diff --git a/tests/suites/helpers.function b/tests/suites/helpers.function
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6717292
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/suites/helpers.function
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+int unhexify(unsigned char *obuf, const char *ibuf)
+{
+    unsigned char c, c2;
+    int len = strlen(ibuf) / 2;
+    assert(!(strlen(ibuf) %1)); // must be even number of bytes
+
+    while (*ibuf != 0)
+    {
+        c = *ibuf++;
+        if( c >= '0' && c <= '9' )
+            c -= '0';
+        else if( c >= 'a' && c <= 'f' )
+            c -= 'a' - 10;
+        else if( c >= 'A' && c <= 'F' )
+            c -= 'A' - 10;
+        else
+            assert( 0 );
+
+        c2 = *ibuf++;
+        if( c2 >= '0' && c2 <= '9' )
+            c2 -= '0';
+        else if( c2 >= 'a' && c2 <= 'f' )
+            c2 -= 'a' - 10;
+        else if( c2 >= 'A' && c2 <= 'F' )
+            c2 -= 'A' - 10;
+        else
+            assert( 0 );
+
+        *obuf++ = ( c << 4 ) | c2;
+    }
+
+    return len;
+}
+
+void hexify(unsigned char *obuf, const unsigned char *ibuf, int len)
+{
+    unsigned char l, h;
+
+    while (len != 0)
+    {
+        h = (*ibuf) / 16;
+        l = (*ibuf) % 16;
+
+        if( h < 10 )
+            *obuf++ = '0' + h;
+        else
+            *obuf++ = 'a' + h - 10;
+
+        if( l < 10 )
+            *obuf++ = '0' + l;
+        else
+            *obuf++ = 'a' + l - 10;
+
+        ++ibuf;
+        len--;
+    }
+}