diff --git a/miscutils/Config.in b/miscutils/Config.in
index f07ca36..4d81dde 100644
--- a/miscutils/Config.in
+++ b/miscutils/Config.in
@@ -255,6 +255,15 @@
 	  to advance or rewind a tape past a specified number of archive
 	  files on the tape.
 
+config BB_APPLET_RUNLEVEL
+        bool "runlevel"
+	default n
+	help
+ 	  find the current and previous system runlevel.
+
+	  This applet uses utmp but does not rely on busybox supporing
+	  utmp on purpose. It is used by e.g. emdebian via /etc/init.d/rc.
+
 config CONFIG_RX
         bool "rx"
 	default n
diff --git a/miscutils/Makefile.in b/miscutils/Makefile.in
index 808ce36..5bd522c 100644
--- a/miscutils/Makefile.in
+++ b/miscutils/Makefile.in
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 MISCUTILS-$(CONFIG_MAKEDEVS)    += makedevs.o
 MISCUTILS-$(CONFIG_MOUNTPOINT)  += mountpoint.o
 MISCUTILS-$(CONFIG_MT)          += mt.o
+MISCUTILS-$(BB_APPLET_RUNLEVEL) += runlevel.o
 MISCUTILS-$(CONFIG_RX)          += rx.o
 MISCUTILS-$(CONFIG_SETSID)      += setsid.o
 MISCUTILS-$(CONFIG_STRINGS)     += strings.o
diff --git a/miscutils/runlevel.c b/miscutils/runlevel.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dfa846f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/miscutils/runlevel.c
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+/*
+ * runlevel	Prints out the previous and the current runlevel.
+ *
+ * Version:	@(#)runlevel  1.20  16-Apr-1997  MvS
+ *
+ *		This file is part of the sysvinit suite,
+ *		Copyright 1991-1997 Miquel van Smoorenburg.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the GPL v2 or later, see the file LICENSE in this tarball.
+ *
+ * initially busyboxified by Bernhard Fischer
+ */
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <utmp.h>
+#include <time.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+#include "busybox.h"
+
+int runlevel_main(int argc, char *argv[])
+{
+  struct utmp *ut;
+  char prev;
+
+  if (argc > 1) utmpname(argv[1]);
+
+  setutent();
+  while ((ut = getutent()) != NULL) {
+	if (ut->ut_type == RUN_LVL) {
+		prev = ut->ut_pid / 256;
+		if (prev == 0) prev = 'N';
+		printf("%c %c\n", prev, ut->ut_pid % 256);
+		endutent();
+		return (0);
+	}
+  }
+
+  printf("unknown\n");
+  endutent();
+  return (1);
+}
+