diff --git a/functional_tests/base.py b/functional_tests/base.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..2edca5d693f3fead1e5578c1761a8b842011a1f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/functional_tests/base.py
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2018 Branko Majic
+#
+# This file is part of Gimmecert.
+#
+# Gimmecert is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+# under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
+# Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any
+# later version.
+#
+# Gimmecert is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+# FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more
+# details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
+# Gimmecert.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+
+
+import subprocess
+
+
+def run_command(command, *args):
+    """
+    Helper function that runs the specified command, and takes care of
+    some tedious work, like converting the stdout and stderr to
+    correct encoding etc.
+
+    This is essentially a small wrapper around the subprocess.Popen.
+
+    :param command: Command that should be run.
+    :type command: str
+
+    :param *args: Zero or more arguments to pass to the command.
+    :type *args: str
+
+    :returns: (stdout, stderr, exit_code) -- Standard output, error, and exit code captured from running the command.
+    :rtype: (str, str, int)
+    """
+
+    invocation = [command]
+    invocation.extend(args)
+
+    process = subprocess.Popen(invocation, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
+    stdout, stderr = process.communicate()
+    stdout, stderr = stdout.decode(), stderr.decode()
+
+    return stdout, stderr, process.returncode