diff --git a/mysql-test/lib/My/SafeProcess.pm b/mysql-test/lib/My/SafeProcess.pm
index f87b7b60bd6..14153982d4e 100644
--- a/mysql-test/lib/My/SafeProcess.pm
+++ b/mysql-test/lib/My/SafeProcess.pm
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # -*- cperl -*-
-# Copyright (c) 2008, 2010, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+# Copyright (c) 2008, 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 #
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 # modify it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ sub new {
   my $host     = delete($opts{'host'});
   my $shutdown = delete($opts{'shutdown'});
   my $user_data= delete($opts{'user_data'});
+  my $envs     = delete($opts{'envs'});
 
 #  if (defined $host) {
 #    $safe_script=  "lib/My/SafeProcess/safe_process_cpcd.pl";
@@ -161,6 +162,13 @@ sub new {
   # Point the safe_process at the right parent if running on cygwin
   push(@safe_args, "--parent-pid=".Cygwin::pid_to_winpid($$)) if IS_CYGWIN;
 
+  foreach my $env_var (@$envs) {
+    croak("Missing = in env string") unless $env_var =~ /=/;
+    croak("Env string $env_var seen, probably missing value for --mysqld-env")
+      if $env_var =~ /^--/;
+    push @safe_args, "--env $env_var";
+  }
+
   push(@safe_args, "--");
   push(@safe_args, $path); # The program safe_process should execute
 
diff --git a/mysql-test/lib/My/SafeProcess/safe_process.cc b/mysql-test/lib/My/SafeProcess/safe_process.cc
index 477beca0ada..e5eca0c0d8b 100644
--- a/mysql-test/lib/My/SafeProcess/safe_process.cc
+++ b/mysql-test/lib/My/SafeProcess/safe_process.cc
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* Copyright (C) 2008 MySQL AB, 2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
+/* Copyright (c) 2008, 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 
    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
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ int main(int argc, char* const argv[] )
     } else {
       if ( strcmp(arg, "--verbose") == 0 )
         verbose++;
-      else if ( strncmp(arg, "--parent-pid", 10) == 0 )
+      else if ( strncmp(arg, "--parent-pid", 12) == 0 )
       {
         /* Override parent_pid with a value provided by user */
         const char* start;
@@ -184,10 +184,15 @@ int main(int argc, char* const argv[] )
         start++; /* Step past = */
         if ((parent_pid= atoi(start)) == 0)
           die("Invalid value '%s' passed to --parent-id", start);
-      } else if ( strcmp(arg, "--nocore") == 0 )
+      }
+      else if ( strcmp(arg, "--nocore") == 0 )
       {
         nocore = true;	// Don't allow the process to dump core
       }
+      else if ( strncmp (arg, "--env ", 6) == 0 )
+      {
+	putenv(strdup(arg+6));
+      }
       else
         die("Unknown option: %s", arg);
     }
diff --git a/mysql-test/lib/My/SafeProcess/safe_process_win.cc b/mysql-test/lib/My/SafeProcess/safe_process_win.cc
index 50e16ff25d4..7e0ae68b4de 100644
--- a/mysql-test/lib/My/SafeProcess/safe_process_win.cc
+++ b/mysql-test/lib/My/SafeProcess/safe_process_win.cc
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* Copyright (C) 2008 MySQL AB, 2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
+/* Copyright (c) 2008, 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 
    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
@@ -220,6 +220,10 @@ int main(int argc, const char** argv )
       {
         nocore= TRUE;
       }
+      else if ( strncmp (arg, "--env ", 6) == 0 )
+      {
+	putenv(strdup(arg+6));
+      }
       else
         die("Unknown option: %s", arg);
     }
diff --git a/mysql-test/mysql-test-run.pl b/mysql-test/mysql-test-run.pl
index 55cebab53d7..8dbf8813ddd 100755
--- a/mysql-test/mysql-test-run.pl
+++ b/mysql-test/mysql-test-run.pl
@@ -176,6 +176,7 @@ our $opt_big_test= 0;
 our @opt_combinations;
 
 our @opt_extra_mysqld_opt;
+our @opt_mysqld_envs;
 
 my $opt_compress;
 my $opt_ssl;
@@ -416,6 +417,14 @@ sub main {
   my $server_port = $server->sockport();
   mtr_report("Using server port $server_port");
 
