+/**
+ * uci_validate_text: validate a value string for uci options
+ * @str: value
+ *
+ * this function checks whether a given string is acceptable as value
+ * for uci options
+ */
+extern bool uci_validate_text(const char *str);
+
+
+/**
+ * uci_add_hook: add a uci hook
+ * @ctx: uci context
+ * @ops: uci hook ops
+ *
+ * NB: allocated and freed by the caller
+ */
+extern int uci_add_hook(struct uci_context *ctx, const struct uci_hook_ops *ops);
+
+/**
+ * uci_remove_hook: remove a uci hook
+ * @ctx: uci context
+ * @ops: uci hook ops
+ */
+extern int uci_remove_hook(struct uci_context *ctx, const struct uci_hook_ops *ops);
+
+/**
+ * uci_load_plugin: load an uci plugin
+ * @ctx: uci context
+ * @filename: path to the uci plugin
+ *
+ * NB: plugin will be unloaded automatically when the context is freed
+ */
+int uci_load_plugin(struct uci_context *ctx, const char *filename);
+
+/**
+ * uci_load_plugins: load all uci plugins from a directory
+ * @ctx: uci context
+ * @pattern: pattern of uci plugin files (optional)
+ *
+ * if pattern is NULL, then uci_load_plugins will call uci_load_plugin
+ * for uci_*.so in <prefix>/lib/
+ */
+int uci_load_plugins(struct uci_context *ctx, const char *pattern);
+
+/**
+ * uci_parse_ptr: parse a uci string into a uci_ptr
+ * @ctx: uci context
+ * @ptr: target data structure
+ * @str: string to parse
+ *
+ * str is modified by this function
+ */
+int uci_parse_ptr(struct uci_context *ctx, struct uci_ptr *ptr, char *str);
+
+/**
+ * uci_lookup_next: lookup a child element
+ * @ctx: uci context
+ * @e: target element pointer
+ * @list: list of elements
+ * @name: name of the child element
+ *
+ * if parent is NULL, the function looks up the package with the given name
+ */
+int uci_lookup_next(struct uci_context *ctx, struct uci_element **e, struct uci_list *list, const char *name);
+
+/**
+ * uci_parse_section: look up a set of options
+ * @s: uci section
+ * @opts: list of options to look up
+ * @n_opts: number of options to look up
+ * @tb: array of pointers to found options
+ */
+void uci_parse_section(struct uci_section *s, const struct uci_parse_option *opts,
+ int n_opts, struct uci_option **tb);
+
+/**
+ * uci_hash_options: build a hash over a list of options
+ * @tb: list of option pointers
+ * @n_opts: number of options
+ */
+uint32_t uci_hash_options(struct uci_option **tb, int n_opts);
+
+