diff --git a/daemon/Makefile.am b/daemon/Makefile.am
index e0da08ccc..a8ddd672e 100644
--- a/daemon/Makefile.am
+++ b/daemon/Makefile.am
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ guestfsd_SOURCES = \
 	pingdaemon.c \
 	proto.c \
 	sfdisk.c \
+	sleep.c \
 	stat.c \
 	strings.c \
 	stubs.c \
diff --git a/daemon/sleep.c b/daemon/sleep.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2cf3ff748
--- /dev/null
+++ b/daemon/sleep.c
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+/* libguestfs - the guestfsd daemon
+ * Copyright (C) 2009 Red Hat Inc. 
+ *
+ * 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., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
+ */
+
+#include <config.h>
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+#include "../src/guestfs_protocol.h"
+#include "daemon.h"
+#include "actions.h"
+
+int
+do_sleep (int secs)
+{
+  /* According to the man page, this syscall never fails. */
+  (void) sleep (secs);
+  return 0;
+}
diff --git a/src/generator.ml b/src/generator.ml
index bb3744ed0..ffee564ed 100755
--- a/src/generator.ml
+++ b/src/generator.ml
@@ -2311,6 +2311,13 @@ even if the filesystem appears to be clean (C<-f>).
 This command is only needed because of C<guestfs_resize2fs>
 (q.v.).  Normally you should use C<guestfs_fsck>.");
 
+  ("sleep", (RErr, [Int "secs"]), 109, [],
+   [InitNone, Always, TestRun (
+    [["sleep"; "1"]])],
+   "sleep for some seconds",
+   "\
+Sleep for C<secs> seconds.");
+
 ]
 
 let all_functions = non_daemon_functions @ daemon_functions