diff --git a/components/engine/api/api.go b/components/engine/api/api.go
index 3bc8a8b504..e0077a94e3 100644
--- a/components/engine/api/api.go
+++ b/components/engine/api/api.go
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import (
 	"syscall"
 )
 
+// FIXME: move code common to client and server to common.go
 const (
 	APIVERSION        = 1.9
 	DEFAULTHTTPHOST   = "127.0.0.1"
@@ -34,6 +35,14 @@ const (
 	DEFAULTUNIXSOCKET = "/var/run/docker.sock"
 )
 
+func ValidateHost(val string) (string, error) {
+	host, err := utils.ParseHost(DEFAULTHTTPHOST, DEFAULTHTTPPORT, DEFAULTUNIXSOCKET, val)
+	if err != nil {
+		return val, err
+	}
+	return host, nil
+}
+
 type HttpApiFunc func(eng *engine.Engine, version float64, w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, vars map[string]string) error
 
 func init() {
diff --git a/components/engine/commands.go b/components/engine/commands.go
index db8cc1d2f5..973a41d86a 100644
--- a/components/engine/commands.go
+++ b/components/engine/commands.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/engine"
 	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/nat"
 	flag "github.com/dotcloud/docker/pkg/mflag"
+	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/pkg/opts"
 	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/pkg/sysinfo"
 	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/pkg/term"
 	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/registry"
@@ -1757,16 +1758,16 @@ func ParseRun(args []string, sysInfo *sysinfo.SysInfo) (*Config, *HostConfig, *f
 func parseRun(cmd *flag.FlagSet, args []string, sysInfo *sysinfo.SysInfo) (*Config, *HostConfig, *flag.FlagSet, error) {
 	var (
 		// FIXME: use utils.ListOpts for attach and volumes?
-		flAttach  = NewListOpts(ValidateAttach)
-		flVolumes = NewListOpts(ValidatePath)
-		flLinks   = NewListOpts(ValidateLink)
-		flEnv     = NewListOpts(ValidateEnv)
+		flAttach  = opts.NewListOpts(opts.ValidateAttach)
+		flVolumes = opts.NewListOpts(opts.ValidatePath)
+		flLinks   = opts.NewListOpts(opts.ValidateLink)
+		flEnv     = opts.NewListOpts(opts.ValidateEnv)
 
-		flPublish     ListOpts
-		flExpose      ListOpts
-		flDns         ListOpts
-		flVolumesFrom ListOpts
-		flLxcOpts     ListOpts
+		flPublish     opts.ListOpts
+		flExpose      opts.ListOpts
+		flDns         opts.ListOpts
+		flVolumesFrom opts.ListOpts
+		flLxcOpts     opts.ListOpts
 
