diff --git a/libpromises/evalfunction.c b/libpromises/evalfunction.c
index 9662bcd9e80..65ab7ff12ff 100644
--- a/libpromises/evalfunction.c
+++ b/libpromises/evalfunction.c
@@ -7597,6 +7597,83 @@ static FnCallResult FnCallStrftime(ARG_UNUSED EvalContext *ctx,
 
 /*********************************************************************/
 
+static int ParseDate(const char *input_string, time_t *out)
+{
+    char date_path[PATH_MAX];
+    strncpy(date_path, GetBinDir(), sizeof(date_path) - 1);
+    JoinPaths(date_path, sizeof(date_path), "date");
+
+    char buffer[CF_BUFSIZE];
+    int n = snprintf(buffer, sizeof(buffer), "%s --date '%s' +%%s", date_path, input_string);
+
+    if (n < 0 || (size_t) n >= sizeof(buffer)) {
+        Log(LOG_LEVEL_ERR, "Truncation error: input string '%.10s...' is too long (%d >= %zu)",
+            input_string, n, sizeof(buffer));
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    FILE *fd = cf_popen(buffer, "r", true);
+    if (fd == NULL)
+    {
+        Log(LOG_LEVEL_ERR, "Couldn't run command: '%s'", buffer);
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    size_t bytes_read = fread(buffer, 1, sizeof(buffer) - 1 , fd);
+    buffer[bytes_read] = '\0';
+
+    if (bytes_read == 0)
+    {
+        if (ferror(fd))
+        {
+            Log(LOG_LEVEL_ERR, "Error reading output for '%s'", input_string);
+        }
+        else if (feof(fd))
+        {
+            Log(LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG, "No output read for '%s'", input_string);
+        }
+        fclose(fd);
+        return -1;
+    }
+    fclose(fd);
+
+    long time_value;
+    int ret = StringToLong(buffer, &time_value);
+    if (ret != 0)
+    {
+        LogStringToLongError(buffer, "ParseDate", ret);
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    *out = (time_t) time_value;
+    if ((long) *out != time_value)
+    {
+        Log(LOG_LEVEL_ERR, "Date value '%ld' does not fit in time_t", time_value);
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
+static FnCallResult FnCallStrToTime(ARG_UNUSED EvalContext *ctx, ARG_UNUSED const Policy *policy, const FnCall *fp, const Rlist *finalargs)
+{
+    assert(fp != NULL);
+
+    const char *input_string = RlistScalarValue(finalargs);
+    time_t result;
+    int ret = ParseDate(input_string, &result);
+
+    if (ret != 0)
+    {
+        Log(LOG_LEVEL_ERR, "'%s': Invalid date '%s'", fp->name, input_string);
+        return FnFailure();
+    }
+
+    return FnReturnF("%ld", result);
+}
+
+/*********************************************************************/
+
 static FnCallResult FnCallEval(EvalContext *ctx, ARG_UNUSED const Policy *policy, const FnCall *fp, const Rlist *finalargs)
 {
     if (finalargs == NULL)
@@ -11427,6 +11504,12 @@ static const FnCallArg STRFTIME_ARGS[] =
     {NULL, CF_DATA_TYPE_NONE, NULL}
 };
 
