diff --git a/CHANGELOG.txt b/CHANGELOG.txt
index 039a351..5b1c51b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.txt
+++ b/CHANGELOG.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 
 Drupal 8.0, xxxx-xx-xx (development version)
 ----------------------
+- Universally Unique IDentifier (UUID):
+    * Support for generating and validating UUIDs.
+
 
 Drupal 7.0, 2011-01-05
 ----------------------
diff --git a/includes/uuid.inc b/includes/uuid.inc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fd93de3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/includes/uuid.inc
@@ -0,0 +1,151 @@
+<?php
+
+/**
+ * @file
+ * Handling of universally unique identifiers.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Interface that defines a UUID backend.
+ */
+interface UuidInterface {
+
+  /**
+   * Generates a Universally Unique IDentifier (UUID).
+   *
+   * @return
+   *   A 32 byte integer represented as a hex string formatted with 4 hypens.
+   */
+  public function generate();
+
+}
+
+/**
+ * Factory class for UUIDs.
+ *
+ * Determines which UUID implementation to use, and uses that to generate
+ * and validate UUIDs.
+ */
+class Uuid {
+
+  /**
+   * Holds the UUID implementation.
+   */
+  protected $plugin;
+
+  /**
+   * This constructor instantiates the correct UUID object.
+   */
+  public function __construct() {
+    $class = $this->determinePlugin();
+    $this->plugin = new $class();
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Generates an universally unique identifier.
+   *
+   * @see UuidInterface::generate()
+   */
+  public function generate() {
+    return $this->plugin->generate();
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Check that a string appears to be in the format of a UUID.
+   *
+   * Plugins should not implement validation, since UUIDs should be in a
+   * consistent format across all plugins.
+   *
+   * @param $uuid
+   *   The string to test.
+   *
+   * @return
+   *   TRUE if the string is well formed.
+   */
+  public function isValid($uuid) {
+    return preg_match("/^[0-9a-f]{8}-([0-9a-f]{4}-){3}[0-9a-f]{12}$/", $uuid);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Determines the optimal implementation to use for generatng UUIDs.
+   *
+   * @return
+   *  The class name for the optimal UUID generator.
+   */
+  protected function determinePlugin() {
+    static $plugin;
+    if (!empty($plugin)) {
+      return $plugin;
+    }
+
+    $plugin = 'UuidPhp';
+
+    // Debian/Ubuntu uses the (broken) OSSP extension as their UUID
+    // implementation. The OSSP implementation is not compatible with the
+    // PECL functions.
+    if (function_exists('uuid_create') && !function_exists('uuid_make')) {
+      $plugin = 'UuidPecl';
+    }
+    // Try to use the COM implementation for Windows users.
+    elseif (function_exists('com_create_guid')) {
+      $plugin = 'UuidCom';
+    }
+    return $plugin;
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * UUID implementation using the PECL extension.
+ */
+class UuidPecl implements UuidInterface {
+  public function generate() {
+    return uuid_create(UUID_TYPE_DEFAULT);
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * UUID implementation using the Windows internal GUID extension.
+ *
+ * @see http://php.net/com_create_guid
+ */
+class UuidCom implements UuidInterface {
+  public function generate() {
+    // Remove {} wrapper and make lower case to keep result consistent.
+    return drupal_strtolower(trim(com_create_guid(), '{}'));
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Generates an UUID v4 using PHP code.
+ *
+ * Loosely based on Ruby's UUIDTools generate_random logic.
+ *
+ * @see http://uuidtools.rubyforge.org/api/classes/UUIDTools/UUID.html
+ */
+class UuidPhp implements UuidInterface {
+  public function generate() {
+    $hex = substr(hash('sha256', drupal_random_bytes(16)), 0, 32);
+
+    // The field names refer to RFC 4122 section 4.1.2.
+    $time_low = substr($hex, 0, 8);
+    $time_mid = substr($hex, 8, 4);
+
+    $time_hi_and_version = base_convert(substr($hex, 12, 4), 16, 10);
+    $time_hi_and_version &= 0x0FFF;
+    $time_hi_and_version |= (4 << 12);
+
+    $clock_seq_hi_and_reserved = base_convert(substr($hex, 16, 4), 16, 10);
+    $clock_seq_hi_and_reserved &= 0x3F;
+    $clock_seq_hi_and_reserved |= 0x80;
+
+    $clock_seq_low = substr($hex, 20, 2);
+    $nodes = substr($hex, 20);
+
+    $uuid = sprintf('%s-%s-%04x-%02x%02x-%s',
+      $time_low, $time_mid,
+      $time_hi_and_version, $clock_seq_hi_and_reserved,
+      $clock_seq_low, $nodes);
+
+    return $uuid;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/modules/system/system.test b/modules/system/system.test
index 1ce8e6b..846653b 100644
--- a/modules/system/system.test
+++ b/modules/system/system.test
@@ -2450,3 +2450,68 @@ class SystemIndexPhpTest extends DrupalWebTestCase {
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Tests uuid.inc and related functions.
+ */
+class UuidUnitTestCase extends DrupalUnitTestCase {
+
+  /**
+   * The UUID object to be used for generating UUIDs.
+   *
+   * @var Uuid
+   */
+  protected $uuid;
+
+  public static function getInfo() {
+    return array(
+      'name' => 'UUID handling',
+      'description' => "Test the handling of Universally Unique IDentifiers (UUIDs).",
+      'group' => 'System',
+    );
+  }
+
+  public function setUp() {
+    // Initiate the generator. This will lazy-load uuid.inc.
+    $this->uuid = new Uuid();
+    parent::setUp();
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Test generating a UUID.
+   */
+  public function testGenerateUuid() {
+    $uuid = $this->uuid->generate();
+    $this->assertTrue($this->uuid->isValid($uuid), 'UUID generation works.');
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Test that generated UUIDs are unique.
+   */
+  public function testUuidIsUnique() {
+    $uuid1 = $this->uuid->generate();
+    $uuid2 = $this->uuid->generate();
+    $this->assertNotEqual($uuid1, $uuid2, 'Same UUID was not generated twice.');
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Test UUID validation.
+   */
+  function testUuidValidation() {
+    // These valid UUIDs.
+    $uuid_fqdn = '6ba7b810-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c8';
+    $uuid_min = '00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000';
+    $uuid_max = 'ffffffff-ffff-ffff-ffff-ffffffffffff';
+
+    $this->assertTrue($this->uuid->isValid($uuid_fqdn), t('FQDN namespace UUID (@uuid) is valid', array('@uuid' => $uuid_fqdn)));
+    $this->assertTrue($this->uuid->isValid($uuid_min), t('Minimum UUID value (@uuid) is valid', array('@uuid' => $uuid_min)));
+    $this->assertTrue($this->uuid->isValid($uuid_max), t('Maximum UUID value (@uuid) is valid', array('@uuid' => $uuid_max)));
+
+    // These are invalid UUIDs.
+    $invalid_format = '0ab26e6b-f074-4e44-9da-601205fa0e976';
+    $invalid_length = '0ab26e6b-f074-4e44-9daf-1205fa0e9761f';
+
+    $this->assertFalse($this->uuid->isValid($invalid_format), t('@uuid is not a valid UUID', array('@uuid' => $invalid_format)));
+    $this->assertFalse($this->uuid->isValid($invalid_length), t('@uuid is not a valid UUID', array('@uuid' => $invalid_length)));
+
+  }
+}
