diff --git a/include/proto/protocols.h b/include/proto/protocols.h
index 91334da..ec98e59 100644
--- a/include/proto/protocols.h
+++ b/include/proto/protocols.h
@@ -134,6 +134,23 @@
 /* returns the protocol associated to family <family> or NULL if not found */
 struct protocol *protocol_by_family(int family);
 
+/* allocate an ssl_conf struct for a bind line, and chain it to list head <lh>.
+ * If <arg> is not NULL, it is duplicated into ->arg to store useful config
+ * information for error reporting.
+ */
+static inline struct ssl_conf *ssl_conf_alloc(struct list *lh, const char *file, int line, const char *arg)
+{
+	struct ssl_conf *ssl_conf = (void *)calloc(1, sizeof(struct ssl_conf));
+
+	ssl_conf->file = strdup(file);
+	ssl_conf->line = line;
+	if (lh)
+		LIST_ADDQ(lh, &ssl_conf->by_fe);
+	if (arg)
+		ssl_conf->arg = strdup(arg);
+	return ssl_conf;
+}
+
 #endif /* _PROTO_PROTOCOLS_H */
 
 /*