diff --git a/src/restic/options/options.go b/src/restic/options/options.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..635216041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/restic/options/options.go
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+package options
+
+import (
+	"restic/errors"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+// Options holds options in the form key=value.
+type Options map[string]string
+
+// splitKeyValue splits at the first equals (=) sign.
+func splitKeyValue(s string) (key string, value string) {
+	data := strings.SplitN(s, "=", 2)
+	key = strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(data[0]))
+	if len(data) == 1 {
+		// no equals sign is treated as the empty value
+		return key, ""
+	}
+
+	return key, strings.TrimSpace(data[1])
+}
+
+// Parse takes a slice of key=value pairs and returns an Options type.
+// The key may include namespaces, separated by dots. Example: "foo.bar=value".
+// Keys are converted to lower-case.
+func Parse(in []string) (Options, error) {
+	opts := make(Options, len(in))
+
+	for _, opt := range in {
+		key, value := splitKeyValue(opt)
+
+		if key == "" {
+			return Options{}, errors.Fatalf("empty key is not a valid option")
+		}
+		opts[key] = value
+	}
+
+	return opts, nil
+}
+
+// Extract returns an Options type with all keys in namespace ns, which is
+// also stripped from the keys. ns must end with a dot.
+func (o Options) Extract(ns string) Options {
+	l := len(ns)
+	if ns[l-1] != '.' {
+		ns += "."
+		l++
+	}
+
+	opts := make(Options)
+
+	for k, v := range o {
+		if !strings.HasPrefix(k, ns) {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		opts[k[l:]] = v
+	}
+
+	return opts
+}
diff --git a/src/restic/options/options_test.go b/src/restic/options/options_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..feead1c89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/restic/options/options_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+package options
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"reflect"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+var optsTests = []struct {
+	input  []string
+	output Options
+}{
+	{
+		[]string{"foo=bar", "bar=baz ", "k="},
+		Options{
+			"foo": "bar",
+			"bar": "baz",
+			"k":   "",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		[]string{"Foo=23", "baR", "k=thing with spaces"},
+		Options{
+			"foo": "23",
+			"bar": "",
+			"k":   "thing with spaces",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		[]string{"k=thing with spaces", "k2=more spaces = not evil"},
+		Options{
+			"k":  "thing with spaces",
+			"k2": "more spaces = not evil",
+		},
+	},
+}
+
+func TestParseOptions(t *testing.T) {
+	for i, test := range optsTests {
+		t.Run(fmt.Sprintf("test-%v", i), func(t *testing.T) {
+			opts, err := Parse(test.input)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("unable to parse options: %v", err)
+			}
+
+			if !reflect.DeepEqual(opts, test.output) {
+				t.Fatalf("wrong result, want:\n  %#v\ngot:\n  %#v", test.output, opts)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+var invalidOptsTests = []struct {
+	input []string
+	err   string
+}{
+	{
+		[]string{"=bar", "bar=baz", "k="},
+		"empty key is not a valid option",
+	},
+}
+
+func TestParseInvalidOptions(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, test := range invalidOptsTests {
+		t.Run(test.err, func(t *testing.T) {
+			_, err := Parse(test.input)
+			if err == nil {
+				t.Fatalf("expected error (%v) not found, err is nil", test.err)
+			}
+
+			if err.Error() != test.err {
+				t.Fatalf("expected error %q, got %q", test.err, err.Error())
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+var extractTests = []struct {
+	input  Options
+	ns     string
+	output Options
+}{
+	{
+		input: Options{
+			"foo.bar:":     "baz",
+			"s3.timeout":   "10s",
+			"sftp.timeout": "5s",
+			"global":       "foobar",
+		},
+		ns: "s3",
+		output: Options{
+			"timeout": "10s",
+		},
+	},
+}
+
+func TestOptionsExtract(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, test := range extractTests {
+		t.Run(test.ns, func(t *testing.T) {
+			opts := test.input.Extract(test.ns)
+
+			if !reflect.DeepEqual(opts, test.output) {
+				t.Fatalf("wrong result, want:\n  %#v\ngot:\n  %#v", test.output, opts)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}