diff --git a/include/villas/utils.h b/include/villas/utils.h
index 164ce0d96..8a1089825 100644
--- a/include/villas/utils.h
+++ b/include/villas/utils.h
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 #include <signal.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
 
+#include <openssl/sha.h>
+
 #include "log.h"
 
 #ifdef __GNUC__
@@ -229,3 +231,10 @@ void rdtsc_sleep(uint64_t nanosecs, uint64_t start);
 
 /** Register a exit callback for program termination (SIGINT / SIGKILL). */
 void signals_init(void (*cb)(int signal, siginfo_t *sinfo, void *ctx));
+
+/** Calculate SHA1 hash of complete file \p f and place it into \p sha1.
+ * 
+ * @param sha1[out] Must be SHA_DIGEST_LENGTH (20) in size.
+ * @retval 0 Everything was okay.
+ */
+int sha1sum(FILE *f, unsigned char *sha1);
diff --git a/lib/Makefile.inc b/lib/Makefile.inc
index b35a12e26..84ae00d09 100644
--- a/lib/Makefile.inc
+++ b/lib/Makefile.inc
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ LIB_LDLIBS  = $(LDLIBS) -ldl -lrt
 -include lib/apis/Makefile.inc
 -include lib/fpga/Makefile.inc
 
+LIB_PKGS = openssl
+
 ######## Node types ########
 
 # Enable Socket node type when libnl3 is available
diff --git a/lib/utils.c b/lib/utils.c
index 05848b065..8732a3335 100644
--- a/lib/utils.c
+++ b/lib/utils.c
@@ -350,4 +350,25 @@ void signals_init(void (*cb)(int signal, siginfo_t *sinfo, void *ctx))
 	sigemptyset(&sa_quit.sa_mask);
 	sigaction(SIGINT, &sa_quit, NULL);
 	sigaction(SIGTERM, &sa_quit, NULL);
+}
+
+int sha1sum(FILE *f, unsigned char *sha1)
+{
+	SHA_CTX c;
+	char buf[512];
+	ssize_t bytes;
+	
+	rewind(f); /* Rewind the file in order to calculate over the whole file. */
+
+	SHA1_Init(&c);
+
+	bytes = fread(buf, 1, 512, f);
+	while (bytes > 0) {
+		SHA1_Update(&c, buf, bytes);
+		bytes = fread(buf, 1, 512, f);
+	}
+
+	SHA1_Final(sha1, &c);
+
+	return 0;
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/utils.c b/tests/utils.c
index 552099757..688d3ff70 100644
--- a/tests/utils.c
+++ b/tests/utils.c
@@ -59,4 +59,27 @@ Test(utils, version)
 	cr_assert_eq(version_cmp(&v1, &v1), 0);
 	cr_assert_gt(version_cmp(&v2, &v1), 0);
 	cr_assert_lt(version_cmp(&v3, &v4), 0);
+}
+
+Test(utils, sha1sum)
+{
+	int ret;
+	FILE *f = tmpfile();
+	
+	unsigned char     hash[SHA_DIGEST_LENGTH];
+	unsigned char expected[SHA_DIGEST_LENGTH] = { 0x69, 0xdf, 0x29, 0xdf, 0x1f, 0xf2, 0xd2, 0x5d, 0xb8, 0x68, 0x6c, 0x02, 0x8d, 0xdf, 0x40, 0xaf, 0xb3, 0xc1, 0xc9, 0x4d };
+	
+	/* Write the first 512 fibonaccia numbers to the file */
+	for (int i = 0, a = 0, b = 1, c; i < 512; i++, a = b, b = c) {
+		c = a + b;
+		
+		fwrite((void *) &c, sizeof(c), 1, f);
+	}
+
+	ret = sha1sum(f, hash);
+
+	cr_assert_eq(ret, 0);
+	cr_assert_arr_eq(hash, expected, SHA_DIGEST_LENGTH);
+
+	fclose(f);
 }
\ No newline at end of file