diff --git a/postgres_ffi/Cargo.toml b/postgres_ffi/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..77cc5cf028
--- /dev/null
+++ b/postgres_ffi/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+[package]
+name = "postgres_ffi"
+version = "0.1.0"
+authors = ["Heikki Linnakangas <heikki@zenith.tech>"]
+edition = "2018"
+
+# See more keys and their definitions at https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/manifest.html
+
+[dependencies]
+chrono = "0.4.19"
+rand = "0.8.3"
+bytes = "1.0.1"
+byteorder = "1.4.3"
+anyhow = "1.0"
+crc32c = "0.6.0"
+hex = "0.4.3"
+
+[build-dependencies]
+bindgen = "0.53.1"
diff --git a/postgres_ffi/build.rs b/postgres_ffi/build.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..95903bf051
--- /dev/null
+++ b/postgres_ffi/build.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+extern crate bindgen;
+
+use std::env;
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+
+fn main() {
+    // Tell cargo to invalidate the built crate whenever the wrapper changes
+    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=pg_control_ffi.h");
+
+    // The bindgen::Builder is the main entry point
+    // to bindgen, and lets you build up options for
+    // the resulting bindings.
+    let bindings = bindgen::Builder::default()
+        // The input header we would like to generate
+        // bindings for.
+        .header("pg_control_ffi.h")
+        // Tell cargo to invalidate the built crate whenever any of the
+        // included header files changed.
+        .parse_callbacks(Box::new(bindgen::CargoCallbacks))
+
+        .whitelist_type("ControlFileData")
+        .whitelist_var("PG_CONTROL_FILE_SIZE")
+        .whitelist_var("PG_CONTROLFILEDATA_OFFSETOF_CRC")
+        .whitelist_type("DBState")
+
+        .clang_arg("-I../vendor/postgres/src/include")
+
+        // Finish the builder and generate the bindings.
+        .generate()
+        // Unwrap the Result and panic on failure.
+        .expect("Unable to generate bindings");
+
+    // Write the bindings to the $OUT_DIR/bindings.rs file.
+    let out_path = PathBuf::from(env::var("OUT_DIR").unwrap());
+    bindings
+        .write_to_file(out_path.join("bindings.rs"))
+        .expect("Couldn't write bindings!");
+}
diff --git a/postgres_ffi/pg_control_ffi.h b/postgres_ffi/pg_control_ffi.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..169e66977b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/postgres_ffi/pg_control_ffi.h
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#include "c.h"
+#include "catalog/pg_control.h"
+
+const uint32 PG_CONTROLFILEDATA_OFFSETOF_CRC = offsetof(ControlFileData, crc);
diff --git a/postgres_ffi/src/lib.rs b/postgres_ffi/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b62114ea7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/postgres_ffi/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+#![allow(non_upper_case_globals)]
+#![allow(non_camel_case_types)]
+#![allow(non_snake_case)]
+include!(concat!(env!("OUT_DIR"), "/bindings.rs"));
+
+use bytes::{Buf, Bytes, BytesMut};
+
+// sizeof(ControlFileData)
+const SIZEOF_CONTROLDATA: usize = std::mem::size_of::<ControlFileData>();
+const OFFSETOF_CRC: usize = PG_CONTROLFILEDATA_OFFSETOF_CRC as usize;
+
+impl ControlFileData {
+
+    // Initialize an all-zeros ControlFileData struct
+    pub fn new() -> ControlFileData {
+        let controlfile: ControlFileData;
+
+        let b = [0u8; SIZEOF_CONTROLDATA];
+        controlfile = unsafe {
+            std::mem::transmute::<[u8; SIZEOF_CONTROLDATA], ControlFileData>(b)
+        };
+
+        return controlfile;
+    }
+}
+
+pub fn decode_pg_control(buf: Bytes) -> Result<ControlFileData, anyhow::Error> {
+
+    let mut b: [u8; SIZEOF_CONTROLDATA] = [0u8; SIZEOF_CONTROLDATA];
+    buf.clone().copy_to_slice(&mut b);
+
+    let controlfile: ControlFileData;
+
+    // TODO: verify CRC
+    let mut data_without_crc: [u8; OFFSETOF_CRC] = [0u8; OFFSETOF_CRC];
+    data_without_crc.copy_from_slice(&b[0..OFFSETOF_CRC]);
+    let expectedcrc = crc32c::crc32c(&data_without_crc);
+
+    controlfile = unsafe {
+        std::mem::transmute::<[u8; SIZEOF_CONTROLDATA], ControlFileData>(b)
+    };
+
+    if expectedcrc != controlfile.crc {
+        anyhow::bail!("invalid CRC in control file: expected {:08X}, was {:08X}",
+                      expectedcrc, controlfile.crc);
+    }
+
+    Ok(controlfile)
+}
+
+pub fn encode_pg_control(controlfile: ControlFileData) -> Bytes {
+
+    let b: [u8; SIZEOF_CONTROLDATA];
+
+    b = unsafe {
+        std::mem::transmute::<ControlFileData, [u8; SIZEOF_CONTROLDATA]>(controlfile)
+    };
+
+    // Recompute the CRC
+    let mut data_without_crc: [u8; OFFSETOF_CRC] = [0u8; OFFSETOF_CRC];
+    data_without_crc.copy_from_slice(&b[0..OFFSETOF_CRC]);
+    let newcrc = crc32c::crc32c(&data_without_crc);
+
+    let mut buf = BytesMut::with_capacity(PG_CONTROL_FILE_SIZE as usize);
+
+    buf.extend_from_slice(&b[0..OFFSETOF_CRC]);
+    buf.extend_from_slice(&newcrc.to_ne_bytes());
+    // Fill the rest of the control file with zeros.
+    buf.resize(PG_CONTROL_FILE_SIZE as usize, 0);
+
+    return buf.into();
+}