diff --git a/lib/procinfo.cpp b/lib/procinfo.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9651b60fc3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/procinfo.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+// This file is part of BOINC.
+// http://boinc.berkeley.edu
+// Copyright (C) 2011 University of California
+//
+// BOINC is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+// under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License
+// as published by the Free Software Foundation,
+// either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+//
+// BOINC 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 Lesser General Public License for more details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
+// along with BOINC.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+// platform-independent process-enumeration functions
+
+#ifndef _WIN32
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <sys/wait.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#endif
+
+#include "procinfo.h"
+
+using std::vector;
+
+static void get_descendants_aux(vector<PROCINFO>& piv, int pid, vector<int>& pids) {
+    for (unsigned int i=0; i<pids.size(); i++) {
+        PROCINFO& p = piv[i];
+        if (p.parentid == pid) {
+            pids.push_back(p.id);
+            get_descendants_aux(piv, p.id, pids);
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+// return a list of all descendants of the given process
+//
+void get_descendants(int pid, vector<int>& pids) {
+    int retval;
+    vector<PROCINFO> piv;
+    retval = procinfo_setup(piv);
+    if (retval) return;
+    get_descendants_aux(piv, pid, pids);
+}
+
+
+#ifndef _WIN32
+
+// get resource usage of non-BOINC apps
+//
+void procinfo_other(PROCINFO& pi, vector<PROCINFO>& piv) {
+    unsigned int i;
+
+    memset(&pi, 0, sizeof(pi));
+    for (i=0; i<piv.size(); i++) {
+        PROCINFO& p = piv[i];
+        if (p.is_boinc_app) continue;
+        if (p.is_low_priority) continue;
+
+        pi.kernel_time += p.kernel_time;
+        pi.user_time += p.user_time;
+        pi.swap_size += p.swap_size;
+        pi.working_set_size += p.working_set_size;
+    }
+}
+
+bool any_process_exists(vector<int>& pids) {
+    int status;
+    for (unsigned int i=0; i<pids.size(); i++) {
+        if (waitpid(pids[i], &status, WNOHANG) >= 0) {
+            return true;
+        }
+    }
+    return false;
+}
+
+void kill_all(vector<int>& pids) {
+    for (unsigned int i=0; i<pids.size(); i++) {
+        kill(pids[i], SIGTERM);
+    }
+}
+
+#endif