diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index 30d027315a..8680546b99 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ BITCOIN_CORE_H = \
   core_io.h \
   core_memusage.h \
   cuckoocache.h \
+  fs.h \
   httprpc.h \
   httpserver.h \
   indirectmap.h \
@@ -326,6 +327,7 @@ libbitcoin_util_a_SOURCES = \
   compat/glibc_sanity.cpp \
   compat/glibcxx_sanity.cpp \
   compat/strnlen.cpp \
+  fs.cpp \
   random.cpp \
   rpc/protocol.cpp \
   support/cleanse.cpp \
diff --git a/src/fs.cpp b/src/fs.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6f2b768de3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/fs.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#include "fs.h"
+
+#include <boost/filesystem.hpp>
+
+namespace fsbridge {
+
+FILE *fopen(const fs::path& p, const char *mode)
+{
+    return ::fopen(p.string().c_str(), mode);
+}
+
+FILE *freopen(const fs::path& p, const char *mode, FILE *stream)
+{
+    return ::freopen(p.string().c_str(), mode, stream);
+}
+
+} // fsbridge
diff --git a/src/fs.h b/src/fs.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..585cbf9c38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/fs.h
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2017 The Bitcoin Core developers
+// Distributed under the MIT software license, see the accompanying
+// file COPYING or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
+
+#ifndef BITCOIN_FS_H
+#define BITCOIN_FS_H
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <string>
+
+#include <boost/filesystem.hpp>
+#include <boost/filesystem/fstream.hpp>
+#include <boost/filesystem/detail/utf8_codecvt_facet.hpp>
+
+/** Filesystem operations and types */
+namespace fs = boost::filesystem;
+
+/** Bridge operations to C stdio */
+namespace fsbridge {
+    FILE *fopen(const fs::path& p, const char *mode);
+    FILE *freopen(const fs::path& p, const char *mode, FILE *stream);
+};
+
+#endif