diff --git a/rsselector.sh b/rsselector.sh
index b58326bc7f61ef22d5d1d36d703b92295b54c30e..6d362b04bc16d3aa4e08240b09d083590232df87 100644
--- a/rsselector.sh
+++ b/rsselector.sh
@@ -28,6 +28,30 @@ function dm_driver() {
   echo y
 }
 
+function log() {
+  [ ! -d ~/.km3_private ] && mkdir -p ~/.km3_private
+  local logfile="~/.km3_private/auto_ss.log"
+  date      >>${logfile}
+  echo ${*} >>${logfile}
+}
+
+function now() {
+  # print the number of seconds elapsed since Jan 1 1970 00:00 in UTC
+  date -u +%s
+}
+
+function get_run_number() {
+  [ ! -d ~/.km3_private ] && mkdir -p ~/.km3_private
+  [ ! -e ~/.km3_private/last_run_number ] && echo 0 >~/.km3_private/last_run_number
+  local last_run_number=`cat ~/.km3_private/last_run_number`
+  local run_number
+
+  let "run_number = ${last_run_number} + 1"
+
+  echo ${run_number} > ~/.km3_private/last_run_number
+  echo ${run_number}
+}
+
 # Ask for the run setup
 
 rs_file=`zenity --title "Run Setup Selector" \