diff --git a/lib/chili_project/database.rb b/lib/chili_project/database.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..918704ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/chili_project/database.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+# ChiliProject is a project management system.
+# Copyright (C) 2010-2011 The ChiliProject Team
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+# modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+# as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
+# of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+
+module ChiliProject
+
+  # This module provides some information about the currently used database
+  # adapter. It can be used to write code specific to certain database
+  # vendors which, while not not encouraged, is sometimes necessary due to
+  # syntax differences.
+
+  module Database
+
+    # This method returns a hash which maps the identifier of the supported
+    # adapter to a regex matching the adapter_name.
+    def self.supported_adapters
+      @adapters ||= ({
+        :mysql => /mysql/i,
+        :postgresql => /postgres/i,
+        :sqlite => /sqlite/i
+      })
+    end
+
+    # Get the raw namme of the currently used database adapter.
+    # This string is set by the used adapter gem.
+    def self.adapter_name
+      ActiveRecord::Base.connection.adapter_name
+    end
+
+    # returns the identifier of the currently used database type
+    def self.name
+      supported_adapters.find(proc{ [:unknown, //] }) { |adapter, regex|
+        self.adapter_name =~ regex
+      }[0]
+    end
+    
+    # Provide helper methods to quickly check the database type
+    # ChiliProject::Database.mysql? returns true, if we have a MySQL DB
+    supported_adapters.keys.each do |adapter|
+      (class << self; self; end).class_eval do
+        define_method(:"#{adapter.to_s}?"){ send(:name) == adapter }
+      end
+    end
+
+    # Return the version of the underlying database engine.
+    # Set the +raw+ argument to true to return the unmangled string
+    # from the database.
+    def self.version(raw = false)
+      case self.name
+      when :mysql
+        version = ActiveRecord::Base.connection.select_value('SELECT VERSION()')
+      when :postgresql
+        version = ActiveRecord::Base.connection.select_value('SELECT version()')
+        version.match(/^PostgreSQL (\S+)/i)[1] unless raw
+      when :sqlite
+        if SQLite3.const_defined? 'SQLITE_VERSION'
+          SQLite3::SQLITE_VERSION
+        else
+          SQLite3::Driver::Native::API.sqlite3_libversion
+        end
+      end
+    end
+
+  end
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/unit/lib/chili_project/database_test.rb b/test/unit/lib/chili_project/database_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f4cdf0e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/lib/chili_project/database_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# ChiliProject is a project management system.
+# Copyright (C) 2010-2011 The ChiliProject Team
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+# modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+# as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
+# of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+
+require File.expand_path('../../../../test_helper', __FILE__)
+
+class ChiliProject::DatabaseTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
+  setup do
+    ChiliProject::Database.stubs(:adapter_name).returns "SQLite"
+    SQLite3::Driver::Native::API.stubs(:sqlite3_libversion).returns "3.6.12"
+  end
+  
+  should "return the correct identifier" do
+    assert_equal :sqlite, ChiliProject::Database.name
+  end
+
+  should "be able to use the helper methods" do
+    assert_equal false, ChiliProject::Database.mysql?
+    assert_equal false, ChiliProject::Database.postgresql?
+    assert_equal true, ChiliProject::Database.sqlite?
+  end
+  
+  should "return a version string" do
+    assert_equal "3.6.12", ChiliProject::Database.version
+  end
+end