diff --git a/conf/conf.go b/conf/conf.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..de0ed0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/conf/conf.go
@@ -0,0 +1,183 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2013 Petru Ciobanu, Francesco Paglia, Lorenzo Pierfederici
+
+This file is part of maponet/utils.
+
+maponet/utils 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.
+
+maponet/utils 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 maponet/utils.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+*/
+
+/*
+Package conf contains a simple loader for configuration files.
+*/
+package conf
+
+import (
+	"bufio"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"os"
+	"regexp"
+	"strconv"
+	"sync"
+	"bytes"
+)
+
+type NotFoundError struct {
+	key string
+}
+
+func (e *NotFoundError) Error() string { return fmt.Sprintf("Key not found: %s", e.key) }
+
+type ConfigSyntaxError struct {
+	line string
+}
+
+func (e *ConfigSyntaxError) Error() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("Config syntax error on line: %s", e.line)
+}
+
+// Regexp patterns
+var (
+	PatternOption, _  = regexp.Compile("(.*)=([^#]*)")
+	PatternComment, _ = regexp.Compile("^#")
+	PatternEmpty, _ = regexp.Compile("^[\t\n\f\r ]$")
+)
+
+// Config is a simple synchronized object that can be used to parse
+// configuration files and store key=value pairs
+type Config struct {
+	values map[string]string
+	mutex  sync.RWMutex
+}
+
+func NewConfig() *Config {
+	var c Config
+	c.values = make(map[string]string)
+	return &c
+}
+
+// Parse
+func (c *Config) Parse(r *bufio.Reader) error {
+	for {
+		l, err := r.ReadBytes('\n')
+		if err == io.EOF {
+			break
+		} else if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		switch {
+		case PatternEmpty.Match(l):
+			continue
+		case PatternComment.Match(l):
+			continue
+		case PatternOption.Match(l):
+			m := PatternOption.FindSubmatch(l)
+			c.Set(string(bytes.TrimSpace(m[1])), string(bytes.TrimSpace(m[2])))
+		default:
+			return &ConfigSyntaxError{string(l)}
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// ParseFile
+func (c *Config) ParseFile(path string) error {
+	f, err := os.Open(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+
+	err = c.Parse(bufio.NewReader(f))
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// Set
+func (c *Config) Set(key, value string) {
+	c.mutex.Lock()
+	defer c.mutex.Unlock()
+
+	c.values[key] = value
+}
+
+// GetString
+func (c *Config) GetString(key string) (string, error) {
+	c.mutex.RLock()
+	defer c.mutex.RUnlock()
+
+	v, ok := c.values[key]
+	if !ok {
+		return v, &NotFoundError{key}
+	}
+	return v, nil
+}
+
+// GetBool
+func (c *Config) GetBool(key string) (bool, error) {
+	s, err := c.GetString(key)
+	if err != nil {
+		return *new(bool), err
+	}
+
+	return strconv.ParseBool(s)
+}
+
+// GetInt
+func (c *Config) GetInt(key string) (int, error) {
+	s, err := c.GetString(key)
+	if err != nil {
+		return *new(int), err
+	}
+
+	return strconv.Atoi(s)
+}
+
+// GetFloat64
+func (c *Config) GetFloat64(key string) (float64, error) {
+	s, err := c.GetString(key)
+	if err != nil {
+		return *new(float64), err
+	}
+
+	return strconv.ParseFloat(s, 64)
+}
+
+var DefaultConfig = NewConfig()
+
+func ParseFile(path string) error {
+	return DefaultConfig.ParseFile(path)
+}
+
+func Set(key, value string) {
+	DefaultConfig.Set(key, value)
+}
+
+func GetString(key string) (string, error) {
+	return DefaultConfig.GetString(key)
+}
+
+func GetBool(key string) (bool, error) {
+	return DefaultConfig.GetBool(key)
+}
+
+func GetInt(key string) (int, error) {
+	return DefaultConfig.GetInt(key)
+}
+
+func GetFloat64(key string) (float64, error) {
+	return DefaultConfig.GetFloat64(key)
+}
diff --git a/log/log.go b/log/log.go
index df36ed5..74b1131 100644
--- a/log/log.go
+++ b/log/log.go
@@ -23,9 +23,8 @@ Package log contains a simple multi-level logger.
 package log
 
 import (
-	"errors"
-	"flag"
 	"fmt"
+	"io"
 	"os"
 	"time"
 )
@@ -37,100 +36,99 @@ const (
 	DEBUG
 )
 
-// ErrLevel indicates that the specified log level is not valid
-var ErrLevel = errors.New("Unknown log level")
+// BadLevelError indicates that the specified log level is not valid.
+type BadLevelError struct {
+	level interface{}
+}
 
-// SetLevel sets the output level for the global logger
-func SetLevel(level int) error {
-	if level > DEBUG {
-		return ErrLevel
-	}
-	l.level = level
-	return nil
+func (e *BadLevelError) Error() string { return fmt.Sprintf("Unknown log level: %v", e.level) }
+
+// Logger is a simple multi-level logger.
+type Logger struct {
+	Level  int
+	Writer io.Writer
 }
 
