diff --git a/lib/libwebsockets.c b/lib/libwebsockets.c
index 05b2664b..51da8b49 100755
--- a/lib/libwebsockets.c
+++ b/lib/libwebsockets.c
@@ -932,6 +932,21 @@ lws_callback_vhost_protocols(struct lws *wsi, int reason, void *in, int len)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+/**
+ * lws_now_secs() - seconds since 1970-1-1
+ *
+ */
+LWS_VISIBLE LWS_EXTERN unsigned long
+lws_now_secs(void)
+{
+	struct timeval tv;
+
+	gettimeofday(&tv, NULL);
+
+	return tv.tv_sec;
+}
+
+
 #if LWS_POSIX
 
 /**
diff --git a/lib/libwebsockets.h b/lib/libwebsockets.h
index 3b17d453..96829a02 100644
--- a/lib/libwebsockets.h
+++ b/lib/libwebsockets.h
@@ -2231,6 +2231,9 @@ lws_hdr_copy_fragment(struct lws *wsi, char *dest, int len,
 LWS_VISIBLE LWS_EXTERN const char *
 lws_get_urlarg_by_name(struct lws *wsi, const char *name, char *buf, int len);
 
+LWS_VISIBLE LWS_EXTERN unsigned long
+lws_now_secs(void);
+
 
 /* get the active file operations struct */
 LWS_VISIBLE LWS_EXTERN struct lws_plat_file_ops * LWS_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT