diff --git a/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.core/.options b/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.core/.options
index 4ae7220a34b..2ebe6916eba 100644
--- a/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.core/.options
+++ b/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.core/.options
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 org.eclipse.remote.core/debug=false
+org.eclipse.remote.core/debug/commands=false
diff --git a/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.core/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF b/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.core/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
index d2f8426c1d7..53d8c27a8e8 100644
--- a/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.core/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
+++ b/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.core/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ Require-Bundle: org.eclipse.core.runtime,
 Bundle-ActivationPolicy: lazy
 Export-Package: org.eclipse.remote.core,
  org.eclipse.remote.core.exception,
- org.eclipse.remote.internal.core;x-friends:="org.eclipse.remote.ui",
+ org.eclipse.remote.internal.core;x-friends:="org.eclipse.remote.ui,org.eclipse.remote.jsch.core",
  org.eclipse.remote.internal.core.messages;x-internal:=true,
  org.eclipse.remote.internal.core.preferences;x-friends:="org.eclipse.remote.ui",
  org.eclipse.remote.internal.core.services.local;x-internal:=true
diff --git a/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.core/src/org/eclipse/remote/internal/core/RemoteCorePlugin.java b/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.core/src/org/eclipse/remote/internal/core/RemoteCorePlugin.java
index 0bfe0e3c316..cf64a5dd73d 100644
--- a/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.core/src/org/eclipse/remote/internal/core/RemoteCorePlugin.java
+++ b/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.core/src/org/eclipse/remote/internal/core/RemoteCorePlugin.java
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@ public class RemoteCorePlugin extends Plugin {
 	public void start(BundleContext context) throws Exception {
 		super.start(context);
 		plugin = this;
+		new RemoteDebugOptions(context);
 		ResourcesPlugin.getWorkspace().addSaveParticipant(getUniqueIdentifier(), new ISaveParticipant() {
 			@Override
 			public void saving(ISaveContext saveContext) throws CoreException {
diff --git a/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.core/src/org/eclipse/remote/internal/core/RemoteDebugOptions.java b/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.core/src/org/eclipse/remote/internal/core/RemoteDebugOptions.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..adff18d1144
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.core/src/org/eclipse/remote/internal/core/RemoteDebugOptions.java
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+/*******************************************************************************
+ * Copyright (c) 2012 Sage Electronic Engineering, LLC. and others.
+ * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
+ * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
+ * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
+ * http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
+ *
+ * Contributors:
+ *    Jason Litton (Sage Electronic Engineering, LLC) - initial API and implementation
+ *    Greg Watson (IBM) - adapted for remote core
+ *******************************************************************************/
+
+package org.eclipse.remote.internal.core;
+
+import java.util.Hashtable;
+
+import org.eclipse.osgi.service.debug.DebugOptions;
+import org.eclipse.osgi.service.debug.DebugOptionsListener;
+import org.eclipse.osgi.service.debug.DebugTrace;
+import org.osgi.framework.BundleContext;
+
+/**
+ * Hooks our debug options to the Platform trace functonality.
+ * In essence, we can open Window -> Preferences -> Tracing
+ * and turn on debug options for this package. The debug output
+ * will come out on the console and can be saved directly to
+ * a file. Classes that need to be debugged can call into
+ * RemoteDebugOptions to get debug flags. If new flags need to be
+ * created, they will need to have a unique identifier and added to
+ * the .options file in this plugin
+ */
+public class RemoteDebugOptions implements DebugOptionsListener {
+
+	private static final String DEBUG_FLAG = RemoteCorePlugin.getUniqueIdentifier() + "/debug"; //$NON-NLS-1$
+	private static final String DEBUG_REMOTE_COMMANDS_FLAG = RemoteCorePlugin.getUniqueIdentifier() + "/debug/commands"; //$NON-NLS-1$
+
+	public static boolean DEBUG = false;
+	public static boolean DEBUG_REMOTE_COMMANDS = false;
+
+	/**
+	 * The {@link DebugTrace} object to print to OSGi tracing
+	 */
