diff --git a/scripts/common.php b/scripts/common.php
index 7b5910c..a333685 100644
--- a/scripts/common.php
+++ b/scripts/common.php
@@ -1,10 +1,85 @@
 <?php
 
+if (session_status() !== PHP_SESSION_ACTIVE)
+  session_start();
 
-function ensure_db_ok ($sql_stmt) {
-  if($sql_stmt == False) {
+function ensure_db_ok($sql_stmt) {
+  if ($sql_stmt == False) {
     echo "Database is busy";
     header("refresh:1;");
     exit;
   }
 }
+
+function set_timezone() {
+  if (!isset($_SESSION['my_timezone'])) {
+    $_SESSION['my_timezone'] = trim(shell_exec('timedatectl show --value --property=Timezone'));
+  }
+  date_default_timezone_set($_SESSION['my_timezone']);
+}
+
+function get_config($force_reload = false) {
+  if (!isset($_SESSION['my_config']) || $force_reload) {
+    $source = preg_replace("~^#+.*$~m", "", file_get_contents('/etc/birdnet/birdnet.conf'));
+    $my_config = parse_ini_string($source);
+    if ($my_config) {
+      $_SESSION['my_config'] = $my_config;
+    } else {
+      syslog(LOG_ERR, "Cannot parse config");
+    }
+  }
+  return $_SESSION['my_config'];
+}
+
+function get_user() {
+  $config = get_config();
+  $user = $config['BIRDNET_USER'];
+  return $user;
+}
+
+function get_home() {
+  $home = '/home/' . get_user();
+  return $home;
+}
+
+function get_sitename() {
+  $config = get_config();
+
+  if ($config["SITE_NAME"] == "") {
+    $site_name = "BirdNET-Pi";
+  } else {
+    $site_name = $config['SITE_NAME'];
+  }
+  return $site_name;
+}
+
+function get_service_mount_name() {
+  $home = get_home();
+  $service_mount = trim(shell_exec("systemd-escape -p --suffix=mount " . $home . "/BirdSongs/StreamData"));
+  return $service_mount;
+}
+
+function is_authenticated() {
+  $ret = false;
+  if (isset($_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_USER']) && isset($_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_PW'])) {
+    $config = get_config();
+    $ret = ($_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_PW'] == $config['CADDY_PWD'] && $_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_USER'] == 'birdnet');
+  }
+  return $ret;
+}
+
+function ensure_authenticated($error_message = 'You cannot edit the settings for this installation') {
+  if (!is_authenticated()) {
+    header('WWW-Authenticate: Basic realm="My Realm"');
+    header('HTTP/1.0 401 Unauthorized');
+    echo '<table><tr><td>' . $error_message . '</td></tr></table>';
+    exit;
+  }
+}
+
+function debug_log($message) {
+  if (is_bool($message)) {
+    $message = $message ? 'true' : 'false';
+  }
+  error_log($message . "\n", 3, $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "/debug_log.log");
+}