurrentArgStarted;
+	std::vector<std::string>	fArgVector;
+	size_t						fTotalStringSize;
+};
+
+
+ArgumentVector::ArgumentVector()
+	:
+	fArguments(NULL),
+	fCount(0)
+{
+}
+
+
+ArgumentVector::~ArgumentVector()
+{
+	free(fArguments);
+}
+
+
+char**
+ArgumentVector::DetachArguments()
+{
+	char** arguments = fArguments;
+	fArguments = NULL;
+	fCount = 0;
+	return arguments;
+}
+
+
+ArgumentVector::ParseError
+ArgumentVector::Parse(const char* commandLine, const char** _errorLocation)
+{
+	free(DetachArguments());
+
+	ParseError error;
+	const char* errorLocation = commandLine;
+
+	try {
+		Parser parser;
+		error = parser.Parse(commandLine, errorLocation);
+
+		if (error == NO_ERROR) {
+			// Create a char* array and copy everything into a single
+			// allocation.
+			int count = parser.ArgVector().size();
+			size_t arraySize = (count + 1) * sizeof(char*);
+			fArguments = (char**)malloc(
+				arraySize + parser.TotalStringSize());
+			if (fArguments != 0) {
+				char* argument = (char*)(fArguments + count + 1);
+				for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
+					fArguments[i] = argument;
+					const std::string& sourceArgument = parser.ArgVector()[i];
+					size_t argumentSize = sourceArgument.length() + 1;
+					memcpy(argument, sourceArgument.c_str(), argumentSize);
+					argument += argumentSize;
+				}
+
+				fArguments[count] = NULL;
+				fCount = count;
+			} else
+				error = NO_MEMORY;
+		}
+	} catch (...) {
+		error = NO_MEMORY;
+	}
+
+	if (error != NO_ERROR && _errorLocation != NULL)
+		*_errorLocation = errorLocation;
+
+	return error;
+}
diff --git a/src/kits/shared/Jamfile b/src/kits/shared/Jamfile
index d56a8b6fe2..8992caa24f 100644
--- a/src/kits/shared/Jamfile
+++ b/src/kits/shared/Jamfile
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ UsePrivateHeaders kernel libroot ;
 StaticLibrary libshared.a :
 	AboutMenuItem.cpp
 	AboutWindow.cpp
+	ArgumentVector.cpp
 	CalendarView.cpp
 	ColorQuantizer.cpp
 	CommandPipe.cpp