diff --git a/linphone/console/shell.c b/linphone/console/shell.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..80ee23b29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/linphone/console/shell.c
@@ -0,0 +1,158 @@
+/****************************************************************************
+ *  Copyright (C) 2009  Simon MORLAT <simon.morlat@linphone.org>
+ *
+ ****************************************************************************
+ *
+ * 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., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.
+ *
+ ****************************************************************************/
+
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+
+#ifdef WIN32
+#include <ws2tcpip.h>
+#else
+#include <sys/socket.h>
+#include <netdb.h>
+#endif
+
+#include "ortp/ortp.h"
+
+#define DEFAULT_TCP_PORT "32333"
+#define DEFAULT_REPLY_SIZE 4096
+
+static int send_command(const char *command, const char * port, char *reply, int reply_len, int print_errors){
+	ortp_socket_t sock;
+	struct addrinfo *ai=NULL;
+	struct addrinfo hints;
+	int err;
+	int i;
+	memset(&hints,0,sizeof(hints));
+	hints.ai_family=AF_INET;
+	hints.ai_socktype=SOCK_STREAM;
+	err=getaddrinfo("127.0.0.1",port,&hints,&ai);
+	if (err!=0){
+		if (print_errors) fprintf(stderr,"ERROR: getaddrinfo failed: error %i\n", err);
+		return -1;
+	}
+	sock=socket(PF_INET,SOCK_STREAM,IPPROTO_TCP);
+	if (connect(sock,ai->ai_addr,ai->ai_addrlen)!=0){
+		if (print_errors) fprintf(stderr,"ERROR: Failed to connect socket.\n");
+		freeaddrinfo(ai);
+		return -1;
+	}
+	freeaddrinfo(ai);
+	if (send(sock,command,strlen(command),0)<0){
+		if (print_errors) fprintf(stderr,"ERROR: Fail to send command to remote linphonec\n");
+		close_socket(sock);
+		return -1;
+	}
+	/*wait for replies */
+	i=0;
+	while ((err=recv(sock,&reply[i],reply_len-i-1,0))>0){
+		i+=err;
+	}
+	reply[i]='\0';
+	close_socket(sock);
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static void print_usage(void){
+	fprintf(stderr,"Usage:\nlinphonecsh <action> [arguments]\n"
+			"where action is one of\n"
+			"\tinit     : spawn a linphonec daemon (first step to make other actions)\n"
+			"\t\tfollowed by the arguments sent to linphonec\n"
+			"\tgeneric  : sends a generic command to the running linphonec daemon\n"
+			"\t\tfollowed by the generic command surrounded by quotes, for example \"call sip:joe@example.net\"\n"
+			"\tregister : register with specified proxy\n");
+	exit(-1);
+}
+
+#define MAX_ARGS 10
+
+static void spawn_linphonec(int argc, char *argv[]){
+	char * args[10];
+	int i,j;
+	pid_t pid;
+	j=0;
+	args[j++]="linphonec";
+	args[j++]="--tcp";
+	args[j++]=DEFAULT_TCP_PORT;
+	for(i=0;i<argc;++i){
+		args[j++]=argv[i];
+	}
+	args[j++]=NULL;
+
+	pid = fork();
+	if (pid < 0){
+		fprintf(stderr,"Could not fork\n");
+		exit(-1);
+	}
+	if (pid == 0) {
+		int fd;
+		/*we are the new process*/
+		setsid();
+		
+		fd = open("/dev/null", O_RDWR);
+		if (fd==-1){
+			fprintf(stderr,"Could not open /dev/null\n");
+			exit(-1);
+		}
+		dup2(fd, 0);
+		dup2(fd, 1);
+		dup2(fd, 2);
+		close(fd);
+		
+		if (execvp("linphonec",args)==-1){
+			fprintf(stderr,"Fail to spawn linphonec: %s\n",strerror(errno));
+			exit(-1);
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+static int send_generic_command(const char *command, int print_result){
+	char reply[DEFAULT_REPLY_SIZE];
+	int err;
+	err=send_command(command,DEFAULT_TCP_PORT,reply,sizeof(reply),print_result);
+	if (err==0 && print_result) printf("%s",reply);
+	return err;
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char *argv[]){
+	int argi;
+	if (argc<2){
+		print_usage();
+		return -1;
+	}
+	ortp_init();
+	for(argi=1;argi<argc;++argi){
+		if (strcmp(argv[argi],"init")==0){
+			/*check if there is running instance*/
+			if (send_generic_command("help",0)==0){
+				fprintf(stderr,"A running linphonec has been found, not spawning a second one.\n");
+			}
+			spawn_linphonec(argc-argi-1,&argv[argi+1]);
+			return 0;
+		}else if (strcmp(argv[argi],"generic")==0){
+			if (argi+1<argc){
+				return send_generic_command(argv[argi+1],1);
+			}else print_usage();
+		}
+	}
+  	return 0;
+}