diff --git a/subiquity/meta.py b/subiquity/meta.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..abc237ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/subiquity/meta.py
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# Copyright 2015 Canonical, Ltd.
+#
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
+# published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
+# License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+import logging
+from functools import wraps
+from threading import Thread
+
+log = logging.getLogger('subiquity.utils')
+
+
+def async(func):
+    """
+    Decorator for executing a function in a separate :class:`threading.Thread`.
+
+    Only used if we do not care about failures or waiting for some sort of
+    promise, callback, return, etc.
+    """
+    @wraps(func)
+    def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
+        thread = Thread(target=func, args=args, kwargs=kwargs)
+        thread.daemon = True
+        return thread.start()
+    return wrapper