diff --git a/Git/LockFile.hs b/Git/LockFile.hs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ce04ec90a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Git/LockFile.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+{- git lock files
+ -
+ - Copyright 2016 Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>
+ -
+ - Licensed under the GNU GPL version 3 or higher.
+ -}
+
+{-# LANGUAGE CPP #-}
+
+module Git.LockFile where
+
+import Common
+
+#ifndef mingw32_HOST_OS
+import System.Posix.Types
+#else
+import System.Win32.Types
+import System.Win32.File
+#endif
+
+#ifndef mingw32_HOST_OS
+data LockHandle = LockHandle FilePath Fd
+#else
+data LockHandle = LockHandle FilePath HANDLE
+#endif
+
+{- Uses the same exclusive locking that git does.
+ - Throws an IO exception if the file is already locked.
+ -
+ - Note that git's locking method suffers from the problem that
+ - a dangling lock can be left if a process is terminated at the wrong
+ - time.
+ -}
+openLock :: FilePath -> IO LockHandle
+openLock lck = do
+#ifndef mingw32_HOST_OS
+	-- On unix, git simply uses O_EXCL
+	h <- openFd lck ReadWrite (Just 0O666)
+		(defaultFileFlags { exclusive = True })
+	setFdOption h CloseOnExec True
+#else
+	-- It's not entirely clear how git manages locking on Windows,
+	-- since it's buried in the portability layer, and different
+	-- versions of git for windows use different portability layers.
+	-- But, we can be fairly sure that holding the lock file open on
+	-- windows is enough to prevent another process from opening it.
+	--
+	-- So, all that's needed is a way to open the file, that fails
+	-- if the file already exists. Using CreateFile with CREATE_NEW 
+	-- accomplishes that.
+	h <- createFile lck gENERIC_WRITE fILE_SHARE_NONE Nothing
+		cREATE_NEW fILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL Nothing
+#endif
+	return (LockHandle lck h)
+
+closeLock :: LockHandle -> IO ()
+closeLock (LockHandle lck h) = do
+#ifndef mingw32_HOST_OS
+	closeFd h
+#else
+	closeHandle h
+#endif
+	removeFile lck