diff --git a/python/qemu/console_socket.py b/python/qemu/console_socket.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2fe1c20d64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/qemu/console_socket.py
@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+#
+# This python module implements a ConsoleSocket object which is
+# designed always drain the socket itself, and place
+# the bytes into a in memory buffer for later processing.
+#
+# Optionally a file path can be passed in and we will also
+# dump the characters to this file for debug.
+#
+# Copyright 2020 Linaro
+#
+# Authors:
+#  Robert Foley <robert.foley@linaro.org>
+#
+# This code is licensed under the GPL version 2 or later.  See
+# the COPYING file in the top-level directory.
+#
+import asyncore
+import socket
+import threading
+import io
+import os
+import sys
+from collections import deque
+import time
+import traceback
+
+class ConsoleSocket(asyncore.dispatcher):
+
+    def __init__(self, address, file=None):
+        self._recv_timeout_sec = 300
+        self._buffer = deque()
+        self._asyncore_thread = None
+        self._sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
+        self._sock.connect(address)
+        self._logfile = None
+        if file:
+            self._logfile = open(file, "w")
+        asyncore.dispatcher.__init__(self, sock=self._sock)
+        self._thread_start()
+        self._open = True
+
+    def _thread_start(self):
+        """Kick off a thread to wait on the asyncore.loop"""
+        if self._asyncore_thread is not None:
+            return
+        self._asyncore_thread = threading.Thread(target=asyncore.loop,
+                                                 kwargs={'timeout':1})
+        self._asyncore_thread.daemon = True
+        self._asyncore_thread.start()
+
+    def handle_close(self):
+        """redirect close to base class"""
+        # Call the base class close, but not self.close() since
+        # handle_close() occurs in the context of the thread which
+        # self.close() attempts to join.
+        asyncore.dispatcher.close(self)
+
+    def close(self):
+        """Close the base object and wait for the thread to terminate"""
+        if self._open:
+            self._open = False
+            asyncore.dispatcher.close(self)
+            if self._asyncore_thread is not None:
+                thread, self._asyncore_thread = self._asyncore_thread, None
+                thread.join()
+            if self._logfile:
+                self._logfile.close()
+                self._logfile = None
+
+    def handle_read(self):
+        """process arriving characters into in memory _buffer"""
+        try:
+            data = asyncore.dispatcher.recv(self, 1)
+            # latin1 is needed since there are some chars
+            # we are receiving that cannot be encoded to utf-8
+            # such as 0xe2, 0x80, 0xA6.
+            string = data.decode("latin1")
+        except:
+            print("Exception seen.")
+            traceback.print_exc()
+            return
+        if self._logfile:
+            self._logfile.write("{}".format(string))
+            self._logfile.flush()
+        for c in string:
+            self._buffer.append(c)
+
+    def recv(self, n=1):
+        """Return chars from in memory buffer"""
+        start_time = time.time()
+        while len(self._buffer) < n:
+            time.sleep(0.1)
+            elapsed_sec = time.time() - start_time
+            if elapsed_sec > self._recv_timeout_sec:
+                raise socket.timeout
+        chars = ''.join([self._buffer.popleft() for i in range(n)])
+        # We choose to use latin1 to remain consistent with
+        # handle_read() and give back the same data as the user would
+        # receive if they were reading directly from the
+        # socket w/o our intervention.
+        return chars.encode("latin1")
+
+    def set_blocking(self):
+        """Maintain compatibility with socket API"""
+        pass
+
+    def settimeout(self, seconds):
+        """Set current timeout on recv"""
+        self._recv_timeout_sec = seconds
+
+class ByteBuffer(deque):
+    """Simple in memory buffer with read/write interface"""
+    def write(self, bytes):
+        for i in bytes:
+            self.append(i)
+    def read(self, n):
+        return ''.join([self.popleft() for i in range(n)])
diff --git a/python/qemu/machine.py b/python/qemu/machine.py
index b9a98e2c86..ee9c337f55 100644
--- a/python/qemu/machine.py
+++ b/python/qemu/machine.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import subprocess
 import shutil
 import socket
 import tempfile
+from qemu.console_socket import ConsoleSocket
 
 from . import qmp
 
@@ -71,7 +72,8 @@ class QEMUMachine(object):
 
     def __init__(self, binary, args=None, wrapper=None, name=None,
                  test_dir="/var/tmp", monitor_address=None,
-                 socket_scm_helper=None, sock_dir=None):
+                 socket_scm_helper=None, sock_dir=None,
+                 drain_console=False, console_log=None):
         '''
         Initialize a QEMUMachine
 
@@ -82,6 +84,9 @@ class QEMUMachine(object):
         @param test_dir: where to create socket and log file
         @param monitor_address: address for QMP monitor
         @param socket_scm_helper: helper program, required for send_fd_scm()
+        @param sock_dir: where to create socket (overrides test_dir for sock)
+        @param console_log: (optional) path to console log file
+        @param drain_console: (optional) True to drain console socket to buffer
         @note: Qemu process is not started until launch() is used.
         '''
         if args is None:
@@ -118,6 +123,12 @@ class QEMUMachine(object):
         self._console_address = None
         self._console_socket = None
         self._remove_files = []
+        self._console_log_path = console_log
+        if self._console_log_path:
+            # In order to log the console, buffering needs to be enabled.
+            self._drain_console = True
+        else:
+            self._drain_console = drain_console
 
         # just in case logging wasn't configured by the main script:
         logging.basicConfig()
@@ -568,7 +579,11 @@ class QEMUMachine(object):
         Returns a socket connected to the console
         """
         if self._console_socket is None:
-            self._console_socket = socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX,
-                                                 socket.SOCK_STREAM)
-            self._console_socket.connect(self._console_address)
+            if self._drain_console:
+                self._console_socket = ConsoleSocket(self._console_address,
+                                                    file=self._console_log_path)
+            else:
+                self._console_socket = socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX,
+                                                     socket.SOCK_STREAM)
+                self._console_socket.connect(self._console_address)
         return self._console_socket