 		flAutoRemove      = cmd.Bool([]string{"#rm", "-rm"}, false, "Automatically remove the container when it exits (incompatible with -d)")
 		flDetach          = cmd.Bool([]string{"d", "-detach"}, false, "Detached mode: Run container in the background, print new container id")
diff --git a/components/engine/docker/docker.go b/components/engine/docker/docker.go
index d92f4d98ea..775dfd3533 100644
--- a/components/engine/docker/docker.go
+++ b/components/engine/docker/docker.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/api"
 	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/engine"
 	flag "github.com/dotcloud/docker/pkg/mflag"
+	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/pkg/opts"
 	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/sysinit"
 	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/utils"
 )
@@ -36,13 +37,13 @@ func main() {
 		pidfile              = flag.String([]string{"p", "-pidfile"}, "/var/run/docker.pid", "Path to use for daemon PID file")
 		flRoot               = flag.String([]string{"g", "-graph"}, "/var/lib/docker", "Path to use as the root of the docker runtime")
 		flEnableCors         = flag.Bool([]string{"#api-enable-cors", "-api-enable-cors"}, false, "Enable CORS headers in the remote API")
-		flDns                = docker.NewListOpts(docker.ValidateIp4Address)
+		flDns                = opts.NewListOpts(opts.ValidateIp4Address)
 		flEnableIptables     = flag.Bool([]string{"#iptables", "-iptables"}, true, "Disable docker's addition of iptables rules")
 		flEnableIpForward    = flag.Bool([]string{"#ip-forward", "-ip-forward"}, true, "Disable enabling of net.ipv4.ip_forward")
 		flDefaultIp          = flag.String([]string{"#ip", "-ip"}, "0.0.0.0", "Default IP address to use when binding container ports")
 		flInterContainerComm = flag.Bool([]string{"#icc", "-icc"}, true, "Enable inter-container communication")
 		flGraphDriver        = flag.String([]string{"s", "-storage-driver"}, "", "Force the docker runtime to use a specific storage driver")
-		flHosts              = docker.NewListOpts(docker.ValidateHost)
+		flHosts              = opts.NewListOpts(api.ValidateHost)
 		flMtu                = flag.Int([]string{"#mtu", "-mtu"}, 0, "Set the containers network MTU; if no value is provided: default to the default route MTU or 1500 if not default route is available")
 	)
 	flag.Var(&flDns, []string{"#dns", "-dns"}, "Force docker to use specific DNS servers")
diff --git a/components/engine/opts.go b/components/engine/pkg/opts/opts.go
similarity index 89%
rename from components/engine/opts.go
rename to components/engine/pkg/opts/opts.go
index b1d71c491d..a1b8752bad 100644
--- a/components/engine/opts.go
+++ b/components/engine/pkg/opts/opts.go
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
-package docker
+package opts
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/api"
 	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/utils"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -99,6 +98,16 @@ func ValidateLink(val string) (string, error) {
 	return val, nil
 }
 
+// FIXME: this is a duplicate of docker.utils.parseLink.
+// 	it can't be moved to a separate links/ package because
+//	links depends on Container which is defined in the core.
+//
+// Links come in the format of
+// name:alias
+func parseLink(rawLink string) (map[string]string, error) {
+	return utils.PartParser("name:alias", rawLink)
+}
+
 func ValidatePath(val string) (string, error) {
 	var containerPath string
 
@@ -129,14 +138,6 @@ func ValidateEnv(val string) (string, error) {
 	return fmt.Sprintf("%s=%s", val, os.Getenv(val)), nil
 }
 
-func ValidateHost(val string) (string, error) {
-	host, err := utils.ParseHost(api.DEFAULTHTTPHOST, api.DEFAULTHTTPPORT, api.DEFAULTUNIXSOCKET, val)
-	if err != nil {
-		return val, err
-	}
-	return host, nil
-}
-
 func ValidateIp4Address(val string) (string, error) {
 	re := regexp.MustCompile(`^(([0-9]+\.){3}([0-9]+))\s*$`)
 	var ns = re.FindSubmatch([]byte(val))
diff --git a/components/engine/opts_unit_test.go b/components/engine/pkg/opts/opts_test.go
similarity index 97%
rename from components/engine/opts_unit_test.go
rename to components/engine/pkg/opts/opts_test.go
index 67b061771b..a5c1fac9ca 100644
--- a/components/engine/opts_unit_test.go
+++ b/components/engine/pkg/opts/opts_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-package docker
+package opts
 
 import (
 	"testing"
diff --git a/components/engine/utils.go b/components/engine/utils.go
index d4718954da..e3a58cc67e 100644
--- a/components/engine/utils.go
+++ b/components/engine/utils.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/archive"
 	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/nat"
 	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/pkg/namesgenerator"
+	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/pkg/opts"
 	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/utils"
 	"io"
 	"strings"
@@ -192,7 +193,7 @@ func MergeConfig(userConf, imageConf *Config) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func parseLxcConfOpts(opts ListOpts) ([]KeyValuePair, error) {
+func parseLxcConfOpts(opts opts.ListOpts) ([]KeyValuePair, error) {
 	out := make([]KeyValuePair, opts.Len())
 	for i, o := range opts.GetAll() {
 		k, v, err := parseLxcOpt(o)