diff --git a/pisi/package.py b/pisi/package.py
index 34f9bae6..689a6d75 100644
--- a/pisi/package.py
+++ b/pisi/package.py
@@ -105,6 +105,18 @@ class Package:
         self.extract_files([ctx.const.metadata_xml, ctx.const.files_xml], outdir)
         self.extract_dir('config', outdir)
 
+    def get_metadata(self):
+        """reads metadata.xml from the PiSi package and returns MetaData object"""
+        md = MetaData()
+        md.parse(self.impl.read_file(ctx.const.metadata_xml))
+        return md
+
+    def get_files(self):
+        """reads files.xml from the PiSi package and returns Files object"""
+        files = Files()
+        files.parse(self.impl.read_file(ctx.const.files_xml))
+        return files
+
     def read(self, outdir = None):
         if not outdir:
             outdir = ctx.config.tmp_dir()
diff --git a/pisi/pxml/autoxml.py b/pisi/pxml/autoxml.py
index f02e0305..96fe6fd4 100644
--- a/pisi/pxml/autoxml.py
+++ b/pisi/pxml/autoxml.py
@@ -412,6 +412,24 @@ class autoxml(oo.autosuper, oo.autoprop):
             cls.__ne__ = notequal            
             
         if xmlfile_support:
+            def parse(self, xml, keepDoc = False):
+                "parse XML string and decode it into a python object"
+                self.parsexml(xml)
+                errs = []
+                self.decode(self.rootNode(), errs)
+                if errs:
+                    errs.append(_("autoxml.parse: String '%s' has errors") % xml)
+                    raise Error(*errs)
+                if hasattr(self, 'read_hook'):
+                    self.read_hook(errs)
+
+                if not keepDoc:
+                    self.unlink() # get rid of the tree
+
+                errs = self.errors()
+                if errs:
+                    errs.append(_("autoxml.parse: String '%s' has errors") % xml)
+
             def read(self, uri, keepDoc = False, tmpDir = '/tmp',
                      sha1sum = False, compress = None, sign = None, copylocal = False):
                 "read XML file and decode it into a python object"
@@ -454,6 +472,7 @@ class autoxml(oo.autosuper, oo.autoprop):
             
             cls.read = read
             cls.write = write
+            cls.parse = parse
             
 
     def gen_attr_member(cls, attr):
diff --git a/pisi/pxml/xmlfile.py b/pisi/pxml/xmlfile.py
index 15355940..58e9883e 100644
--- a/pisi/pxml/xmlfile.py
+++ b/pisi/pxml/xmlfile.py
@@ -54,6 +54,14 @@ class XmlFile(object):
     def rootNode(self):
         """returns root document element"""
         return self.doc
+
+    def parsexml(self, xml):
+        """parses xml string and returns DOM"""
+        try:
+            self.doc = iks.parseString(xml)
+            return self.doc
+        except Exception, e:
+            raise Error(_("String '%s' has invalid XML") % (xml))
         
     def readxmlfile(self, file):
         raise Exception("not implemented")