diff --git a/src/python/recoll/pyrecoll.cpp b/src/python/recoll/pyrecoll.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..975d5d0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/python/recoll/pyrecoll.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+#ifndef lint
+static char rcsid[] = "@(#$Id: pyrecoll.cpp,v 1.1 2008-05-09 12:34:17 dockes Exp $ (C) 2007 J.F.Dockes";
+#endif
+
+#include <Python.h>
+
+#include <string>
+#include <iostream>
+using namespace std;
+
+#include "rclinit.h"
+#include "rclconfig.h"
+#include "idfile.h"
+#include "rcldb.h"
+#include "pathut.h"
+#include "wasastringtoquery.h"
+#include "wasatorcl.h"
+
+static RclConfig *config;
+
+static PyObject *
+recollq_idfile(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
+{
+    const char *filename;
+
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "s", &filename))
+        return NULL;
+    //    string tp = "Newfule";
+    string tp = idFile(filename);
+    return Py_BuildValue("s", tp.c_str());
+}
+
+static PyObject *
+recollq_question(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
+{
+    int limit = 100;
+    const char *qs;
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "s", &qs)) {
+	PyErr_SetString(PyExc_EnvironmentError, "Bad query syntax");
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    Rcl::Db rcldb;
+    string reason;
+    string dbdir = config->getDbDir();
+    rcldb.open(dbdir, config->getStopfile(), 
+	       Rcl::Db::DbRO, Rcl::Db::QO_STEM);
+
+    Rcl::SearchData *sd = wasaStringToRcl(qs, reason);
+    if (!sd) {
+	PyErr_SetString(PyExc_EnvironmentError, reason.c_str());
+	return 0;
+    }
+
+    RefCntr<Rcl::SearchData> rq(sd);
+    rcldb.setQuery(rq, Rcl::Db::QO_STEM);
+    int cnt = rcldb.getResCnt();
+    cout << "Recoll query: " << rq->getDescription() << endl;
+    if (cnt <= limit)
+	cout << cnt << " results" << endl;
+    else
+	cout << cnt << " results (printing  " << limit << " max):" << endl;
+
+    for (int i = 0; i < limit; i++) {
+	int pc;
+	Rcl::Doc doc;
+	if (!rcldb.getDoc(i, doc, &pc))
+	    break;
+	char cpc[20];
+	sprintf(cpc, "%d", pc);
+	cout 
+	    << doc.mimetype.c_str() << "\t"
+	    << "[" << doc.url.c_str() << "]" << "\t" 
+	    << "[" << doc.meta["title"].c_str() << "]" << "\t"
+	    << doc.fbytes.c_str()   << "\tbytes" << "\t"
+	    <<  endl;
+    }
+    Py_INCREF(Py_None);
+    return Py_None;
+}
+
+
+static PyMethodDef recollqMethods[] = {
+    {"idfile",  recollq_idfile, METH_VARARGS, "Identify file type."},
+    {"question",  recollq_question, METH_VARARGS, "Query language query."},
+
+    {NULL, NULL, 0, NULL}        /* Sentinel */
+};
+
+
+RclConfig *RclConfig::getMainConfig() 
+{
+    return config;
+}
+
+PyMODINIT_FUNC
+initrecollq(void)
+{
+    (void) Py_InitModule("recollq", recollqMethods);
+
+    string reason;
+    config = recollinit(0, 0, reason, 0);
+    if (config == 0) {
+	PyErr_SetString(PyExc_EnvironmentError, reason.c_str());
+	return;
+    }
+    if (!config->ok()) {
+	PyErr_SetString(PyExc_EnvironmentError, 
+			"Recoll init error: bad environment ?");
+	return;
+    }
+    fprintf(stderr, "initrecollq ok\n");
+}
+
diff --git a/src/python/recoll/setup.py b/src/python/recoll/setup.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d9a8afe9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/python/recoll/setup.py
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+from distutils.core import setup, Extension
+
+module1 = Extension('recollq',
+                    define_macros = [('MAJOR_VERSION', '1'),
+                                     ('MINOR_VERSION', '0'),
+                                     ('HAVE_MKDTEMP', '1'),
+                                     ('HAVE_VASPRINTF', '1'),
+                                     ('UNAC_VERSION', '"1.0.7"'),
+                                     ('STATFS_INCLUDE', '"sys/mount.h"'),
+                                     ('RECOLL_DATADIR', 
+                                      '"/usr/local/share/recoll"')
+                                     ],
+                    include_dirs = ['/usr/local/include',
+                                    '../utils', 
+                                    '../common', 
+                                    '../rcldb',
+                                    '../query',
+                                    '../unac'
+                                    ],
+                    libraries = ['xapian', 'iconv'],
+                    library_dirs = ['/usr/local/lib'],
+                    sources = ['recoll_query.cpp',
+                               '../common/rclinit.cpp',
+                               '../common/rclconfig.cpp',
+                               '../common/textsplit.cpp',
+                               '../common/unacpp.cpp',
+                               '../query/wasastringtoquery.cpp',
+                               '../query/wasatorcl.cpp',
+                               '../rcldb/rcldb.cpp',
+                               '../rcldb/searchdata.cpp',
+                               '../rcldb/stemdb.cpp',
+                               '../rcldb/pathhash.cpp',
+                               '../rcldb/stoplist.cpp',
+                               '../unac/unac.c',
+                               '../utils/base64.cpp',
+                               '../utils/conftree.cpp',
+                               '../utils/debuglog.cpp',
+                               '../utils/idfile.cpp',
+                               '../utils/readfile.cpp',
+                               '../utils/md5.cpp',
+                               '../utils/pathut.cpp',
+                               '../utils/wipedir.cpp',
+                               '../utils/smallut.cpp'
+                               ])
+
+
+setup (name = 'RecollQuery',
+       version = '1.0',
+       description = 'Enable querying a Recoll full text index',
+       author = 'J.F. Dockes',
+       author_email = 'jean-francois.dockes@wanadoo.fr',
+       long_description = '''
+This is really just a demo package for now.
+''',
+       ext_modules = [module1])