diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index bf7ac78..c7e3ef5 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -846,6 +846,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "eyre",
  "sidebus-common",
  "tokio",
+ "tokio-stream",
  "tokio-vsock",
  "tracing",
  "tracing-subscriber",
diff --git a/sidebus-broker/Cargo.toml b/sidebus-broker/Cargo.toml
index d847c1c..9fbf0ee 100644
--- a/sidebus-broker/Cargo.toml
+++ b/sidebus-broker/Cargo.toml
@@ -13,3 +13,4 @@ tokio-vsock = "0.7.1"
 tracing = "0.1.41"
 tracing-subscriber = "0.3.19"
 zbus = { workspace = true }
+tokio-stream = "0.1.17"
diff --git a/sidebus-broker/src/bus.rs b/sidebus-broker/src/bus.rs
index 4740789..8ecd7af 100644
--- a/sidebus-broker/src/bus.rs
+++ b/sidebus-broker/src/bus.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 use std::sync::Arc;
+use tokio_stream::StreamExt as _;
 use tracing::trace;
 
 pub struct HostedBus {
@@ -64,8 +65,79 @@ impl HostedBus {
             .map_err(|err| eyre::eyre!(Box::new(err)))
     }
 
+    pub async fn name_owner_changes(&mut self) -> eyre::Result<NameOwnerStream> {
+        let conn = self.connect_channel(false).await?;
+        NameOwnerStream::new(conn).await
+    }
+
     fn next_id(&mut self) -> usize {
         self.next_id += 1;
         self.next_id
     }
 }
+
+pub struct NameOwnerStream {
+    _conn: zbus::Connection,
+    stream: zbus::MessageStream,
+}
+
+impl NameOwnerStream {
+    pub async fn new(conn: zbus::Connection) -> eyre::Result<Self> {
+        // we're subscribing and waiting for the server to confirm the subscription *here*
+        // so there should be no missing events if an owner we're waiting for is spawned
+        // "too soon", even if we start polling `next()` after it's connected
+        // (to test: `tokio::time::sleep(Duration::from_secs(1)).await` before `wait_for_acquisition()` :))
+        let stream = zbus::MessageStream::for_match_rule(
+            zbus::MatchRule::builder()
+                .msg_type(zbus::message::Type::Signal)
+                .path(busd::fdo::DBus::PATH)?
+                .interface(busd::fdo::DBus::INTERFACE)?
+                .member("NameOwnerChanged")?
+                .build()
+                .into_owned(),
+            &conn,
+            None,
+        )
+        .await?;
+        Ok(NameOwnerStream {
+            _conn: conn,
+            stream,
+        })
+    }
+
+    pub async fn next(&mut self) -> eyre::Result<busd::name_registry::NameOwnerChanged> {
+        match self.stream.next().await {
+            None => Err(eyre::eyre!("stream ended")),
+            Some(Err(err)) => Err(err.into()),
+            Some(Ok(msg)) => Ok({
+                let body = msg.body();
+                let (name, old_owner, new_owner): (
+                    zbus::names::BusName,
+                    zbus::zvariant::Optional<zbus::names::UniqueName>,
+                    zbus::zvariant::Optional<zbus::names::UniqueName>,
+                ) = body.deserialize()?;
+                busd::name_registry::NameOwnerChanged {
+                    name: name.into_owned().into(),
+                    old_owner: Option::from(old_owner).map(|x: zbus::names::UniqueName| x.into()),
+                    new_owner: Option::from(new_owner).map(|x: zbus::names::UniqueName| x.into()),
+                }
+            }),
+        }
+    }
+
+    pub async fn wait_for_acquisition(
+        &mut self,
+        name: zbus::names::OwnedWellKnownName,
+    ) -> eyre::Result<()> {
+        while let Ok(change) = self.next().await {
+            if let zbus::names::BusName::WellKnown(ref well_known) = *change.name {
+                if *well_known == name {
+                    return Ok(());
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        Err(eyre::eyre!(
+            "non-Ok response when waiting for name acquisition!"
+        ))
+    }
+}