diff --git a/mysql-test/mysql-test-run.pl b/mysql-test/mysql-test-run.pl
index 5e0a8c9c608..a3c3e1847d4 100755
--- a/mysql-test/mysql-test-run.pl
+++ b/mysql-test/mysql-test-run.pl
@@ -244,6 +244,7 @@ my $opt_repeat= 1;
 my $opt_retry= 3;
 my $opt_retry_failure= env_or_val(MTR_RETRY_FAILURE => 2);
 my $opt_reorder= 1;
+my $opt_force_restart= 0;
 
 my $opt_strace_client;
 
@@ -944,6 +945,7 @@ sub command_line_setup {
              'report-features'          => \$opt_report_features,
              'comment=s'                => \$opt_comment,
              'fast'                     => \$opt_fast,
+	     'force-restart'            => \$opt_force_restart,
              'reorder!'                 => \$opt_reorder,
              'enable-disabled'          => \&collect_option,
              'verbose+'                 => \$opt_verbose,
@@ -4577,6 +4579,11 @@ sub server_need_restart {
     return 1;
   }
 
+  if ( $opt_force_restart ) {
+    mtr_verbose_restart($server, "forced restart turned on");
+    return 1;
+  }
+
   if ( $tinfo->{template_path} ne $current_config_name)
   {
     mtr_verbose_restart($server, "using different config file");
@@ -5605,6 +5612,7 @@ Misc options
                         servers to exit before finishing the process
   fast                  Run as fast as possible, dont't wait for servers
                         to shutdown etc.
+  force-restart         Always restart servers between tests
   parallel=N            Run tests in N parallel threads (default=1)
                         Use parallel=auto for auto-setting of N
   repeat=N              Run each test N number of times