diff --git a/library/smarty/libs/plugins/shared.make_timestamp.php b/library/smarty/libs/plugins/shared.make_timestamp.php
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/library/smarty/libs/plugins/shared.make_timestamp.php
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * Smarty shared plugin
+ *
+ * @package    Smarty
+ * @subpackage PluginsShared
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Function: smarty_make_timestamp<br>
+ * Purpose:  used by other smarty functions to make a timestamp from a string.
+ *
+ * @author   Monte Ohrt <monte at ohrt dot com>
+ *
+ * @param DateTime|int|string $string date object, timestamp or string that can be converted using strtotime()
+ *
+ * @return int
+ */
+function smarty_make_timestamp($string) {
+    if (empty($string)) {
+        // use "now":
+        return time();
+    } elseif ($string instanceof DateTime) {
+        return $string->getTimestamp();
+    } elseif (strlen($string) == 14 && ctype_digit($string)) {
+        // it is mysql timestamp format of YYYYMMDDHHMMSS?
+        return mktime(substr($string, 8, 2), substr($string, 10, 2), substr($string, 12, 2),
+            substr($string, 4, 2), substr($string, 6, 2), substr($string, 0, 4));
+    } elseif (is_numeric($string)) {
+        // it is a numeric string, we handle it as timestamp
+        return (int)$string;
+    } else {
+        // strtotime should handle it
+        $time = strtotime($string);
+        if ($time == -1 || $time === false) {
+            // strtotime() was not able to parse $string, use "now":
+            return time();
+        }
+
+        return $time;
+    }
+}