diff --git a/tools/generate-dummy-nova-conf.py b/tools/generate-dummy-nova-conf.py
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..3621dcbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/generate-dummy-nova-conf.py
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python
+
+## Tool to run the nova config generating code and spit out a dummy
+## version.  Useful for testing that code in isolation.
+
+import os
+import sys
+
+possible_topdir = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[0]),
+                                   os.pardir,
+                                   os.pardir))
+
+if os.path.exists(os.path.join(possible_topdir,
+                               'anvil',
+                               '__init__.py')):
+    sys.path.insert(0, possible_topdir)
+
+from  anvil.components.helpers.nova import ConfConfigurator
+from  anvil.trace import TraceWriter
+
+class DummyInstaller(object):
+    def get_option(self, option, *options, **kwargs):
+        if option == 'db':
+            return {'host': 'localhost',
+                    'port': 3306,
+                    'type': 'mysql',
+                    'user': 'root'}
+        return "dummy"
+
+    def get_bool_option(self, option, *options, **kwargs):
+        return False
+
+    def get_password(self, option, *options, **kwargs):
+        return "forbinus"
+
+    def target_config(self, config_fn):
+        return None
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.tracewriter = TraceWriter("dummy-config-trace")
+
+d = DummyInstaller()
+c = ConfConfigurator(d)
+print c.generate("foo.conf")