diff --git a/common/git_functions b/common/git_functions
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7cfee88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/git_functions
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+#   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+#   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+#   You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+#   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+#   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+#   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+#   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+#   limitations under the License.
+#
+
+
+GIT() {
+    CMD git "$@"
+}
+
+
+OSM_git_checkout() {
+
+    # Updates all the branches in the local repo (clones if it does not exist)
+    if [ -d $OSM_MDG ]; then
+        INFO "reusing existing workspace"
+        cd $OSM_MDG
+        GIT fetch --all --tags
+        #git checkout master  #to make sure that we are in the right branch before pulling the code
+        #git pull
+    else
+        INFO "cloning MDG $OSM_MDG from $OSM_GIT_URL/$OSM_MDG"
+        GIT clone $OSM_GIT_URL/$OSM_MDG
+        cd $OSM_MDG
+        for remote in `git branch -r |grep -v /HEAD`; do GIT branch --track ${remote#origin/} $remote; done
+    fi
+    
+    if [ $# -gt 0 ]; then
+        if [ "$1" = "checkout" ]; then
+            INFO "Code to compile: '$2'"
+            GIT checkout $2
+        else
+            INFO "Code to compile: gerrit refspec '$1', commit-id: '$2'"
+            GIT fetch origin $1 || FATAL "git fetch origin '$1' didn't work"
+            GIT checkout -f $2 || FATAL "git checkout -f '$2' didn't work"
+        fi
+    else
+        INFO "Code to compile: master"
+        GIT checkout master
+    fi
+
+}
+