diff --git a/daemon/Makefile.am b/daemon/Makefile.am
index 569f1ecc5..20195cb78 100644
--- a/daemon/Makefile.am
+++ b/daemon/Makefile.am
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ guestfsd_SOURCES = \
 	debug.c \
 	devsparts.c \
 	dir.c \
+	dmesg.c \
 	dropcaches.c \
 	ext2.c \
 	file.c \
diff --git a/daemon/dmesg.c b/daemon/dmesg.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2e58eb946
--- /dev/null
+++ b/daemon/dmesg.c
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+/* 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 <string.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+
+#include "daemon.h"
+#include "actions.h"
+
+char *
+do_dmesg (void)
+{
+  char *out, *err;
+  int r;
+
+  r = command (&out, &err, "dmesg", NULL);
+  if (r == -1) {
+    reply_with_error ("dmesg: %s", err);
+    free (out);
+    free (err);
+    return NULL;
+  }
+  free (err);
+
+  return out;			/* caller frees */
+}
diff --git a/src/generator.ml b/src/generator.ml
index 2ffe19dad..92da3817d 100755
--- a/src/generator.ml
+++ b/src/generator.ml
@@ -1752,6 +1752,20 @@ Setting C<whattodrop> to 3 should drop everything.
 This automatically calls L<sync(2)> before the operation,
 so that the maximum guest memory is freed.");
 
+  ("dmesg", (RString "kmsgs", []), 91, [],
+   [InitEmpty, TestRun (
+      [["dmesg"]])],
+   "return kernel messages",
+   "\
+This returns the kernel messages (C<dmesg> output) from
+the guest kernel.  This is sometimes useful for extended
+debugging of problems.
+
+Another way to get the same information is to enable
+verbose messages with C<guestfs_set_verbose> or by setting
+the environment variable C<LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG=1> before
+running the program.");
+
 ]
 
 let all_functions = non_daemon_functions @ daemon_functions