diff --git a/utils/Makefile.am b/utils/Makefile.am
index d4999bd..fb79190 100644
--- a/utils/Makefile.am
+++ b/utils/Makefile.am
@@ -5,12 +5,16 @@
 
 EXTRA_DIST = conv_gen.py conv_codes_gsm.py
 
-bin_PROGRAMS = osmo-arfcn osmo-auc-gen
+bin_PROGRAMS = osmo-arfcn osmo-auc-gen osmo-config-merge
 
 osmo_arfcn_SOURCES = osmo-arfcn.c
 
 osmo_auc_gen_SOURCES = osmo-auc-gen.c
 
+osmo_config_merge_SOURCES = osmo-config-merge.c
+osmo_config_merge_LDADD = $(LDADD) $(TALLOC_LIBS)
+osmo_config_merge_CFLAGS = $(TALLOC_CFLAGS)
+
 if ENABLE_PCSC
 noinst_PROGRAMS = osmo-sim-test
 osmo_sim_test_SOURCES = osmo-sim-test.c
diff --git a/utils/osmo-config-merge.c b/utils/osmo-config-merge.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..131486c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/osmo-config-merge.c
@@ -0,0 +1,266 @@
+/*! \file osmo-config-merge.c
+ * Utility program for merging config files with patches */
+/*
+ * (C) 2018 by Harald Welte <laforge@gnumonks.org>
+ *
+ * All Rights Reserved
+ *
+ * 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.
+ *
+ */
+
+/*
+    This utility allows you to merge an incremental config "patch"
+    into an osmocom-style config file.
+
+    The patch file follows the same syntax as the original config file.
+
+    It works by appending the leaf nodes of the patch file to the respective
+    nodes of the input config file.
+
+    This process allows configuration file changes/updates to be performed
+    in a more stable/reliable way than by means of [unified] diff files,
+    as they break every time the context lines break.
+
+    osmo-config-merge doesn't suffer from this problem, as it understands
+    the tree-like nature of VTY config files.
+
+    NITE: This only works with configuration files that have proper
+    indenting, i.e. every level in the hierarchy must be indented excatly
+    one character, not multiple.
+ */
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+#include <osmocom/core/linuxlist.h>
+#include <osmocom/core/talloc.h>
+#include <osmocom/core/utils.h>
+
+struct node {
+	struct node *parent;		/* back-pointer */
+	struct llist_head list;		/* part of parent->children */
+	struct llist_head children;	/* our own children */
+	char *line;
+};
+
+/* allocate a new node */
+static struct node *node_alloc(void *ctx)
+{
+	struct node *node = talloc_zero(ctx, struct node);
+	OSMO_ASSERT(node);
+	INIT_LLIST_HEAD(&node->children);
+	return node;
+}
+
+/* allocate a new node as child of given parent */
+static struct node *node_alloc_child(struct node *parent)
+{
+	struct node *node = node_alloc(parent);
+	node->parent = parent;
+	llist_add_tail(&node->list, &parent->children);
+	return node;
+}
+
+/* find a given child specified by name/line string within given parent */
+static struct node *node_find_child(struct node *parent, const char *line)
+{
+	struct node *n;
+
+	llist_for_each_entry(n, &parent->children, list) {
+		if (!strcmp(line, n->line))
+			return n;
+	}
+	return NULL;
+}
+
+/* count the number of spaces / indent level */
+static int count_indent(const char *line)
+{
+	int i;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < strlen(line); i++) {
+		if (line[i] != ' ')
+			return i;
+	}
+	return i;
+}
+
+/* strip any triling CR / LF */
+static void chomp(char *line)
+{
+	while (1) {
+		int len = strlen(line);
+		if (len == 0)
+			return;
+		char *lastch = &line[len-1];
+		switch (*lastch) {
+		case '\n':
+		case '\r':
+			*lastch = '\0';
+		default:
+			return;
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+/* read a config file and parse it into a tree of nodes */
