diff --git a/src/sim/debug.cc b/src/sim/debug.cc
index 3684f6767..57ca0458c 100644
--- a/src/sim/debug.cc
+++ b/src/sim/debug.cc
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
  *          Steve Reinhardt
  */
 
+#include <Python.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <signal.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
@@ -106,6 +107,21 @@ eventqDump()
     warn("need to dump all queues");
 }
 
+void
+py_interact()
+{
+    PyObject *globals;
+    PyObject *locals;
+
+    globals = PyEval_GetGlobals();
+    Py_INCREF(globals);
+    locals = PyDict_New();
+    PyRun_String("import code", Py_file_input, globals, locals);
+    PyRun_String("code.interact(local=globals())", Py_file_input,
+                 globals, locals);
+    Py_DECREF(globals);
+    Py_DECREF(locals);
+}
 
 int remote_gdb_base_port = 7000;