diff --git a/build-aux/list2typedef b/build-aux/list2typedef
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..fdb5c59a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build-aux/list2typedef
@@ -0,0 +1,173 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Generates typedef from list of strings
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2018 R-T Specialty, LLC.
+#
+# 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 .
+##
+
+# store unique names and values to detect collisions
+declare -A _unames=()
+declare -A _uvalues=()
+
+
+# Provide an error and abort if a name or value collision is found
+#
+# This function stores each name and value that it sees each time it is
+# invoked. If a duplicate is found, an error is output and the script
+# terminates.
+#
+# This is important because both values are transformed in a way that
+# the output space is a subset of the input. In the case of names,
+# characters are stripped and replaced; in the case of values, the range
+# of the hash function is determined by the number of bytes desired.
+#
+# Both will cause really bad bugs if left undetected.
+assert-collision()
+{
+ local -r name="${1?Missing name (const)}"
+ local -r value="${2?Missing value (hashed)}"
+
+ test -z "${_unames[$name]}" || {
+ echo "error: name collision: $name" >&2
+ exit 1
+ }
+
+ test -z "${_uvalues[$value]}" || {
+ echo "error: value collision: $name = $value" >&2
+ exit 1
+ }
+
+ _unames["$name"]=1
+ _uvalues["$value"]=1
+}
+
+
+# Generate typedef item from given string
+#
+# An item node will be output with the given string converted to a class
+# (see `constify'); a BYTES-byte decimal integer as the value (see
+# `hash-name'); and the original string as the description.
+output-item()
+{
+ local -r typedef="${1?Missing typedef}"
+ local -ri bytes="${2?Missing byte size}"
+ local name; read -r name
+
+ local -r const=$( constify "$typedef" <<< "$name" )
+ local -r value=$( hash-name "$bytes" <<< "$name" )
+
+ assert-collision "$const" "$value"
+
+ printf ' \n' \
+ "$const" \
+ "$value" \
+ "$name"
+}
+
+
+
+# Convert a string into a constant
+#
+# The returned format will be "TYPE_NAME", where "TYPE" is the typedef
+# converted into uppercase and "NAME" is the string converted into
+# uppercase with all consecutive non-alphanumeric characters converted
+# into an underscore.
+constify()
+{
+ local -r typedef="${1?Missing typedef}"
+ local name; read -r name
+
+ echo -n "${typedef^^}_"
+ sed 's/[^a-zA-Z0-9 ]\+//g;
+ s/ \+/_/g' <<< "${name^^}"
+}
+
+
+# Produce a decimal integer by taking the high BYTES bytes of the SHA256
+# hash of stdin
+#
+# Since the output of sha256sum is hexidecimal, two digits represent a
+# single byte. For example, let BYTES=4: taking the first 8 digits
+# gives us the high 4 bytes (32 bits). Another way to visualize this is
+# to convert a truncated hash to decimal.
+hash-name()
+{
+ local -ri bytes="${1?Missing byte size}"
+ local -ri digits=$(( bytes * 2 ))
+
+ echo $(( 0x$( sha256sum | head -c"$digits" ) ))
+}
+
+
+# Usage information
+#
+# This function terminates the script with EX_USAGE.
+usage()
+{
+ cat <<'EOF'
+Usage: $0 typename [bytes]
+Generate typedef of name TYPENAME using hashed standard input values
+
+Each input line will produce a single typedef item. Each item has a
+decimal value of the high BYTES of its SHA256 hash. If BYTES is not
+provided, it defaults to 4 (32 bits).
+
+Empty lines and lines beginning with a `#' are ignored.
+
+This script checks for collisions of both names and values. If a
+hash collision is found, the number of bytes BYTES must be
+increased or the input string changed. Collisions will immediate
+abort the script with a non-zero exit status.
+EOF
+
+ return 64 # EX_USAGE
+}
+
+
+# Output typedef with hashed values
+main()
+{
+ local -r typedef="${1?Missing typedef}"
+ local -ri bytes="${2:-4}"
+
+ test "$bytes" -gt 0 || {
+ echo 'error: byte count must be greater than 0' >&2
+ usage
+ }
+
+ cat <
+
+
+
+EOF
+
+ while read line; do
+ # ignore empty and comment lines
+ [[ "$line" && ! "$line" =~ ^\# ]] || continue
+
+ output-item "$typedef" "$bytes" <<< "$line"
+ done
+
+ echo ' '
+ echo ' '
+ echo ''
+}
+
+
+test $# -gt 0 || usage || exit
+
+main "$@"
diff --git a/build-aux/test/test-list2typedef b/build-aux/test/test-list2typedef
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..e417c022
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build-aux/test/test-list2typedef
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Test list2typedef
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2018 R-T Specialty, LLC.
+#
+# 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 .
+##
+
+cd "$( dirname "$0" )"
+
+
+# just to ensure that we run all the tests (sum of primes)
+declare -i testsum=0
+
+
+test-typedef-gen()
+{
+ ((testsum += 1))
+
+ # this list should contain characters that are not valid in constants
+ declare -r input='First
+Second'\''s @ @Line
+
+# comment
+!!!THIRD!!!
+'
+
+ declare -r expected='
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+'
+
+ # SUT invocation
+ declare -r given=$( ../list2typedef FooType < <( cat <<< "$input" ) )
+
+ # expected output
+ diff <( cat <<< "$expected" ) <( cat <<< "$given" )
+}
+
+
+test-collision-name-check()
+{
+ ((testsum += 2))
+
+ # different value, but same generated constant
+ local err=$( ../list2typedef Foo 2>&1 >/dev/null <<< '@@@One
+Foo
+!!!One
+' && echo 'EXPECTED FAILURE' )
+
+ [[ "$err" =~ FOO_ONE ]] || {
+ echo 'expecting useful error message for name collion' >&2
+ return 1
+ }
+}
+
+
+test-collision-value-check()
+{
+ ((testsum += 5))
+
+ # we can easily force a collision by reducing the number of bytes to 1 and
+ # calculating hashes from /usr/share/dict/words; this is one example
+ local err=$( ../list2typedef Foo 1 2>&1 >/dev/null <<< 'abacist
+abatis
+' && echo 'EXPECTED FAILURE' )
+
+ [[ "$err" =~ ABATIS && "$err" =~ '44' ]] || {
+ echo 'expecting useful error message for value collion' >&2
+ return 1
+ }
+}
+
+
+test-typedef-gen \
+ && test-collision-name-check \
+ && test-collision-value-check \
+ || {
+ echo 'list2typedef test failed' >&2
+ exit 1
+ }
+
+# safety check
+test "$testsum" -eq 8 || {
+ echo 'error: did not run all list2typedef tests!' >&2
+ exit 1
+}