diff --git a/includes/AutoLoader.php b/includes/AutoLoader.php
index fefa987c8a4..2c7bfcabb0c 100644
--- a/includes/AutoLoader.php
+++ b/includes/AutoLoader.php
@@ -166,6 +166,7 @@ $wgAutoloadLocalClasses = array(
 	'MessageCache' => 'includes/MessageCache.php',
 	'MimeMagic' => 'includes/MimeMagic.php',
 	'MWException' => 'includes/Exception.php',
+	'MWFunction' => 'includes/MWFunction.php',
 	'MWHttpRequest' => 'includes/HttpFunctions.php',
 	'MWMemcached' => 'includes/memcached-client.php',
 	'MWNamespace' => 'includes/Namespace.php',
diff --git a/includes/MWFunction.php b/includes/MWFunction.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3622b694699
--- /dev/null
+++ b/includes/MWFunction.php
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+<?php
+
+/**
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
+ * with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+ * 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+ * http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
+ *
+ */
+
+class MWFunction {
+	
+	protected static function cleanCallback( $callback ) {
+		
+		if( is_string( $callback ) ) {
+			if ( in_string( '::', $callback ) ) {
+				//PHP 5.1 cannot use call_user_func( 'Class::Method' )
+				//It can only handle only call_user_func( array( 'Class', 'Method' ) )
+				$callback = explode( '::', $callback, 2);
+			}
+		}
+		
+		return $callback;
+	}
+	
+	public static function call( $callback ) {
+		$callback = self::cleanCallback( $callback );
+		
+		$args = func_get_args();
+		
+		return call_user_func_array( 'call_user_func', $args );
+		
+	}
+	
+	public static function callArray( $callback, $params ) {
+	
+		$callback = self::cleanCallback( $callback );
+		return call_user_func_array( $callback, $params );
+		
+	}
+	
+}
diff --git a/includes/WebStart.php b/includes/WebStart.php
index fede558acb3..770e81fa60d 100644
--- a/includes/WebStart.php
+++ b/includes/WebStart.php
@@ -96,12 +96,8 @@ require_once( "$IP/includes/DefaultSettings.php" );
 
 if ( defined( 'MW_CONFIG_CALLBACK' ) ) {
 	# Use a callback function to configure MediaWiki
-	$callback = MW_CONFIG_CALLBACK;
-	# PHP 5.1 doesn't support "class::method" for call_user_func, so split it
-	if ( strpos( $callback, '::' ) !== false ) {
-		$callback = explode( '::', $callback, 2);
-	}
-	call_user_func( $callback );
+	MWFunction::call( MW_CONFIG_CALLBACK );
+	
 } else {
 	if ( !defined('MW_CONFIG_FILE') )
 		define('MW_CONFIG_FILE', "$IP/LocalSettings.php");
diff --git a/maintenance/doMaintenance.php b/maintenance/doMaintenance.php
index 292604a6f17..59f5042e146 100644
--- a/maintenance/doMaintenance.php
+++ b/maintenance/doMaintenance.php
@@ -65,12 +65,7 @@ require_once( "$IP/includes/DefaultSettings.php" );
 
 if ( defined( 'MW_CONFIG_CALLBACK' ) ) {
 	# Use a callback function to configure MediaWiki
-	$callback = MW_CONFIG_CALLBACK;
-	# PHP 5.1 doesn't support "class::method" for call_user_func, so split it
-	if ( strpos( $callback, '::' ) !== false ) {
-		$callback = explode( '::', $callback, 2 );
-	}
-	call_user_func( $callback );
+	MWFunction::call( MW_CONFIG_CALLBACK );
 } elseif ( file_exists( "$IP/wmf-config/wikimedia-mode" ) ) {
 	// Load settings, using wikimedia-mode if needed
 	// Fixme: replace this hack with general farm-friendly code
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/includes/MWFunctionTest.php b/tests/phpunit/includes/MWFunctionTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..19eae81e2ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/phpunit/includes/MWFunctionTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+<?php
+
+class MWFunctionTest extends MediaWikiTestCase {
+	
+	function testCallUserFuncWorkarounds() {
+		
+		$this->assertEquals( 
+			MWFunction::call( 'MWFunctionTest::someMethod' ), 
+			call_user_func( array( 'MWFunctionTest', 'someMethod' ) )
+		);
+		$this->assertEquals( 
+			MWFunction::call( 'MWFunctionTest::someMethod', 'foo', 'bar', 'baz' ), 
+			call_user_func( array( 'MWFunctionTest', 'someMethod' ), 'foo', 'bar', 'baz' )
+		);
+		
+		
+		
+		$this->assertEquals( 
+			MWFunction::callArray( 'MWFunctionTest::someMethod', array() ), 
+			call_user_func_array( array( 'MWFunctionTest', 'someMethod' ), array() )
+		);
+		$this->assertEquals( 
+			MWFunction::callArray( 'MWFunctionTest::someMethod', array( 'foo', 'bar', 'baz' ) ), 
+			call_user_func_array( array( 'MWFunctionTest', 'someMethod' ), array( 'foo', 'bar', 'baz' ) )
+		);
+		
+	}
+	
+	public static function someMethod() {
+		return func_get_args();
+	}
+	
+}
+