+	private static DebugTrace fDebugTrace;
+
+	/**
+	 * Constructor
+	 */
+	public RemoteDebugOptions(BundleContext context) {
+		Hashtable<String, String> props = new Hashtable<String, String>(2);
+		props.put(DebugOptions.LISTENER_SYMBOLICNAME, RemoteCorePlugin.getUniqueIdentifier());
+		context.registerService(DebugOptionsListener.class.getName(), this, props);
+	}
+
+	/*
+	 * (non-Javadoc)
+	 * 
+	 * @see org.eclipse.osgi.service.debug.DebugOptionsListener#optionsChanged(org.eclipse.osgi.service.debug.DebugOptions)
+	 */
+	@Override
+	public void optionsChanged(DebugOptions options) {
+		fDebugTrace = options.newDebugTrace(RemoteCorePlugin.getUniqueIdentifier());
+		DEBUG = options.getBooleanOption(DEBUG_FLAG, false);
+		DEBUG_REMOTE_COMMANDS = DEBUG & options.getBooleanOption(DEBUG_REMOTE_COMMANDS_FLAG, false);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Prints the given message to System.out and to the OSGi tracing (if started)
+	 * 
+	 * @param option
+	 *            the option or <code>null</code>
+	 * @param message
+	 *            the message to print or <code>null</code>
+	 * @param throwable
+	 *            the {@link Throwable} or <code>null</code>
+	 */
+	public static void trace(String option, String message, Throwable throwable) {
+		System.out.print(message);
+		// then pass the original message to be traced into a file
+		if (fDebugTrace != null) {
+			fDebugTrace.trace(option, message, throwable);
+		}
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Prints the given message to System.out and to the OSGi tracing (if enabled)
+	 * 
+	 * @param message
+	 *            the message or <code>null</code>
+	 */
+	public static void trace(String message) {
+		trace(null, message, null);
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.jsch.core/src/org/eclipse/remote/internal/jsch/core/JSchProcessBuilder.java b/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.jsch.core/src/org/eclipse/remote/internal/jsch/core/JSchProcessBuilder.java
index 4ae3cbef4f5..d4aa6bd5151 100644
--- a/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.jsch.core/src/org/eclipse/remote/internal/jsch/core/JSchProcessBuilder.java
+++ b/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.jsch.core/src/org/eclipse/remote/internal/jsch/core/JSchProcessBuilder.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import org.eclipse.remote.core.AbstractRemoteProcessBuilder;
 import org.eclipse.remote.core.IRemoteFileManager;
 import org.eclipse.remote.core.IRemoteProcess;
 import org.eclipse.remote.core.exception.RemoteConnectionException;
+import org.eclipse.remote.internal.core.RemoteDebugOptions;
 import org.eclipse.remote.internal.jsch.core.messages.Messages;
 
 import com.jcraft.jsch.ChannelExec;
@@ -181,6 +182,9 @@ public class JSchProcessBuilder extends AbstractRemoteProcessBuilder {
 			exec.setPty((flags & ALLOCATE_PTY) == ALLOCATE_PTY);
 			exec.setXForwarding((flags & FORWARD_X11) == FORWARD_X11);
 			exec.connect();
+			if (RemoteDebugOptions.DEBUG_REMOTE_COMMANDS) {
+				RemoteDebugOptions.trace("executing command: " + command); //$NON-NLS-1$
+			}
 			return new JSchProcess(exec, redirectErrorStream());
 		} catch (RemoteConnectionException e) {
 			throw new IOException(e.getMessage());
diff --git a/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.ui/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF b/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.ui/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
index 5df97b3b2e4..819c1f83ee5 100644
--- a/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.ui/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
+++ b/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.ui/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ Require-Bundle: org.eclipse.ui,
  org.eclipse.core.runtime,
  org.eclipse.remote.core,
  org.eclipse.core.filesystem,
- org.eclipse.core.resources
+ org.eclipse.core.resources,
+ org.eclipse.ui.trace
 Bundle-RequiredExecutionEnvironment: JavaSE-1.6
 Bundle-ActivationPolicy: lazy
 Export-Package: org.eclipse.remote.internal.ui;x-internal:=true,
diff --git a/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.ui/plugin.xml b/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.ui/plugin.xml
index cff76c03644..0a6f43d4994 100644
--- a/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.ui/plugin.xml
+++ b/bundles/org.eclipse.remote.ui/plugin.xml
@@ -27,5 +27,16 @@
             name="%ConnectionsPreferencePage.name">
       </page>
    </extension>
+   <extension
+         point="org.eclipse.ui.trace.traceComponents">
+      <component
+            id="org.eclipse.remote.ui.component"
+            label="Remote Core">
+         <bundle
+               consumed="true"
+               name="org.eclipse.remote.core">
+         </bundle>
+      </component>
+   </extension>
 
 </plugin>