diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index b2ab650e9..587f49b6f 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -45,6 +45,10 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE(experimental,
     [  --enable-experimental   Enables some experimental code])
 
 
+dnl --have-ekv: define HAVE_EKV in the code. This is for EKV model support
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(ekv,
+    [  --enable-ekv            Enable ekv model *not in standard distribution*])
+
 dnl Enable maintainer commands only if requested
 AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
 
@@ -178,6 +182,10 @@ dnl Check for getopt function and if not found uses a local copy:
 AC_CHECK_FUNC(getopt, GETOPTSRC="", GETOPTSRC= "getopt.h getopt.c getopt1.c")
 AC_SUBST(GETOPTSRC)
 
+AC_MSG_RESULT(Checking for readline library:)
+dnl Check for the readline library
+AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, AC_DEFINE(HAVE_GNUREADLINE) LIBS="$LIBS -lreadline")
+
 # Expand the prefix variable (this is really annoying!)
 if eval "test x$prefix = xNONE"; then
  dprefix=$ac_default_prefix
@@ -212,6 +220,11 @@ if test "$enable_experimental" = "yes"; then
 	AC_DEFINE(EXPERIMENTAL_CODE)
 	AC_MSG_RESULT(EXPERIMENTAL_CODE enabled)	
 fi
+if test "$enable_ekv" = "yes"; then
+    AC_DEFINE(HAVE_EKV)
+    AC_MSG_RESULT(Model EKV included)
+    EKVDIR=ekv
+fi
 
 
 AC_OUTPUT(			\
@@ -240,6 +253,7 @@ src/spicelib/devices/cccs/Makefile	\
 src/spicelib/devices/ccvs/Makefile	\
 src/spicelib/devices/csw/Makefile	\
 src/spicelib/devices/dio/Makefile	\
+src/spicelib/devices/dio/Makefile	\
 src/spicelib/devices/ind/Makefile	\
 src/spicelib/devices/isrc/Makefile	\
 src/spicelib/devices/hfet1/Makefile	\
diff --git a/patches/README b/patches/README
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2edf511de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patches/README
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
++--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|    NGSPICE PATCHES DIRECTORY                                             |
+| code not included in the source                                          |
++--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+This directory contains code contributed by developers or user
+of ngspice not included in the main source. 
+
+
+Index:
+
+readline-patch: This patch is not included in the source since the readline 
+                library is released under the GPL (GNU Public License) and 
+                ngspice is released under the old BSD license, which is 
+                incompatible with GPL. Patching ngspice with this cose is a 
+                violation of GPL. This code is included here since has been
+                requested by many spice user. The use of this code is 
+                discouraged since GPL is probably the last and only line of
+                defense of open source software.
+
+                If you want to know more about the license issue, look at 
+                the GNU site: htt://www.gnu.org
+
+
diff --git a/patches/readline-patch b/patches/readline-patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..62d9404c3
Binary files /dev/null and b/patches/readline-patch differ