diff --git a/gdb/Makefile.in b/gdb/Makefile.in
index 2c88434..757fd05 100644
--- a/gdb/Makefile.in
+++ b/gdb/Makefile.in
@@ -1064,7 +1064,7 @@ COMMON_OBS = $(DEPFILES) $(CONFIG_OBS) $(YYOBJ) \
 	ada-typeprint.o c-typeprint.o f-typeprint.o m2-typeprint.o \
 	ada-valprint.o c-valprint.o cp-valprint.o d-valprint.o f-valprint.o \
 	m2-valprint.o \
-	ser-event.o serial.o mdebugread.o top.o utils.o \
+	ser-event.o serial.o mdebugread.o top.o utils.o utils-selftests.o \
 	ui-file.o \
 	user-regs.o \
 	frame.o frame-unwind.o doublest.o \
diff --git a/gdb/common/common-utils.c b/gdb/common/common-utils.c
index 5a346ec..a6035ad 100644
--- a/gdb/common/common-utils.c
+++ b/gdb/common/common-utils.c
@@ -150,6 +150,31 @@ xsnprintf (char *str, size_t size, const char *format, ...)
   return ret;
 }
 
+/* See documentation in common-utils.h.  */
+
+std::string
+string_printf (const char* fmt, ...)
+{
+  va_list vp;
+  int size;
+
+  va_start (vp, fmt);
+  size = vsnprintf (NULL, 0, fmt, vp);
+  va_end (vp);
+
+  std::string str (size, '\0');
+
+  va_start (vp, fmt);
+  /* While only C++11 or later guarantee std::string uses contiguous
+     memory, including the terminating '\0' and that c_str() returns a
+     pointer to the string's mutable data, in practice that's true
+     with all C++03 compilers.  */
+  vsprintf (const_cast<char *> (str.c_str ()), fmt, vp);
+  va_end (vp);
+
+  return str;
+}
+
 char *
 savestring (const char *ptr, size_t len)
 {
diff --git a/gdb/common/common-utils.h b/gdb/common/common-utils.h
index 47def11..a9053ff 100644
--- a/gdb/common/common-utils.h
+++ b/gdb/common/common-utils.h
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@
 #ifndef COMMON_UTILS_H
 #define COMMON_UTILS_H
 
+#include <string>
+
 /* If possible, define FUNCTION_NAME, a macro containing the name of
    the function being defined.  Since this macro may not always be
    defined, all uses must be protected by appropriate macro definition
@@ -56,6 +58,10 @@ char *xstrvprintf (const char *format, va_list ap)
 int xsnprintf (char *str, size_t size, const char *format, ...)
      ATTRIBUTE_PRINTF (3, 4);
 
+/* Returns a std::string built from a printf-style format string.  */
+std::string string_printf (const char* fmt, ...)
+  ATTRIBUTE_PRINTF (1, 2);
+
 /* Make a copy of the string at PTR with LEN characters
    (and add a null character at the end in the copy).
    Uses malloc to get the space.  Returns the address of the copy.  */
diff --git a/gdb/utils-selftests.c b/gdb/utils-selftests.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..482b698
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gdb/utils-selftests.c
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+/* Self tests for general utility routines for GDB, the GNU debugger.
+
+   Copyright (C) 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+
+   This file is part of GDB.
+
+   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
+   (at your option) 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 "defs.h"
+#include "selftest.h"
+
+/* common-utils self tests.  Defined here instead of in
+   common/common-utils.c because that file is shared with
+   gdbserver.  */
+
+static void
+common_utils_tests (void)
+{
+  SELF_CHECK (string_printf ("%s", "") == "");
+  SELF_CHECK (string_printf ("%d comes before 2", 1) == "1 comes before 2");
+  SELF_CHECK (string_printf ("hello %s", "world") == "hello world");
+
+#define X10 "xxxxxxxxxx"
+#define X100 X10 X10 X10 X10 X10 X10 X10 X10 X10 X10
+#define X1000 X100 X100 X100 X100 X100 X100 X100 X100 X100 X100
+#define X10000 X1000 X1000 X1000 X1000 X1000 X1000 X1000 X1000 X1000 X1000
+#define X100000 X10000 X10000 X10000 X10000 X10000 X10000 X10000 X10000 X10000 X10000
+  SELF_CHECK (string_printf ("%s", X10).size () == 10);
+  SELF_CHECK (string_printf ("%s", X100).size () == 100);
+  SELF_CHECK (string_printf ("%s", X1000).size () == 1000);
+  SELF_CHECK (string_printf ("%s", X10000).size () == 10000);
+  SELF_CHECK (string_printf ("%s", X100000).size () == 100000);
+}
+
+void
+_initialize_utils_selftests (void)
+{
+#if GDB_SELF_TEST
+  register_self_test (common_utils_tests);
+#endif
+}
