diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 5b182f9d..fefd43d0 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -3,5 +3,6 @@ members = [
     "proxmox-tools",
     "proxmox-api",
     "proxmox-api-macro",
+    "proxmox-sys",
     "proxmox",
 ]
diff --git a/proxmox-sys/Cargo.toml b/proxmox-sys/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2f575e0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/proxmox-sys/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+[package]
+name = "proxmox-sys"
+edition = "2018"
+version = "0.1.0"
+authors = [
+    "Dietmar Maurer <dietmar@proxmox.com>",
+    "Wolfgang Bumiller <w.bumiller@proxmox.com>",
+]
+
+[dependencies]
+failure = "0.1"
+libc = "0.2"
+nix = "0.13"
+proxmox-tools = { path = "../proxmox-tools" }
+
+# Docs should be able to reference the proxmox crate.
+[dev-dependencies]
+proxmox = { path = "../proxmox" }
diff --git a/proxmox-sys/src/lib.rs b/proxmox-sys/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..08b9341e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/proxmox-sys/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+//! This is a system utility crate used by all our rust projects.
+
+
+pub mod linux;
diff --git a/proxmox-sys/src/linux.rs b/proxmox-sys/src/linux.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e1ca7416
--- /dev/null
+++ b/proxmox-sys/src/linux.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+//! Linux specific helpers and syscall wrapper
+
+use failure::*;
+use proxmox_tools as tools;
+
+/// Get pseudo random data (/dev/urandom)
+pub fn random_data(size: usize) -> Result<Vec<u8>, Error> {
+
+    let mut buffer = tools::vec::undefined(size);
+    fill_with_random_data(&mut buffer)?;
+
+    Ok(buffer)
+}
+
+/// Fill buffer with pseudo random data (/dev/urandom)
+///
+/// This code uses the Linux syscall getrandom() - see "man 2 getrandom".
+pub fn fill_with_random_data(buffer: &mut [u8]) -> Result<(), Error> {
+
+    let res = unsafe {
+        libc::syscall(
+            libc::SYS_getrandom,
+            buffer.as_mut_ptr(),
+            buffer.len() as libc::size_t,
+            0 as libc::c_uint,
+        )
+    };
+
+    if res == -1 {
+        return Err(std::io::Error::last_os_error().into());
+    }
+
+    if res as usize != buffer.len() { // should not happen
+        bail!("short getrandom read");
+    }
+
+    Ok(())
+}
diff --git a/proxmox/Cargo.toml b/proxmox/Cargo.toml
index 441f7e34..0906b6c6 100644
--- a/proxmox/Cargo.toml
+++ b/proxmox/Cargo.toml
@@ -11,3 +11,4 @@ authors = [
 proxmox-api = { path = "../proxmox-api" }
 proxmox-api-macro = { path = "../proxmox-api-macro" }
 proxmox-tools = { path = "../proxmox-tools" }
+proxmox-sys = { path = "../proxmox-sys" }
diff --git a/proxmox/src/lib.rs b/proxmox/src/lib.rs
index c2124297..91244374 100644
--- a/proxmox/src/lib.rs
+++ b/proxmox/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 pub use proxmox_tools as tools;
+pub use proxmox_sys as sys;
 
 // Both `proxmox_api` and the 2 macros from `proxmox_api_macro` should be
 // exposed via `proxmox::api`.