diff --git a/docs/libcurl/curl_easy_getinfo.3 b/docs/libcurl/curl_easy_getinfo.3
index 9f1e6a07ee28232a97407de2a87da9084e0375f0..ae149264d5cfa1978cbcb961c74097eebcdeb412 100644
--- a/docs/libcurl/curl_easy_getinfo.3
+++ b/docs/libcurl/curl_easy_getinfo.3
@@ -115,8 +115,12 @@ Pass a pointer to a 'char *' to receive the content-type of the downloaded
 object. This is the value read from the Content-Type: field. If you get NULL,
 it means that the server didn't send a valid Content-Type header or that the
 protocol used doesn't support this.  (Added in 7.9.4)
+.TP
+.B CURLINFO_PRIVATE
+Pass a pointer to a 'char *' to receive the pointer to the private data
+associated with the curl handle (set with the CURLOPT_PRIVATE option to curl_easy_setopt).
+(Added in 7.10.3)
 .PP
-
 .SH RETURN VALUE
 If the operation was successful, CURLE_OK is returned. Otherwise an
 appropriate error code will be returned.
diff --git a/docs/libcurl/curl_easy_setopt.3 b/docs/libcurl/curl_easy_setopt.3
index 1d17ebb8eb670ceeeb9742e1327930a58e279fdb..b387445f4f4024aa6a33ae3b8decf228be914245 100644
--- a/docs/libcurl/curl_easy_setopt.3
+++ b/docs/libcurl/curl_easy_setopt.3
@@ -763,6 +763,13 @@ krb4 awareness.  This is a string, 'clear', 'safe', 'confidential' or
 will be used. Set the string to NULL to disable kerberos4. The kerberos
 support only works for FTP. (Added in 7.3)
 .PP
+.SH OTHER OPTIONS
+.TP 0.4i
+.B CURLOPT_PRIVATE
+Pass a char * as parameter, pointing to data that should be
+associated with the curl handle.  The pointer can be subsequently retrieved using
+the CURLINFO_PRIVATE options to curl_easy_getinfo. (Added in 7.10.3)
+.PP
 .SH RETURN VALUE
 CURLE_OK (zero) means that the option was set properly, non-zero means an
 error occurred as \fI<curl/curl.h>\fP defines. See the \fIlibcurl-errors.3\fP
diff --git a/include/curl/curl.h b/include/curl/curl.h
index 94c2cd04899a2f97c7feae71b5c3926c7b01f1d6..bf7b4852d287e5d1a8310804dd231de9ff4112b1 100644
--- a/include/curl/curl.h
+++ b/include/curl/curl.h
@@ -610,6 +610,8 @@ typedef enum {
      the response to be compressed. */
   CINIT(ENCODING, OBJECTPOINT, 102),
  
+  /* Set pointer to private data */
+  CINIT(PRIVATE, OBJECTPOINT, 103),
 
   CURLOPT_LASTENTRY /* the last unused */
 } CURLoption;
@@ -861,9 +863,11 @@ typedef enum {
   CURLINFO_REDIRECT_TIME   = CURLINFO_DOUBLE + 19,
   CURLINFO_REDIRECT_COUNT  = CURLINFO_LONG + 20,
 
+  CURLINFO_PRIVATE = CURLINFO_STRING + 21,
+
   /* Fill in new entries here! */
 
-  CURLINFO_LASTONE          = 21
+  CURLINFO_LASTONE          = 22
 } CURLINFO;
 
 /* unfortunately, the easy.h and multi.h include files need options and info
diff --git a/lib/getinfo.c b/lib/getinfo.c
index 01d6dda854f6b1c17d9e5965ae15c2d50d8616f2..009a3c10a79311e36ba5fbbad517e982f01b83e7 100644
--- a/lib/getinfo.c
+++ b/lib/getinfo.c
@@ -158,6 +158,9 @@ CURLcode Curl_getinfo(struct SessionHandle *data, CURLINFO info, ...)
   case CURLINFO_CONTENT_TYPE:
     *param_charp = data->info.contenttype;
     break;
+  case CURLINFO_PRIVATE:
+    *param_charp = data->set.private?data->set.private:(char *)"";
+    break;
   default:
     return CURLE_BAD_FUNCTION_ARGUMENT;
   }
diff --git a/lib/url.c b/lib/url.c
index 7083490be101ee64270360ff6bb0489135429526..c07c50861301cbff4a32e20cdd7052431cdb857b 100644
--- a/lib/url.c
+++ b/lib/url.c
@@ -1088,6 +1088,13 @@ CURLcode Curl_setopt(struct SessionHandle *data, CURLoption option, ...)
     data->set.proxytype = va_arg(param, long);
     break;
 
+  case CURLOPT_PRIVATE:
+    /*
+     * Set private data pointer.
+     */
+    data->set.private = va_arg(param, char *);
+    break;
+
   default:
     /* unknown tag and its companion, just ignore: */
     return CURLE_FAILED_INIT; /* correct this */
diff --git a/lib/urldata.h b/lib/urldata.h
index 8d20a78f8c08de54dede06df803265826d134083..f123a770cde9b75a02194ebd4d65a5b98478cb12 100644
--- a/lib/urldata.h
+++ b/lib/urldata.h
@@ -686,6 +686,8 @@ struct UserDefined {
 
   int dns_cache_timeout; /* DNS cache timeout */
   long buffer_size;      /* size of receive buffer to use */
+
+  char *private; /* Private data */
   
 /* Here follows boolean settings that define how to behave during
    this session. They are STATIC, set by libcurl users or at least initially