+/**
+ * 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);
+
+