+static const FnCallArg STRTOTIME_ARGS[] =
+{
+    {CF_ANYSTRING, CF_DATA_TYPE_STRING, "String to parse"},
+    {NULL, CF_DATA_TYPE_NONE, NULL}
+};
+
 static const FnCallArg STRING_REPLACE_ARGS[] =
 {
     {CF_ANYSTRING, CF_DATA_TYPE_STRING, "Source string"},
@@ -12003,6 +12086,8 @@ const FnCallType CF_FNCALL_TYPES[] =
                   FNCALL_OPTION_NONE, FNCALL_CATEGORY_DATA, SYNTAX_STATUS_NORMAL, DEFAULT_ARGC),
     FnCallTypeNew("strftime", CF_DATA_TYPE_STRING, STRFTIME_ARGS, &FnCallStrftime, "Format a date and time string",
                   FNCALL_OPTION_NONE, FNCALL_CATEGORY_DATA, SYNTAX_STATUS_NORMAL, DEFAULT_ARGC),
+    FnCallTypeNew("strtotime", CF_DATA_TYPE_INT, STRTOTIME_ARGS, &FnCallStrToTime, "Parse a timestamp from a string",
+                  FNCALL_OPTION_NONE, FNCALL_CATEGORY_DATA, SYNTAX_STATUS_NORMAL, DEFAULT_ARGC),
     FnCallTypeNew("sublist", CF_DATA_TYPE_STRING_LIST, SUBLIST_ARGS, &FnCallSublist, "Returns arg3 element from either the head or the tail (according to arg2) of list or array or data container arg1.",
                   FNCALL_OPTION_COLLECTING, FNCALL_CATEGORY_DATA, SYNTAX_STATUS_NORMAL, DEFAULT_ARGC),
     FnCallTypeNew("sysctlvalue", CF_DATA_TYPE_STRING, SYSCTLVALUE_ARGS, &FnCallSysctlValue, "Returns a value for sysctl key arg1 pair",
diff --git a/tests/acceptance/01_vars/02_functions/strtotime.cf b/tests/acceptance/01_vars/02_functions/strtotime.cf
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..1b6d5eb98ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/acceptance/01_vars/02_functions/strtotime.cf
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#######################################################
+#
+# Test strtotime function
+#
+#######################################################
+body common control
+{
+  inputs => { "../../default.sub.cf" };
+  bundlesequence => { default("$(this.promise_filename)") };
+  version => "1.0";
+}
+
+#######################################################
+bundle agent test
+{
+  vars:
+    "some_date" int => strtotime("2009-09-21T00:00:00Z");
+    "epoch" int => int(1253491200);
+
+  classes:
+    "ok" expression => strcmp("$(epoch)", "$(some_date)");
+
+  reports:
+    ok::
+      "$(this.promise_filename) Pass";
+
+    !ok::
+      "$(this.promise_filename) FAIL";
+}
diff --git a/tests/acceptance/testall b/tests/acceptance/testall
index 4166191fe56..4dc8385ebd7 100755
--- a/tests/acceptance/testall
+++ b/tests/acceptance/testall
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ CF_CHECK=${CF_CHECK:-}              ; export CF_CHECK
 CF_RUNAGENT=${CF_RUNAGENT:-}        ; export CF_RUNAGENT
 RPMVERCMP=${RPMVERCMP:-}            ; export RPMVERCMP
 DIFF=${DIFF:-}                      ; export DIFF
+DATE=${DATE:-}                      ; export DATE
 LIBTOOL=${LIBTOOL:-}                ; export LIBTOOL
 INCLUDE_IN_WORKDIR=${INCLUDE_IN_WORKDIR:-} ; export INCLUDE_IN_WORKDIR
 
@@ -443,6 +444,7 @@ runtest() {
                     $LN_CMD "$RPMVERCMP" "$WORKDIR/bin"
                 fi
                 $LN_CMD "$DIFF" "$WORKDIR/bin"
+                $LN_CMD "$DATE" "$WORKDIR/bin"
             fi
             for inc in $INCLUDE_IN_WORKDIR
             do (
@@ -957,7 +959,7 @@ else
   NEED_RPMVERCMP="no"
 fi
 
-if [ -n "$AGENT" -o -n "$CF_PROMISES" -o -n "$CF_SERVERD" -o -n "$CF_EXECD" -o -n "$CF_KEY" -o -n "$CF_SECRET" -o -n "$CF_NET" -o -n "$CF_CHECK" -o -n "$CF_RUNAGENT" -o \( "$NEED_RPMVERCMP" = "yes" -a -n "$RPMVERCMP" \) -o -n "$DIFF" ]
+if [ -n "$AGENT" -o -n "$CF_PROMISES" -o -n "$CF_SERVERD" -o -n "$CF_EXECD" -o -n "$CF_KEY" -o -n "$CF_SECRET" -o -n "$CF_NET" -o -n "$CF_CHECK" -o -n "$CF_RUNAGENT" -o \( "$NEED_RPMVERCMP" = "yes" -a -n "$RPMVERCMP" \) -o -n "$DIFF" -o -n "$DATE" ]
 then
     if [ -n "$BINDIR" ]
     then
@@ -981,6 +983,7 @@ find_default_binary()
     [ -x "`pwd`/$2/$2" ] && eval $1=\""`pwd`/$2/$2"\"
     [ -n "$BINDIR" -a -x "$BINDIR/$2" ] && eval $1=\""$BINDIR/$2"\"
     [ $2 = "diff" ] && eval $1=\""`command -v diff`"\"
+    [ $2 = "date" -a -z "`eval echo \\$$1`" ] && eval $1=\""`command -v date`"\"
 }
 find_default_binary DEFAGENT cf-agent
 find_default_binary DEFCF_PROMISES cf-promises
@@ -996,6 +999,7 @@ then
   find_default_binary DEFRPMVERCMP rpmvercmp
 fi
 find_default_binary DIFF diff
+find_default_binary DATE date
 
 [ -x "`pwd`/libtool" ] && DEFLIBTOOL="`pwd`/libtool"
 [ -x "`pwd`/../../libtool" ] && DEFLIBTOOL="`pwd`/../../libtool"