diff --git a/ndn-cpp/c/errors.h b/ndn-cpp/c/errors.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6cb6f1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ndn-cpp/c/errors.h
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+/**
+ * Define error codes and ndn_getErrorString to convert to a string.
+ * @author, Jeff Thompson
+ * See COPYING for copyright and distribution information.
+ */
+
+#ifndef NDN_ERRORS_H
+#define	NDN_ERRORS_H
+
+#ifdef	__cplusplus
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
+typedef enum {
+  NDN_ERROR_success = 0,
+  NDN_ERROR_element_of_value_is_not_a_decimal_digit,
+  NDN_ERROR_read_past_the_end_of_the_input,
+  NDN_ERROR_the_first_header_octet_may_not_be_zero,
+  NDN_ERROR_header_type_is_not_a_DTAG,
+  NDN_ERROR_did_not_get_the_expected_DTAG,
+  NDN_ERROR_did_not_get_the_expected_element_close,
+  NDN_ERROR_item_is_not_UDATA,
+  NDN_ERROR_header_type_is_out_of_range,
+  NDN_ERROR_encodeTypeAndValue_miscalculated_N_encoding_bytes,
+  NDN_ERROR_read_a_component_past_the_maximum_number_of_components_allowed_in_the_name,
+  NDN_ERROR_findElementEnd_unexpected_close_tag,
+  NDN_ERROR_cannot_store_more_header_bytes_than_the_size_of_headerBuffer,
+  NDN_ERROR_findElementEnd_cannot_read_header_type_and_value,
+  NDN_ERROR_findElementEnd_unrecognized_header_type,
+  NDN_ERROR_findElementEnd_unrecognized_state,
+  NDN_ERROR_DynamicUCharArray_realloc_function_pointer_not_supplied,
+  NDN_ERROR_DynamicUCharArray_realloc_failed
+} ndn_Error;
+  
+/**
+ * Convert the error code to its string.
+ * @param error the error code
+ * @return the error string or "unrecognized ndn_Error code"
+ */
+char *ndn_getErrorString(int error);
+
+#ifdef	__cplusplus
+}
+#endif
+
+#endif
\ No newline at end of file