diff --git a/guix/utils.scm b/guix/utils.scm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..69abcb4b55
--- /dev/null
+++ b/guix/utils.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+;;; Guix --- Nix package management from Guile.         -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+;;; Copyright (C) 2012 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;;
+;;; This file is part of Guix.
+;;;
+;;; Guix 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.
+;;;
+;;; Guix 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 Guix.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+(define-module (guix utils)
+  #:use-module (srfi srfi-60)
+  #:use-module (rnrs bytevectors)
+  #:export (bytevector-quintet-length
+            bytevector->base32-string
+            bytevector->nix-base32-string))
+
+(define bytevector-quintet-ref
+  (let* ((ref  bytevector-u8-ref)
+         (ref+ (lambda (bv offset)
+                 (let ((o (+ 1 offset)))
+                   (if (>= o (bytevector-length bv))
+                       0
+                       (bytevector-u8-ref bv o)))))
+         (ref0 (lambda (bv offset)
+                 (bit-field (ref bv offset) 3 8)))
+         (ref1 (lambda (bv offset)
+                 (logior (ash (bit-field (ref bv offset) 0 3) 2)
+                         (bit-field (ref+ bv offset) 6 8))))
+         (ref2 (lambda (bv offset)
+                 (bit-field (ref bv offset) 1 6)))
+         (ref3 (lambda (bv offset)
+                 (logior (ash (bit-field (ref bv offset) 0 1) 4)
+                         (bit-field (ref+ bv offset) 4 8))))
+         (ref4 (lambda (bv offset)
+                 (logior (ash (bit-field (ref bv offset) 0 4) 1)
+                         (bit-field (ref+ bv offset) 7 8))))
+         (ref5 (lambda (bv offset)
+                 (bit-field (ref bv offset) 2 7)))
+         (ref6 (lambda (bv offset)
+                 (logior (ash (bit-field (ref bv offset) 0 2) 3)
+                         (bit-field (ref+ bv offset) 5 8))))
+         (ref7 (lambda (bv offset)
+                 (bit-field (ref bv offset) 0 5)))
+         (refs (vector ref0 ref1 ref2 ref3 ref4 ref5 ref6 ref7)))
+    (lambda (bv index)
+      "Return the INDEXth quintet of BV."
+      (let ((p (vector-ref refs (modulo index 8))))
+        (p bv (quotient (* index 5) 8))))))
+
+(define (bytevector-quintet-length bv)
+  "Return the number of quintets (including truncated ones) available in BV."
+  (ceiling (/ (* (bytevector-length bv) 8) 5)))
+
+(define (bytevector-quintet-fold proc init bv)
+  "Return the result of applying PROC to each quintet of BV and the result of
+the previous application or INIT."
+  (define len
+    (bytevector-quintet-length bv))
+
+  (let loop ((i 0)
+             (r init))
+    (if (= i len)
+        r
+        (loop (1+ i) (proc (bytevector-quintet-ref bv i) r)))))
+
+(define (make-bytevector->base32-string base32-chars)
+  (lambda (bv)
+    "Return a base32 encoding of BV using BASE32-CHARS as the alphabet."
+    (let ((chars (bytevector-quintet-fold (lambda (q r)
+                                            (cons (vector-ref base32-chars q)
+                                                  r))
+                                          '()
+                                          bv)))
+      (list->string (reverse chars)))))
+
+(define %nix-base32-chars
+  ;; See `libutil/hash.cc'.
+  #(#\0 #\1 #\2 #\3 #\4 #\5 #\6 #\7 #\8 #\9
+    #\a #\b #\c #\d #\f #\g #\h #\i #\j #\k #\l #\m #\n
+    #\p #\q #\r #\s #\v #\w #\x #\y #\z))
+
+(define %rfc4648-base32-chars
+  #(#\a #\b #\c #\d #\e #\f #\g #\h #\i #\j #\k #\l #\m
+    #\n #\o #\p #\q #\r #\s #\t #\u #\v #\w #\x #\y #\z
+    #\2 #\3 #\4 #\5 #\6 #\7))
+
+(define bytevector->base32-string
+  (make-bytevector->base32-string %rfc4648-base32-chars))
+
+(define bytevector->nix-base32-string
+  (make-bytevector->base32-string %nix-base32-chars))
diff --git a/tests/utils.scm b/tests/utils.scm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..57705e6f48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/utils.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+;;; Guix --- Nix package management from Guile.         -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+;;; Copyright (C) 2012 Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
+;;;
+;;; This file is part of Guix.
+;;;
+;;; Guix 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.
+;;;
+;;; Guix 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 Guix.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+
+(define-module (test-utils)
+  #:use-module (guix utils)
+  #:use-module (srfi srfi-1)
+  #:use-module (srfi srfi-26)
+  #:use-module (srfi srfi-64)
+  #:use-module (rnrs bytevectors))
+
+(test-begin "utils")
+
+(test-assert "bytevector->base32-string"
+  (fold (lambda (bv expected result)
+          (and result
+               (string=? (bytevector->base32-string bv)
+                         expected)))
+        #t
+
+        ;; Examples from RFC 4648.
+        (map string->utf8 '("" "f" "fo" "foo" "foob" "fooba" "foobar"))
+        '(""
+          "my"
+          "mzxq"
+          "mzxw6"
+          "mzxw6yq"
+          "mzxw6ytb"
+          "mzxw6ytboi")))
+
+(test-end)
+
+
+(exit (= (test-runner-fail-count (test-runner-current)) 0))
+
+;;; Local Variables:
+;;; eval: (put 'test-assert 'scheme-indent-function 1)
+;;; End: