diff --git a/Data/X509/File.hs b/Data/X509/File.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Data/X509/File.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+module Data.X509.File
+    ( readSignedObject
+    , readKeyFile
+    ) where
+
+import Control.Applicative
+import Data.ASN1.Types
+import Data.ASN1.BinaryEncoding
+import Data.ASN1.Encoding
+import qualified Data.X509 as X509
+import Data.PEM (pemParseLBS, pemContent, pemName, PEM)
+import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy as L
+import qualified Crypto.Types.PubKey.DSA as DSA
+
+readPEMs :: FilePath -> IO [PEM]
+readPEMs filepath = do
+    content <- L.readFile filepath
+    return $ either error id $ pemParseLBS content
+
+-- | return all the signed objects in a file.
+--
+-- (only one type at a time).
+readSignedObject :: (ASN1Object a, Eq a, Show a)
+                 => FilePath
+                 -> IO [X509.SignedExact a]
+readSignedObject filepath = foldl pemToSigned [] <$> readPEMs filepath
+  where pemToSigned acc pem =
+            case X509.decodeSignedObject $ pemContent pem of
+                Left _    -> acc
+                Right obj -> obj : acc
+
+-- | return all the public key that were successfully read from a file.
+readKeyFile :: FilePath -> IO [X509.PrivKey]
+readKeyFile path = foldl pemToKey [] <$> readPEMs path
+  where pemToKey acc pem = do
+            case decodeASN1' BER (pemContent pem) of
+                Left _     -> acc
+                Right asn1 -> case pemName pem of
+                                "RSA PRIVATE KEY" ->
+                                    case fromASN1 asn1 of
+                                        Left _      -> acc
+                                        Right (k,_) -> X509.PrivKeyRSA k : acc
+                                "DSA PRIVATE KEY" ->
+                                    case fromASN1 asn1 of
+                                        Left _      -> acc
+                                        Right (k,_) -> X509.PrivKeyDSA (DSA.toPrivateKey k) : acc
+                                _                 -> acc
diff --git a/x509-store.cabal b/x509-store.cabal
--- a/x509-store.cabal
+++ b/x509-store.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:                x509-store
-Version:             1.4.0
+Version:             1.4.1
 Description:         X.509 collection accessing and storing methods for certificate, crl, exception list
 License:             BSD3
 License-file:        LICENSE
@@ -26,15 +26,20 @@
                    , bytestring
                    , mtl
                    , pem >= 0.1 && < 0.2
-                   , x509
+                   , asn1-types
+                   , asn1-encoding
+                   , crypto-pubkey-types
+                   , x509 >= 1.4.3
                    , containers
                    , directory
                    , filepath
                    , process
                    , time
   Exposed-modules:   Data.X509.CertificateStore
+                     Data.X509.File
   ghc-options:       -Wall
 
 source-repository head
   type:     git
   location: git://github.com/vincenthz/hs-certificate
+  subdir:   x509-store