diff --git a/include/conf.h b/include/conf.h
index cf88f1bd8..fde91ba24 100644
--- a/include/conf.h
+++ b/include/conf.h
@@ -124,6 +124,8 @@ int snd_config_copy(snd_config_t **dst, snd_config_t *src);
 
 int snd_config_make(snd_config_t **config, const char *key,
 		    snd_config_type_t type);
+int snd_config_make_add(snd_config_t **config, char *id,
+			snd_config_type_t type, snd_config_t *parent);
 int snd_config_make_integer(snd_config_t **config, const char *key);
 int snd_config_make_integer64(snd_config_t **config, const char *key);
 int snd_config_make_real(snd_config_t **config, const char *key);
diff --git a/include/global.h b/include/global.h
index 71a1b12fa..893670045 100644
--- a/include/global.h
+++ b/include/global.h
@@ -153,6 +153,19 @@ typedef struct timeval snd_timestamp_t;
 /** Hi-res timestamp */
 typedef struct timespec snd_htimestamp_t;
 
+/**
+ * \brief Copy a C-string into a sized buffer
+ * \param dst Where to copy the string to
+ * \param src Where to copy the string from
+ * \param size Size of destination buffer
+ * \retval The source string length
+ *
+ * The result is always a valid NUL-terminated string that fits
+ * in the buffer (unless, of course, the buffer size is zero).
+ * It does not pad out the result like strncpy() does.
+ */
+size_t snd_strlcpy(char *dst, const char *src, size_t size);
+
 /** \} */
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus
diff --git a/include/local.h b/include/local.h
index ed6ba9366..9d9deeac6 100644
--- a/include/local.h
+++ b/include/local.h
@@ -236,7 +236,6 @@ int safe_strtol(const char *str, long *val);
 
 int snd_send_fd(int sock, void *data, size_t len, int fd);
 int snd_receive_fd(int sock, void *data, size_t len, int *fd);
-size_t snd_strlcpy(char *dst, const char *src, size_t size);
 
 /*
  * error messages
diff --git a/src/conf.c b/src/conf.c
index 1bcd65c87..1a760b896 100644
--- a/src/conf.c
+++ b/src/conf.c
@@ -2309,6 +2309,47 @@ int snd_config_make(snd_config_t **config, const char *id,
 	return _snd_config_make(config, &id1, type);
 }
 
+/**
+ * \brief Creates a configuration node and add it to the parent node.
+ * \param[out] config The function puts the handle to the new node at
+ *                    the address specified by \a config.
+ * \param[in] id The id of the new node.
+ * \param[in] type The type of the new node.
+ * \param[in] parent handle for the parent node.
+ * \return Zero if successful, otherwise a negative error code.
+ *
+ * This functions creates a new node of the specified type.
+ * The new node has id \a id, which may be \c NULL.
+ * and adds it to the parent node.
+ *
+ * The value of the new node is zero (for numbers), or \c NULL (for
+ * strings and pointers), or empty (for compound nodes).
+ *
+ * \par Errors:
+ * <dl>
+ * <dt>-ENOMEM<dd>Out of memory.
+ * </dl>
+ */
+int snd_config_make_add(snd_config_t **config, char *id,
+		    snd_config_type_t type, snd_config_t *parent)
+{
+	char *id1;
+	int ret;
+
+	assert(config);
+	if (id) {
+		id1 = strdup(id);
+		if (!id1)
+			return -ENOMEM;
+	} else
+		id1 = NULL;
+	ret = _snd_config_make(config, &id1, type);
+	if (ret < 0)
+		return ret;
+
+	return snd_config_add(parent, *config);
+}
+
 /**
  * \brief Creates an integer configuration node.
  * \param[out] config The function puts the handle to the new node at