#29 transfer common code to libceps

[Robert Lehr]

find redundant code; schedule and transfer into libceps.

all routines that are transferred should be documented in
this change request.

[Kiran Yagnavajhala]

Ticket moved from /p/ceps/feature-requests/5/

Can't be converted:

• _milestone: not_assigned
• _priority: 6
• assigned_to: bozzio (user not in project)