diff --git a/src/dbtools/test/Makefile b/src/dbtools/test/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..58acbd355
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/dbtools/test/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#*************************************************************************
+# Copyright (c) 2010 UChicago Argonne LLC, as Operator of Argonne
+#     National Laboratory.
+# EPICS BASE is distributed subject to a Software License Agreement found
+# in the file LICENSE that is included with this distribution. 
+#*************************************************************************
+TOP=../../..
+
+include $(TOP)/configure/CONFIG
+
+TESTPROD_HOST += dbltExpand
+dbltExpand_SRCS += dbltExpand.c
+dbltExpand_LIBS += dbtoolsIoc dbStaticHost Com
+
+
+#TESTPROD_HOST += callbackTest
+#callbackTest_SRCS += callbackTest.c
+#TESTS += callbackTest
+
+
+TESTSCRIPTS_HOST += $(TESTS:%=%.t)
+
+include $(TOP)/configure/RULES
+
diff --git a/src/dbtools/test/dbltExpand.c b/src/dbtools/test/dbltExpand.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6326d288e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/dbtools/test/dbltExpand.c
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+/*************************************************************************\
+* Copyright (c) 2010 UChicago Argonne LLC, as Operator of Argonne
+* National Laboratory.
+* EPICS Base is distributed subject to a Software License Agreement found
+* in the file LICENSE that is included with this distribution.
+\*************************************************************************/
+
+/* This is a simple version of msi for testing the dbLoadTemplate() code.
+ *
+ * It calls dbLoadTemplate() to parse the substitution file, but replaces
+ * dbLoadRecords() with its own version that reads the template file,
+ * expands any macros in the text and prints the result to stdout.
+ *
+ * This technique won't work on Windows, dbLoadRecords() has to be
+ * epicsShare... decorated and loaded from a shared library.
+ */
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <errno.h>
+
+#include "macLib.h"
+#include "dbLoadTemplate.h"
+
+
+#define BUFFER_SIZE 0x10000
+
+static char *input_buffer, *output_buffer;
+
+int dbLoadRecords(const char *file, const char *macros)
+{
+    MAC_HANDLE *macHandle = NULL;
+    char **macPairs;
+    FILE *fp;
+    size_t input_len;
+
+    if (macCreateHandle(&macHandle, NULL)) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "macCreateHandle failed\n");
+        exit(1);
+    }
+
+    macSuppressWarning(macHandle, 1);
+    macParseDefns(macHandle, macros, &macPairs);
+    if (!macPairs) {
+        macDeleteHandle(macHandle);
+        macHandle = NULL;
+    } else {
+        macInstallMacros(macHandle, macPairs);
+        free(macPairs);
+    }
+
+    fp = fopen(file, "r");
+    if (!fp) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "fopen('%s') failed: %s\n", file, strerror(errno));
+        exit(1);
+    }
+
+    input_len = fread(input_buffer, 1, BUFFER_SIZE, fp);
+    if (!feof(fp)) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "input file > 64K!\n");
+        fclose(fp);
+        exit(1);
+    }
+    input_buffer[input_len] = 0;
+
+    if (fclose(fp)) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "fclose('%s') failed: %s\n", file, strerror(errno));
+        exit(1);
+    }
+
+    macExpandString(macHandle, input_buffer, output_buffer, BUFFER_SIZE-1);
+    printf(output_buffer);
+
+    if (macHandle) macDeleteHandle(macHandle);
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char **argv)
+{
+    input_buffer = malloc(BUFFER_SIZE);
+    output_buffer = malloc(BUFFER_SIZE);
+
+    if (!input_buffer || !output_buffer) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "malloc(%d) failed\n", BUFFER_SIZE);
+        exit(1);
+    }
+
+    if (argc != 2) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s file.sub\n", argv[0]);
+        exit(1);
+    }
+
+    dbLoadTemplate(argv[1], NULL);
+
+    free(output_buffer);
+    free(input_buffer);
+    return 0;
+}