+  # --------------------------------------------------------------------------
+  # Read definitions from include/plugin.defs
+  #
+  read_plugin_defs("include/plugin.defs");
+
+  # Simplify reference to semisync plugins
+  $ENV{'SEMISYNC_PLUGIN_OPT'}= $ENV{'SEMISYNC_MASTER_PLUGIN_OPT'};
+
   # Create child processes
   my %children;
   for my $child_num (1..$opt_parallel){
@@ -962,6 +971,7 @@ sub command_line_setup {
 
              # Extra options used when starting mysqld
              'mysqld=s'                 => \@opt_extra_mysqld_opt,
+             'mysqld-env=s'             => \@opt_mysqld_envs,
 
              # Run test on running server
              'extern=s'                  => \%opts_extern, # Append to hash
@@ -1971,7 +1981,7 @@ sub find_plugin($$)
 {
   my ($plugin, $location)  = @_;
   my $plugin_filename;
-    
+
   if (IS_WINDOWS)
   {
      $plugin_filename = $plugin.".dll"; 
@@ -1981,13 +1991,13 @@ sub find_plugin($$)
      $plugin_filename = $plugin.".so";
   }
 
-  my $lib_example_plugin=
+  my $lib_plugin=
     mtr_file_exists(vs_config_dirs($location,$plugin_filename),
                     "$basedir/lib/plugin/".$plugin_filename,
                     "$basedir/$location/.libs/".$plugin_filename,
                     "$basedir/lib/mysql/plugin/".$plugin_filename,
                     );
-  return $lib_example_plugin;
+  return $lib_plugin;
 }
 
 #
@@ -1997,10 +2007,16 @@ sub find_plugin($$)
 sub read_plugin_defs($)
 {
   my ($defs_file)= @_;
+  my $running_debug= 0;
 
   open(PLUGDEF, '<', $defs_file)
     or mtr_error("Can't read plugin defintions file $defs_file");
 
+  # Need to check if we will be running mysqld-debug
+  if ($opt_debug) {
+    $running_debug= 1 if find_mysqld($basedir) =~ /-debug$/;
+  }
+
   while (<PLUGDEF>) {
     next if /^#/;
     my ($plug_file, $plug_loc, $plug_var, $plug_names)= split;
@@ -2008,6 +2024,9 @@ sub read_plugin_defs($)
     next unless $plug_file;
     mtr_error("Lines in $defs_file must have 3 or 4 items") unless $plug_var;
 
+    # If running debug server, plugins will be in 'debug' subdirectory
+    $plug_file= "debug/$plug_file" if $running_debug;
+
     my ($plugin)= find_plugin($plug_file, $plug_loc);
 
     # Set env. variables that tests may use, set to empty if plugin
@@ -2072,18 +2091,9 @@ sub environment_setup {
     push(@ld_library_paths,  "$basedir/storage/ndb/src/.libs");
   }
 
-  # --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-  # Read definitions from include/plugin.defs
-  #
   # Plugin settings should no longer be added here, instead
   # place definitions in include/plugin.defs.
   # See comment in that file for details.
-  # --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-  read_plugin_defs("include/plugin.defs");
-
-  # Simplify reference to semisync plugins
-  $ENV{'SEMISYNC_PLUGIN_OPT'}= $ENV{'SEMISYNC_MASTER_PLUGIN_OPT'};
-
   # --------------------------------------------------------------------------
   # Valgrind need to be run with debug libraries otherwise it's almost
   # impossible to add correct supressions, that means if "/usr/lib/debug"
@@ -4710,6 +4720,7 @@ sub mysqld_start ($$) {
        nocore        => $opt_skip_core,
        host          => undef,
        shutdown      => sub { mysqld_stop($mysqld) },
+       envs          => \@opt_mysqld_envs,
       );
     mtr_verbose("Started $mysqld->{proc}");
   }
@@ -5724,9 +5735,10 @@ Options for test case authoring
   check-testcases       Check testcases for sideeffects
   mark-progress         Log line number and elapsed time to <testname>.progress
 
-Options that pass on options
+Options that pass on options (these may be repeated)
 
   mysqld=ARGS           Specify additional arguments to "mysqld"
+  mysqld-env=VAR=VAL    Specify additional environment settings for "mysqld"
 
 Options to run test on running server