diff --git a/include/kvm/brlock.h b/include/kvm/brlock.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2e2e0f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/kvm/brlock.h
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#ifndef KVM__BRLOCK_H
+#define KVM__BRLOCK_H
+
+#include "kvm/kvm.h"
+#include "kvm/barrier.h"
+
+/*
+ * brlock is a lock which is very cheap for reads, but very expensive
+ * for writes.
+ * This lock will be used when updates are very rare and reads are common.
+ * This lock is currently implemented by stopping the guest while
+ * performing the updates. We assume that the only threads whichread from
+ * the locked data are VCPU threads, and the only writer isn't a VCPU thread.
+ */
+
+#ifndef barrier
+#define barrier()		__asm__ __volatile__("": : :"memory")
+#endif
+
+#define br_read_lock()		barrier()
+#define br_read_unlock()	barrier()
+
+#define br_write_lock()		kvm__pause()
+#define br_write_unlock()	kvm__continue()
+#endif