-// SetLevelString sets the output level for the global logger
-func SetLevelString(name string) error {
-	level, err := StringToLevel(name)
-	if err != nil || level > DEBUG {
-		return ErrLevel
-	}
-	l.level = level
-	return nil
+func NewLogger(level interface{}, writer io.Writer) *Logger {
+	var l Logger
+	l.SetLevel(level)
+	l.Writer = writer
+	return &l
 }
 
-// LevelToString converts a log level to its string representation
-func LevelToString(level int) (string, error) {
-	var s string
+// SetLevel sets the output level for the logger.
+// 'level' can be either a string or an int.
+func (l *Logger) SetLevel(level interface{}) error {
 	switch level {
-	case ERROR:
-		s = "ERROR"
-	case INFO:
-		s = "INFO"
-	case DEBUG:
-		s = "DEBUG"
+	case ERROR, "ERROR":
+		l.Level = ERROR
+	case INFO, "INFO":
+		l.Level = INFO
+	case DEBUG, "DEBUG":
+		l.Level = DEBUG
 	default:
-		return "", ErrLevel
+		return &BadLevelError{level}
 	}
-	return s, nil
+	return nil
 }
 
-// StringToLevel converts a string to the corresponding log level
-func StringToLevel(name string) (int, error) {
-	var level int
-	switch name {
-	case "ERROR":
-		level = ERROR
-	case "INFO":
-		level = INFO
-	case "DEBUG":
-		level = DEBUG
-	default:
-		return -1, ErrLevel
+// Log logs a message with custom level and type.
+// To log messages at predefined levels you can use the convenience
+// functions Fatal(), Error(), Info(), Debug().
+func (l *Logger) Log(level int, msgType string, format string, v ...interface{}) {
+	if level <= l.Level {
+		msg := fmt.Sprintf(format, v...)
+		t := time.Now().Format(time.RFC1123)
+		fmt.Fprintf(l.Writer, "%s [%s]: %s\n", t, msgType, msg)
+
 	}
-	return level, nil
 }
 
-func FlagLevel(flagname string) *string {
-	return flag.String(flagname, "ERROR", "set loglevel [ERROR|INFO|DEBUG]")
+// Fatal logs a message at "ERROR" level and terminates the program.
+func (l *Logger) Fatal(format string, v ...interface{}) {
+	l.Log(ERROR, "ERROR", format, v...)
+	os.Exit(1)
 }
 
-type logger struct {
-	level int
+// Error logs a message at "ERROR" level.
+func (l *Logger) Error(format string, v ...interface{}) {
+	l.Log(ERROR, "ERROR", format, v...)
 }
 
-var l logger
+// Info logs a message at "INFO" level.
+func (l *Logger) Info(format string, v ...interface{}) {
+	l.Log(INFO, "INFO", format, v...)
+}
 
-func Log(level int, format string, v ...interface{}) {
-	if level <= l.level {
-		msgType, err := LevelToString(level)
-		if err != nil {
-			Fatal(err.Error())
-		}
-		msg := fmt.Sprintf(format, v...)
-		t := time.Now().Format(time.RFC1123)
-		fmt.Printf("%s [%s]: %s\n", t, msgType, msg)
+// Debug logs a message at "DEBUG" level.
+func (l *Logger) Debug(format string, v ...interface{}) {
+	l.Log(DEBUG, "DEBUG", format, v...)
+}
 
-	}
+var DefaultLogger = NewLogger(ERROR, os.Stdout)
+
+// SetLevel sets the output level for the default logger.
+func SetLevel(level interface{}) error {
+	return DefaultLogger.SetLevel(level)
 }
 
-// Fatal logs a message at "ERROR" level and terminates the program
-func Fatal(format string, v ...interface{}) {
-	Log(ERROR, format, v...)
-	os.Exit(1)
+// Fatal logs a message at "ERROR" level with the default logger and
+// terminates the program.
+func Fatal(msg string, v ...interface{}) {
+	DefaultLogger.Fatal(msg, v...)
 }
 
-// Error logs a message at "ERROR" level
-func Error(format string, v ...interface{}) {
-	Log(ERROR, format, v...)
+// Error logs a message at "ERROR" level with the default logger.
+func Error(msg string, v ...interface{}) {
+	DefaultLogger.Error(msg, v...)
 }
 
-// Info logs a message at "INFO" level
-func Info(format string, v ...interface{}) {
-	Log(INFO, format, v...)
+// Info logs a message at "INFO" level with the default logger.
+func Info(msg string, v ...interface{}) {
+	DefaultLogger.Info(msg, v...)
 }
 
-// Debug logs a message at "DEBUG" level
-func Debug(format string, v ...interface{}) {
-	Log(DEBUG, format, v...)
+// Debug logs a message at "DEBUG" level with the default logger.
+func Debug(msg string, v ...interface{}) {
+	DefaultLogger.Debug(msg, v...)
 }