Index: Misc/python.man
===================================================================
--- Misc/python.man	(revision 56970)
+++ Misc/python.man	(working copy)
@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@
 [
 .B \-O
 ]
+[
+.B \-q
+]
 .br
        [
 .B -Q
@@ -128,6 +131,10 @@
 .I .pyc
 to \fI.pyo\fP.  Given twice, causes docstrings to be discarded.
 .TP
+.B \-q
+Do not print the version and copyright messages. These messages are 
+also suppressed in non-interactive mode.
+.TP
 .BI "\-Q " argument
 Division control; see PEP 238.  The argument must be one of "old" (the
 default, int/int and long/long return an int or long), "new" (new
Index: Modules/main.c
===================================================================
--- Modules/main.c	(revision 56970)
+++ Modules/main.c	(working copy)
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
 static int  orig_argc;
 
 /* command line options */
-#define BASE_OPTS "3c:dEhim:OQ:StuUvVW:xX?"
+#define BASE_OPTS "3c:dEhim:OqQ:StuUvVW:xX?"
 
 #ifndef RISCOS
 #define PROGRAM_OPTS BASE_OPTS
@@ -70,24 +70,27 @@
 -m mod : run library module as a script (terminates option list)\n\
 -O     : optimize generated bytecode slightly; also PYTHONOPTIMIZE=x\n\
 -OO    : remove doc-strings in addition to the -O optimizations\n\
+-q     : don't print version and copyright messages on interactive startup\n\
 -Q arg : division options: -Qold (default), -Qwarn, -Qwarnall, -Qnew\n\
 -S     : don't imply 'import site' on initialization\n\
+";
+static char *usage_3 = "\
 -t     : issue warnings about inconsistent tab usage (-tt: issue errors)\n\
 -u     : unbuffered binary stdout and stderr; also PYTHONUNBUFFERED=x\n\
-";
-static char *usage_3 = "\
          see man page for details on internal buffering relating to '-u'\n\
 -v     : verbose (trace import statements); also PYTHONVERBOSE=x\n\
          can be supplied multiple times to increase verbosity\n\
 -V     : print the Python version number and exit (also --version)\n\
+";
+static char *usage_4 = "\
 -W arg : warning control; arg is action:message:category:module:lineno\n\
 -x     : skip first line of source, allowing use of non-Unix forms of #!cmd\n\
 -3     : warn about Python 3.x incompatibilities\n\
 file   : program read from script file\n\
 -      : program read from stdin (default; interactive mode if a tty)\n\
+arg ...: arguments passed to program in sys.argv[1:]\n\n\
 ";
-static char *usage_4 = "\
-arg ...: arguments passed to program in sys.argv[1:]\n\n\
+static char *usage_5 = "\
 Other environment variables:\n\
 PYTHONSTARTUP: file executed on interactive startup (no default)\n\
 PYTHONPATH   : '%c'-separated list of directories prefixed to the\n\
@@ -110,7 +113,8 @@
 		fprintf(f, usage_1);
 		fprintf(f, usage_2);
 		fprintf(f, usage_3);
-		fprintf(f, usage_4, DELIM, DELIM, PYTHONHOMEHELP);
+		fprintf(f, usage_4);
+		fprintf(f, usage_5, DELIM, DELIM, PYTHONHOMEHELP);
 	}
 #if defined(__VMS)
 	if (exitcode == 0) {
@@ -223,6 +227,7 @@
 	int help = 0;
 	int version = 0;
 	int saw_unbuffered_flag = 0;
+	int skip_intro = 0; /* option -q */
 	PyCompilerFlags cf;
 
 	cf.cf_flags = 0;
@@ -354,6 +359,10 @@
 			PySys_AddWarnOption(_PyOS_optarg);
 			break;
 
+		case 'q':
+			skip_intro = 1;
+			break;
+
 		/* This space reserved for other options */
 
 		default:
@@ -478,8 +487,9 @@
 #endif
 	Py_Initialize();
 
-	if (Py_VerboseFlag ||
-	    (command == NULL && filename == NULL && module == NULL && stdin_is_interactive)) {
+	if (!skip_intro && (Py_VerboseFlag ||
+						(command == NULL && filename == NULL && module == NULL 
+						 && stdin_is_interactive))) {
 		fprintf(stderr, "Python %s on %s\n",
 			Py_GetVersion(), Py_GetPlatform());
  		if (!Py_NoSiteFlag)