diff --git a/common/misc.c b/common/misc.c
index bb7d447..4ec0e22 100644
--- a/common/misc.c
+++ b/common/misc.c
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@
 #include <common.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <malloc.h>
+#include <magicvar.h>
+#include <globalvar.h>
+#include <environment.h>
 
 int errno;
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(errno);
@@ -149,3 +152,34 @@
 	return CONFIG_BOARDINFO;
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(barebox_get_model);
+
+BAREBOX_MAGICVAR_NAMED(global_model, global.model, "Product name of this hardware");
+
+static char *hostname;
+
+/*
+ * The hostname is supposed to be the shortname of a board. It should
+ * contain only lowercase letters, numbers, '-', '_'. No whitespaces
+ * allowed.
+ */
+void barebox_set_hostname(const char *__hostname)
+{
+	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_GLOBALVAR)) {
+		globalvar_add_simple("hostname", __hostname);
+	} else {
+		free(hostname);
+		hostname = xstrdup(__hostname);
+	}
+}
+
+const char *barebox_get_hostname(void)
+{
+	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_GLOBALVAR))
+		return getenv("global.hostname");
+
+	return hostname;
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(barebox_get_hostname);
+
+BAREBOX_MAGICVAR_NAMED(global_hostname, global.hostname,
+		"shortname of the board. Also used as hostname for DHCP requests");
diff --git a/include/common.h b/include/common.h
index 7d05d8b..7173efb 100644
--- a/include/common.h
+++ b/include/common.h
@@ -236,6 +236,8 @@
 
 const char *barebox_get_model(void);
 void barebox_set_model(const char *);
+const char *barebox_get_hostname(void);
+void barebox_set_hostname(const char *);
 
 #define IOMEM(addr)	((void __force __iomem *)(addr))
 
diff --git a/net/dhcp.c b/net/dhcp.c
index cafefcb..ff54924 100644
--- a/net/dhcp.c
+++ b/net/dhcp.c
@@ -830,7 +830,6 @@
 	BAREBOX_CMD_COMPLETE(empty_complete)
 BAREBOX_CMD_END
 
-BAREBOX_MAGICVAR_NAMED(global_hostname, global.hostname, "hostname to send or returned from DHCP request");
 BAREBOX_MAGICVAR_NAMED(global_dhcp_bootfile, global.dhcp.bootfile, "bootfile returned from DHCP request");
 BAREBOX_MAGICVAR_NAMED(global_dhcp_rootpath, global.dhcp.rootpath, "rootpath returned from DHCP request");
 BAREBOX_MAGICVAR_NAMED(global_dhcp_vendor_id, global.dhcp.vendor_id, "vendor id to send to the DHCP server");