Index: src/tests/pybin/__init__.py
===================================================================
--- src/tests/pybin/__init__.py	(revision c07d7244c852beffdb4d4bf72171c90c9b7824e9)
+++ src/tests/pybin/__init__.py	(revision c07d7244c852beffdb4d4bf72171c90c9b7824e9)
@@ -0,0 +1,1 @@
+#This file is empty but needs to exist for python import to work
Index: src/tests/pybin/tools.py
===================================================================
--- src/tests/pybin/tools.py	(revision c07d7244c852beffdb4d4bf72171c90c9b7824e9)
+++ src/tests/pybin/tools.py	(revision c07d7244c852beffdb4d4bf72171c90c9b7824e9)
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+import __main__
+import argparse
+import os
+import re
+import stat
+
+from subprocess import Popen, PIPE, STDOUT
+
+# helper functions to run terminal commands
+def sh(cmd, dry_run = False, print2stdout = True):
+	if dry_run : 	# if this is a dry_run, only print the commands that would be ran
+		print("cmd: %s" % cmd)
+		return 0, None
+	else :			# otherwise create a pipe and run the desired command
+		proc = Popen(cmd, stdout=None if print2stdout else PIPE, stderr=STDOUT, shell=True)
+		out, err = proc.communicate()
+		return proc.returncode, out
+
+# Remove 1 or more files silently
+def rm( files, dry_run = False ):
+	try:
+		for file in files:
+			sh("rm -f %s > /dev/null 2>&1" % file, dry_run)
+	except TypeError:
+		sh("rm -f %s > /dev/null 2>&1" % files, dry_run)
+
+def chdir( dest = __main__.__file__ ):
+	abspath = os.path.abspath(dest)
+	dname = os.path.dirname(abspath)
+	os.chdir(dname)
+
+# helper function to replace patterns in a file
+def file_replace(fname, pat, s_after):
+    # first, see if the pattern is even in the file.
+    with open(fname) as f:
+        if not any(re.search(pat, line) for line in f):
+            return # pattern does not occur in file so we are done.
+
+    # pattern is in the file, so perform replace operation.
+    with open(fname) as f:
+        out_fname = fname + ".tmp"
+        out = open(out_fname, "w")
+        for line in f:
+            out.write(re.sub(pat, s_after, line))
+        out.close()
+        os.rename(out_fname, fname)
+
+# helper function to check if a files contains only a spacific string
+def fileContainsOnly(file, text) :
+	with open(file) as f:
+		ff = f.read().strip()
+		result = ff == text.strip()
+
+		return result;
+
+# check whether or not a file is executable
+def fileIsExecutable(file) :
+	try :
+		fileinfo = os.stat(file)
+		return bool(fileinfo.st_mode & stat.S_IXUSR)
+	except Exception as inst:
+		print(type(inst))    # the exception instance
+		print(inst.args)     # arguments stored in .args
+		print(inst)
+		return False
+
+# check if arguments is yes or no
+def yes_no(string):
+	if string == "yes" :
+		return True
+	if string == "no" :
+		return False
+	raise argparse.ArgumentTypeError(msg)
+	return False
+
+# diff two files
+def diff( lhs, rhs, dry_run ):
+	# diff the output of the files
+	diff_cmd = ("diff --ignore-all-space "
+				"--ignore-blank-lines "
+				"--old-group-format='\t\tmissing lines :\n"
+				"%%<' \\\n"
+				"--new-group-format='\t\tnew lines :\n"
+				"%%>' \\\n"
+				"--unchanged-group-format='%%=' \\"
+				"--changed-group-format='\t\texpected :\n"
+				"%%<\n"
+				"\t\tgot :\n"
+				"%%>' \\\n"
+				"--new-line-format='\t\t%%dn\t%%L' \\\n"
+				"--old-line-format='\t\t%%dn\t%%L' \\\n"
+				"--unchanged-line-format='' \\\n"
+				"%s %s")
+
+	# fetch return code and error from the diff command
+	return sh(diff_cmd % (lhs, rhs), dry_run, False)