diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index f937810..245eb6d 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 lib_LTLIBRARIES = libosmocore.la
 
 libosmocore_la_LIBADD = $(BACKTRACE_LIB) $(TALLOC_LIBS) $(LIBRARY_RT)
-libosmocore_la_SOURCES = timer.c timer_gettimeofday.c timer_clockgettime.c \
+libosmocore_la_SOURCES = context.c timer.c timer_gettimeofday.c timer_clockgettime.c \
 			 select.c signal.c msgb.c bits.c \
 			 bitvec.c bitcomp.c counter.c fsm.c \
 			 write_queue.c utils.c socket.c \
diff --git a/src/context.c b/src/context.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bad012b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/context.c
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+/*! \file context.c
+ * talloc context handling.
+ *
+ * (C) 2019 by Harald Welte <laforge@gnumonks.org>
+ * All Rights Reserverd.
+ *
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
+ *
+ *  This program 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 2 of the License, or
+ *  (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ *  This program 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 this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+ *  Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston,
+ *  MA  02110-1301, USA.
+ */
+#include <string.h>
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <osmocom/core/talloc.h>
+#include <osmocom/core/utils.h>
+
+__thread struct osmo_talloc_contexts *osmo_ctx;
+
+int osmo_ctx_init(const char *id)
+{
+	osmo_ctx = talloc_named(NULL, sizeof(*osmo_ctx), "global-%s", id);
+	if (!osmo_ctx)
+		return -ENOMEM;
+	memset(osmo_ctx, 0, sizeof(*osmo_ctx));
+	osmo_ctx->global = osmo_ctx;
+	osmo_ctx->select = talloc_named_const(osmo_ctx->global, 0, "select");
+	if (!osmo_ctx->select) {
+		talloc_free(osmo_ctx);
+		return -ENOMEM;
+	}
+	return 0;
+}
+
+/* initialize osmo_ctx on main tread */
+static __attribute__((constructor)) void on_dso_load_ctx(void)
+{
+	OSMO_ASSERT(osmo_ctx_init("main") == 0);
+}
+
+/*! @} */
diff --git a/src/select.c b/src/select.c
index 7ce135f..394a59d 100644
--- a/src/select.c
+++ b/src/select.c
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@
 #include <osmocom/core/linuxlist.h>
 #include <osmocom/core/timer.h>
 #include <osmocom/core/logging.h>
+#include <osmocom/core/talloc.h>
+#include <osmocom/core/utils.h>
 
 #include "../config.h"
 
@@ -233,11 +235,7 @@
 	return work;
 }
 
-/*! select main loop integration
- *  \param[in] polling should we pollonly (1) or block on select (0)
- *  \returns 0 if no fd handled; 1 if fd handled; negative in case of error
- */
-int osmo_select_main(int polling)
+static int _osmo_select_main(int polling)
 {
 	fd_set readset, writeset, exceptset;
 	int rc;
@@ -259,10 +257,42 @@
 	/* fire timers */
 	osmo_timers_update();
 
+	OSMO_ASSERT(osmo_ctx->select);
+
 	/* call registered callback functions */
 	return osmo_fd_disp_fds(&readset, &writeset, &exceptset);
 }
 
+/*! select main loop integration
+ *  \param[in] polling should we pollonly (1) or block on select (0)
+ *  \returns 0 if no fd handled; 1 if fd handled; negative in case of error
+ */
+int osmo_select_main(int polling)
+{
+	int rc = _osmo_select_main(polling);
+#ifndef EMBEDDED
+	if (talloc_total_size(osmo_ctx->select) != 0) {
+		osmo_panic("You cannot use the 'select' volatile "
+			   "context if you don't use osmo_select_main_ctx()!\n");
+	}
+#endif
+	return rc;
+}
+
+#ifndef EMBEDDED
+/*! select main loop integration with temporary select-dispatch talloc context
+ *  \param[in] polling should we pollonly (1) or block on select (0)
+ *  \returns 0 if no fd handled; 1 if fd handled; negative in case of error
+ */
+int osmo_select_main_ctx(int polling)
+{
+	int rc = _osmo_select_main(polling);
+	/* free all the children of the volatile 'select' scope context */
+	talloc_free_children(osmo_ctx->select);
+	return rc;
+}
+#endif
+
 /*! find an osmo_fd based on the integer fd
  *  \param[in] fd file descriptor to use as search key
  *  \returns \ref osmo_fd for \ref fd; NULL in case it doesn't exist */