diff --git a/tests/ecommunity_test.c b/tests/ecommunity_test.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..418f659
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ecommunity_test.c
@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+#include <zebra.h>
+
+#include "vty.h"
+#include "stream.h"
+#include "privs.h"
+#include "memory.h"
+
+#include "bgpd/bgpd.h"
+#include "bgpd/bgp_ecommunity.h"
+
+/* need these to link in libbgp */
+struct zebra_privs_t *bgpd_privs = NULL;
+struct thread_master *master = NULL;
+
+static int failed = 0;
+
+/* specification for a test - what the results should be */
+struct test_spec 
+{
+  const char *shouldbe; /* the string the path should parse to */
+};
+
+
+/* test segments to parse and validate, and use for other tests */
+static struct test_segment {
+  const char *name;
+  const char *desc;
+  const u_char data[1024];
+  int len;
+  struct test_spec sp;
+} test_segments [] = 
+{
+  { /* 0 */
+    "ipaddr",
+    "rt 1.2.3.4:257",
+    { ECOMMUNITY_ENCODE_IP, ECOMMUNITY_ROUTE_TARGET,
+      0x1,0x2,0x3,0x4,	0x1,0x1 },
+    8,
+    { "rt 1.2.3.4:257" }
+  },
+  { /* 1 */
+    "ipaddr-so",
+    "soo 1.2.3.4:257",
+    { ECOMMUNITY_ENCODE_IP, ECOMMUNITY_SITE_ORIGIN,
+      0x1,0x2,0x3,0x4,	0x1,0x1},
+    8,
+    { "soo 1.2.3.4:257" }
+  },
+  { /* 2 */
+    "asn",
+    "rt 23456:987654321",
+    { ECOMMUNITY_ENCODE_AS, ECOMMUNITY_SITE_ORIGIN,
+      0x5b,0xa0,	0x3a,0xde,0x68,0xb1 },
+    8,
+    { "soo 23456:987654321" }
+  },
+  { /* 3 */
+    "asn4",
+    "rt 168450976:4321",
+    { ECOMMUNITY_ENCODE_AS4, ECOMMUNITY_SITE_ORIGIN,
+      0xa,0xa,0x5b,0xa0,	0x10,0xe1 },
+    8,
+    { "soo 168450976:4321" }
+  },
+  { NULL, NULL, {0}, 0, { NULL } }
+};
+
+
+/* validate the given aspath */
+static int
+validate (struct ecommunity *ecom, const struct test_spec *sp)
+{
+  int fails = 0;
+  struct ecommunity *etmp;
+  char *str1, *str2;
+    
+  printf ("got:\n  %s\n", ecommunity_str (ecom));
+  str1 = ecommunity_ecom2str (ecom, ECOMMUNITY_FORMAT_COMMUNITY_LIST);
+  etmp = ecommunity_str2com (str1, 0, 1);
+  if (etmp)
+    str2 = ecommunity_ecom2str (etmp, ECOMMUNITY_FORMAT_COMMUNITY_LIST);
+  else
+    str2 = NULL;
+  
+  if (strcmp (sp->shouldbe, str1))
+    {
+      failed++;
+      fails++;
+      printf ("shouldbe: %s\n%s\n", str1, sp->shouldbe);
+    }
+  if (!etmp || strcmp (str1, str2))
+    {
+      failed++;
+      fails++;
+      printf ("dogfood: in %s\n"
+              "    in->out %s\n",
+              str1, 
+              (etmp && str2) ? str2 : "NULL");
+    }
+  ecommunity_free (etmp);
+  XFREE (MTYPE_ECOMMUNITY_STR, str1);
+  XFREE (MTYPE_ECOMMUNITY_STR, str2);
+  
+  return fails;
+}
+
+/* basic parsing test */
+static void
+parse_test (struct test_segment *t)
+{
+  struct ecommunity *ecom;
+  
+  printf ("%s: %s\n", t->name, t->desc);
+
+  ecom = ecommunity_parse (t->data, t->len);
+
+  printf ("ecom: %s\nvalidating...:\n", ecommunity_str (ecom));
+
+  if (!validate (ecom, &t->sp))
+    printf ("OK\n");
+  else
+    printf ("failed\n");
+  
+  printf ("\n");
+  ecommunity_unintern (ecom);
+}
+
+     
+int
+main (void)
+{
+  int i = 0;
+  ecommunity_init();
+  while (test_segments[i].name)
+    parse_test (&test_segments[i++]);
+  
+  printf ("failures: %d\n", failed);
+  //printf ("aspath count: %ld\n", aspath_count());
+  return failed;
+  //return (failed + aspath_count());
+}