--- a/src/config.h.defaults
+++ b/src/config.h.defaults
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@
 
 #define AUTH_VARS                     4
 
+#define DLOPEN_LOCAL_SCAN
+
 #define BIN_DIRECTORY
 
 #define CONFIGURE_FILE
--- a/src/EDITME
+++ b/src/EDITME
@@ -904,6 +904,24 @@
 
 
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# On systems which support dynamic loading of shared libraries, Exim can
+# load a local_scan function specified in its config file instead of having
+# to be recompiled with the desired local_scan function. For a full
+# description of the API to this function, see the Exim specification.
+
+#DLOPEN_LOCAL_SCAN=yes
+
+# If you set DLOPEN_LOCAL_SCAN, then you need to include -rdynamic in the
+# linker flags.  Without it, the loaded .so won't be able to access any
+# functions from exim.
+
+LFLAGS = -rdynamic
+ifeq ($(OSTYPE),Linux)
+LFLAGS += -ldl
+endif
+
+
+#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # The default distribution of Exim contains only the plain text form of the
 # documentation. Other forms are available separately. If you want to install
 # the documentation in "info" format, first fetch the Texinfo documentation
--- a/src/globals.c
+++ b/src/globals.c
@@ -43,6 +43,10 @@
 
 uschar *no_aliases             = NULL;
 
+#ifdef DLOPEN_LOCAL_SCAN
+uschar *local_scan_path        = NULL;
+#endif
+
 
 /* For comments on these variables, see globals.h. I'm too idle to
 duplicate them here... */
--- a/src/globals.h
+++ b/src/globals.h
@@ -173,6 +173,9 @@
 extern int (*receive_feof)(void);
 extern int (*receive_ferror)(void);
 
+#ifdef DLOPEN_LOCAL_SCAN
+extern uschar *local_scan_path;        /* Path to local_scan() library */
+#endif
 
 /* For clearing, saving, restoring address expansion variables. We have to have
 the size of this vector set explicitly, because it is referenced from more than
--- a/src/local_scan.c
+++ b/src/local_scan.c
@@ -56,10 +56,130 @@
                    is used in the rejection message.
 */
 
+#ifdef DLOPEN_LOCAL_SCAN
+# include <stdlib.h>
+# include <dlfcn.h>
+static int (*local_scan_fn)(int fd, uschar **return_text) = NULL;
+static int load_local_scan_library(void);
+extern uschar *local_scan_path;        /* Path to local_scan() library */
+#endif
+
 int
 local_scan(int fd, uschar **return_text)
 {
-return LOCAL_SCAN_ACCEPT;
+#ifdef DLOPEN_LOCAL_SCAN
+/* local_scan_path is defined AND not the empty string */
+if (local_scan_path && *local_scan_path)
+  {
+  if (!local_scan_fn)
+    {
+    if (!load_local_scan_library())
+      {
+        char *base_msg , *error_msg , *final_msg ;
+        int final_length = -1 ;
+
+        base_msg=US"Local configuration error - local_scan() library failure\n";
+        error_msg = dlerror() ;
+
+        final_length = strlen(base_msg) + strlen(error_msg) + 1 ;
+        final_msg = (char*)malloc( final_length*sizeof(char) ) ;
+        *final_msg = '\0' ;
+
+        strcat( final_msg , base_msg ) ;
+        strcat( final_msg , error_msg ) ;
+
+        *return_text = final_msg ;
+      return LOCAL_SCAN_TEMPREJECT;
+      }
+    }
+    return local_scan_fn(fd, return_text);
+  }
+else
+#endif
+  return LOCAL_SCAN_ACCEPT;
+}
+
+#ifdef DLOPEN_LOCAL_SCAN
+
+static int load_local_scan_library(void)
+{
+/* No point in keeping local_scan_lib since we'll never dlclose() anyway */
+void *local_scan_lib = NULL;
+int (*local_scan_version_fn)(void);
+int vers_maj;
+int vers_min;
+
+local_scan_lib = dlopen(local_scan_path, RTLD_NOW);
+if (!local_scan_lib)
+  {
+  log_write(0, LOG_MAIN|LOG_REJECT, "local_scan() library open failed - "
+    "message temporarily rejected");
+  return FALSE;
+  }
+
+local_scan_version_fn = dlsym(local_scan_lib, "local_scan_version_major");
+if (!local_scan_version_fn)
+  {
+  dlclose(local_scan_lib);
+  log_write(0, LOG_MAIN|LOG_REJECT, "local_scan() library doesn't contain "
+    "local_scan_version_major() function - message temporarily rejected");
+  return FALSE;
+  }
+
+/* The major number is increased when the ABI is changed in a non
+   backward compatible way. */
+vers_maj = local_scan_version_fn();
+
+local_scan_version_fn = dlsym(local_scan_lib, "local_scan_version_minor");
+if (!local_scan_version_fn)
+  {
+  dlclose(local_scan_lib);
+  log_write(0, LOG_MAIN|LOG_REJECT, "local_scan() library doesn't contain "
+    "local_scan_version_minor() function - message temporarily rejected");
+  return FALSE;
+  }
+
+/* The minor number is increased each time a new feature is added (in a
+   way that doesn't break backward compatibility) -- Marc */
+vers_min = local_scan_version_fn();
+
+
+if (vers_maj != LOCAL_SCAN_ABI_VERSION_MAJOR)
+  {
+  dlclose(local_scan_lib);
+  local_scan_lib = NULL;
+  log_write(0, LOG_MAIN|LOG_REJECT, "local_scan() has an incompatible major"
+    "version number, you need to recompile your module for this version"
+    "of exim (The module was compiled for version %d.%d and this exim provides"
+    "ABI version %d.%d)", vers_maj, vers_min, LOCAL_SCAN_ABI_VERSION_MAJOR,
+    LOCAL_SCAN_ABI_VERSION_MINOR);
+  return FALSE;
+  }
+else if (vers_min > LOCAL_SCAN_ABI_VERSION_MINOR)
+  {
+  dlclose(local_scan_lib);
+  local_scan_lib = NULL;
+  log_write(0, LOG_MAIN|LOG_REJECT, "local_scan() has an incompatible minor"
+    "version number, you need to recompile your module for this version"
+    "of exim (The module was compiled for version %d.%d and this exim provides"
+    "ABI version %d.%d)", vers_maj, vers_min, LOCAL_SCAN_ABI_VERSION_MAJOR,
+    LOCAL_SCAN_ABI_VERSION_MINOR);
+  return FALSE;
+  }
+
+local_scan_fn = dlsym(local_scan_lib, "local_scan");
+if (!local_scan_fn)
+  {
+  dlclose(local_scan_lib);
+  log_write(0, LOG_MAIN|LOG_REJECT, "local_scan() library doesn't contain "
+    "local_scan() function - message temporarily rejected");
+  return FALSE;
+  }
+
+return TRUE;
 }
 
+#endif /* DLOPEN_LOCAL_SCAN */
+
+
 /* End of local_scan.c */
--- a/src/readconf.c
+++ b/src/readconf.c
@@ -216,6 +216,9 @@
   { "local_from_prefix",        opt_stringptr,   {&local_from_prefix} },
   { "local_from_suffix",        opt_stringptr,   {&local_from_suffix} },
   { "local_interfaces",         opt_stringptr,   {&local_interfaces} },
+#ifdef DLOPEN_LOCAL_SCAN
+  { "local_scan_path",          opt_stringptr,   {&local_scan_path} },
+#endif
 #ifdef HAVE_LOCAL_SCAN
   { "local_scan_timeout",       opt_time,        {&local_scan_timeout} },
 #endif
