new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/babel/compat.py
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2007-2011 Edgewall Software
+# All rights reserved.
+#
+# This software is licensed as described in the file COPYING, which
+# you should have received as part of this distribution. The terms
+# are also available at http://babel.edgewall.org/wiki/License.
+#
+# This software consists of voluntary contributions made by many
+# individuals. For the exact contribution history, see the revision
+# history and logs, available at http://babel.edgewall.org/log/.
+
+try:
+    from xml.etree import ElementTree
+except ImportError:
+    from elementtree import ElementTree
+
+try:
+    any = any
+except NameError:
+    def any(iterable):
+        return filter(None, list(iterable))
+
+try:
+    import threading
+except ImportError:
+    import dummy_threading as threading
+