diff --git a/Documentation/git-cvsimport.txt b/Documentation/git-cvsimport.txt
index f5248c91c..a2f97b392 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-cvsimport.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-cvsimport.txt
@@ -60,6 +60,10 @@ the old cvs2git tool.
 +
 If you need to pass multiple options, separate them with a comma.
 
+-P:: <cvsps-output-file>
+	Instead of calling cvsps, read the provided cvsps output file. Useful
+	for debugging or when cvsps is being handled outside cvsimport.
+
 -m::    
 	Attempt to detect merges based on the commit message. This option
 	will enable default regexes that try to capture the name source 
diff --git a/git-cvsimport.perl b/git-cvsimport.perl
index e3cad5a1c..0144670a5 100755
--- a/git-cvsimport.perl
+++ b/git-cvsimport.perl
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 $SIG{'PIPE'}="IGNORE";
 $ENV{'TZ'}="UTC";
 
-our($opt_h,$opt_o,$opt_v,$opt_k,$opt_u,$opt_d,$opt_p,$opt_C,$opt_z,$opt_i,$opt_s,$opt_m,$opt_M);
+our($opt_h,$opt_o,$opt_v,$opt_k,$opt_u,$opt_d,$opt_p,$opt_C,$opt_z,$opt_i,$opt_P, $opt_s,$opt_m,$opt_M);
 
 sub usage() {
 	print STDERR <<END;
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ END
 	exit(1);
 }
 
-getopts("hivmkuo:d:p:C:z:s:M:") or usage();
+getopts("hivmkuo:d:p:C:z:s:M:P:") or usage();
 usage if $opt_h;
 
 @ARGV <= 1 or usage();
@@ -494,8 +494,12 @@ ($$)
 	unless (defined($opt_p) && $opt_p =~ m/--no-cvs-direct/) {
 		push @opt, '--cvs-direct';
 	}
-	exec("cvsps",@opt,"-u","-A",'--root',$opt_d,$cvs_tree);
-	die "Could not start cvsps: $!\n";
+	if ($opt_P) {
+	    exec("cat", $opt_P);
+	} else {
+	    exec("cvsps",@opt,"-u","-A",'--root',$opt_d,$cvs_tree);
+	    die "Could not start cvsps: $!\n";
+	}
 }