+static struct node *file_read(void *ctx, const char *fname)
+{
+	struct node *root, *last;
+	FILE *infile;
+	char line[1024];
+	int cur_indent = -1;
+	unsigned int line_num = 0;
+
+	infile = fopen(fname, "r");
+	if (!infile)
+		return NULL;
+
+	root = node_alloc(ctx);
+	last = root;
+	while (fgets(line, sizeof(line), infile)) {
+		line_num++;
+		chomp(line);
+		int indent = count_indent(line);
+		struct node *n;
+		if (indent > cur_indent) {
+			if (indent > cur_indent+1) {
+				fprintf(stderr, "File '%s' isn't well-formed in line %u, aborting!\n",
+					fname, line_num);
+				exit(2);
+			}
+			/* new child to last node */
+			n = node_alloc_child(last);
+		} else if (indent < cur_indent) {
+			for (int i = 0; i < cur_indent - indent; i++) {
+				/* go to parent, add another sibling */
+				if (last->parent)
+					last = last->parent;
+			}
+			n = node_alloc_child(last->parent);
+		} else {
+			/* add a new sibling (child of parent) */
+			n = node_alloc_child(last->parent);
+		}
+		n->line = talloc_strdup(n, line);
+
+		last = n;
+		cur_indent = indent;
+	}
+
+	return root;
+}
+
+static void append_patch(struct node *cfg, struct node *patch)
+{
+	struct node *n;
+
+	llist_for_each_entry(n, &patch->children, list) {
+		if (llist_empty(&n->children)) {
+			struct node *t;
+			/* we are an end-node, i.e. something that needs to be
+			 * patched into the original tree.  We do this by simply
+			 * appending it to the list of siblings */
+			t = node_alloc_child(cfg);
+			t->line = talloc_strdup(t, n->line);
+		} else {
+			struct node *c;
+			/* we need to iterate / recurse further */
+
+			/* try to find the matching original node */
+			c = node_find_child(cfg, n->line);
+			if (!c) {
+				/* create it, if it's missing */
+				c = node_alloc_child(cfg);
+				c->line = talloc_strdup(c, n->line);
+			}
+			append_patch(c, n);
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+
+static int level = -1;
+
+static void dump_node(struct node *root, FILE *out, bool print_node_depth)
+{
+	struct node *n;
+	level++;
+
+	if (root->line) {
+		if (print_node_depth) {
+			for (int i = 0; i < level; i++)
+				fputc('*', out);
+		}
+
+		fprintf(out, "%s\n", root->line);
+	}
+
+	llist_for_each_entry(n, &root->children, list) {
+		dump_node(n, out, print_node_depth);
+	}
+	level--;
+}
+
+static void exit_usage(int rc)
+{
+	fprintf(stderr, "Usage: osmo-config-merge <config-file> <config-patch> [--debug]\n");
+	exit(rc);
+}
+
+
+int main(int argc, char **argv)
+{
+	const char *base_fname, *patch_fname;
+	struct node *base_tree, *patch_tree;
+	bool debug_enabled = false;
+
+	void *ctx = talloc_named_const(NULL, 0, "root");
+
+	if (argc < 3)
+		exit_usage(1);
+
+	base_fname = argv[1];
+	patch_fname = argv[2];
+
+	if (argc > 3) {
+		if (!strcmp(argv[3], "--debug"))
+			debug_enabled = true;
+		else
+			exit_usage(1);
+	}
+
+	base_tree = file_read(ctx, base_fname);
+	patch_tree = file_read(ctx, patch_fname);
+
+	if (debug_enabled) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "====== dumping tree (base)\n");
+		dump_node(base_tree, stderr, true);
+		fprintf(stderr, "====== dumping tree (patch)\n");
+		dump_node(patch_tree, stderr, true);
+	}
+
+	append_patch(base_tree, patch_tree);
+
+	if (debug_enabled)
+		fprintf(stderr, "====== dumping tree (patched)\n");
+	dump_node(base_tree, stdout, false);
+	fflush(stdout);
+
+	/* make AddressSanitizer / LeakSanitizer happy by recursively freeing the trees */
+	talloc_free(patch_tree);
+	talloc_free(base_tree);
+}