Index: Doc/library/unittest.rst
===================================================================
--- Doc/library/unittest.rst	(revision 65022)
+++ Doc/library/unittest.rst	(working copy)
@@ -485,7 +485,8 @@
    applications which run test suites should provide alternate implementations.
 
 
-.. function:: main([module[, defaultTest[, argv[, testRunner[, testLoader]]]]])
+.. function:: main([module[, defaultTest[, argv[, testRunner[, testLoader[,
+exit]]]]]])
 
    A command-line program that runs a set of tests; this is primarily for making
    test modules conveniently executable.  The simplest use for this function is to
@@ -497,6 +498,11 @@
    The *testRunner* argument can either be a test runner class or an already
    created instance of it.
 
+   If *exit* is set to False (it is true by default) then running the tests will
+   not automaticallt exit at the end, which is useful if you are running with an
+   interactive interpreter and intend to continue using and should have no efect
+   when running from the command line.
+
 In some cases, the existing tests may have been written using the :mod:`doctest`
 module.  If so, that module provides a  :class:`DocTestSuite` class that can
 automatically build :class:`unittest.TestSuite` instances from the existing
Index: Lib/unittest.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/unittest.py	(revision 65022)
+++ Lib/unittest.py	(working copy)
@@ -786,7 +786,7 @@
 """
     def __init__(self, module='__main__', defaultTest=None,
                  argv=None, testRunner=TextTestRunner,
-                 testLoader=defaultTestLoader):
+                 testLoader=defaultTestLoader, exit=True):
         if type(module) == type(''):
             self.module = __import__(module)
             for part in module.split('.')[1:]:
@@ -799,6 +799,7 @@
         self.defaultTest = defaultTest
         self.testRunner = testRunner
         self.testLoader = testLoader
+        self.exit = exit
         self.progName = os.path.basename(argv[0])
         self.parseArgs(argv)
         self.runTests()
@@ -846,7 +847,8 @@
             # it is assumed to be a TestRunner instance
             testRunner = self.testRunner
         result = testRunner.run(self.test)
-        sys.exit(not result.wasSuccessful())
+        if self.exit:
+            sys.exit(not result.wasSuccessful())
 
 main = TestProgram
 
Index: Lib/test/test_unittest.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/test_unittest.py	(revision 65022)
+++ Lib/test/test_unittest.py	(working copy)
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 import unittest
 from unittest import TestCase
 import types
+import io
 
 ### Support code
 ################################################################
@@ -2284,6 +2285,40 @@
         self.assertRaises(AssertionError,
                           self.failIfAlmostEqual, 0, .1+.1j, places=0)
 
+class Test_TestProgram(TestCase):
+    class FooBar(unittest.TestCase):
+        def testPass(self):
+            assert True
+        def testFail(self):
+            assert False
+    
+    class FooBarLoader(unittest.TestLoader):
+        """Test loader that returns a suite containing FooBar."""
+        def loadTestsFromModule(self, module):
+            return self.suiteClass(
+                [self.loadTestsFromTestCase(Test_TestProgram.FooBar)])
+    
+    def test_NonExit(self):
+        unittest.main(exit=False,
+                      testRunner=unittest.TextTestRunner(stream=io.StringIO()),
+                      testLoader=self.FooBarLoader())
+    
+    def test_Exit(self):
+        self.failUnlessRaises(
+            SystemExit,
+            unittest.main,
+            testRunner=unittest.TextTestRunner(stream=io.StringIO()),
+            exit=True,
+            testLoader=self.FooBarLoader())
+    
+    def test_ExitAsDefault(self):
+        self.failUnlessRaises(
+            SystemExit,
+            unittest.main,
+            testRunner=unittest.TextTestRunner(stream=io.StringIO()),
+            testLoader=self.FooBarLoader())
+
+
 ######################################################################
 ## Main
 ######################################################################
@@ -2291,7 +2326,7 @@
 def test_main():
     support.run_unittest(Test_TestCase, Test_TestLoader,
         Test_TestSuite, Test_TestResult, Test_FunctionTestCase,
-        Test_Assertions)
+        Test_Assertions, Test_TestProgram)
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     test_main()