diff --git a/common/include/villas/common.h b/common/include/villas/common.h
index 48abb2012..791a4dc2a 100644
--- a/common/include/villas/common.h
+++ b/common/include/villas/common.h
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ enum state {
  */
 typedef int (*dtor_cb_t)(void *);
 
+/** Convert state enum to human readable string. */
+const char * state_print(enum state s);
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif
diff --git a/common/lib/CMakeLists.txt b/common/lib/CMakeLists.txt
index d343cc657..93e135d52 100644
--- a/common/lib/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/common/lib/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ add_library(villas-common SHARED
 	cpuset.cpp
 	terminal.cpp
 	version.cpp
+	common.c
 )
 
 execute_process( 
diff --git a/common/lib/common.c b/common/lib/common.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..31b88d73b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/lib/common.c
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+
+/** Common code.
+ *
+ * @author Steffen Vogel <stvogel@eonerc.rwth-aachen.de>
+ * @copyright 2017-2018, Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems, EONERC
+ * @license GNU General Public License (version 3)
+ *
+ * VILLASnode
+ *
+ * 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 3 of the License, or
+ * 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, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ *********************************************************************************/
+
+#include <villas/common.h>
+
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+const char * state_print(enum state s)
+{
+	switch (s) {
+		case STATE_DESTROYED:
+			return "destroyed";
+			break;
+
+		case STATE_INITIALIZED:
+			return "initialized";
+			break;
+
+		case STATE_PARSED:
+			return "parsed";
+			break;
+
+		case STATE_CHECKED:
+			return "checked";
+			break;
+
+		case STATE_STARTED:
+			return "running";
+			break;
+
+		case STATE_STOPPED:
+			return "stopped";
+			break;
+
+		case STATE_PENDING_CONNECT:
+			return "pending-connect";
+			break;
+
+		case STATE_CONNECTED:
+			return "connected";
+			break;
+
+		case STATE_PAUSED:
+			return "paused";
+			break;
+
+		default:
+			return NULL;
+	}
+}