diff -r 0c1b81465d9c -r 323bb572344d Doc/library/sys.rst
--- a/Doc/library/sys.rst	Wed Oct 31 16:04:22 2012 +0200
+++ b/Doc/library/sys.rst	Thu Nov 01 14:02:43 2012 +0100
@@ -766,6 +766,15 @@
    This is a dictionary that maps module names to modules which have already been
    loaded.  This can be manipulated to force reloading of modules and other tricks.
 
+.. data:: oom_fatal
+
+   If this is true, Python will crash hard when an out of memory condition
+   occurs.  This value is set to ``True`` or ``False`` depending on the ``-o``
+   command line option and the ``PYTHONOOMFATAL`` environment variable. You can
+   not change this flag at runtime.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.4
+
 
 .. data:: path
 
diff -r 0c1b81465d9c -r 323bb572344d Include/pydebug.h
--- a/Include/pydebug.h	Wed Oct 31 16:04:22 2012 +0200
+++ b/Include/pydebug.h	Thu Nov 01 14:02:43 2012 +0100
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 PyAPI_DATA(int) Py_NoUserSiteDirectory;
 PyAPI_DATA(int) Py_UnbufferedStdioFlag;
 PyAPI_DATA(int) Py_HashRandomizationFlag;
+PyAPI_DATA(int) Py_OomFatalFlag;
 
 /* this is a wrapper around getenv() that pays attention to
    Py_IgnoreEnvironmentFlag.  It should be used for getting variables like
diff -r 0c1b81465d9c -r 323bb572344d Lib/test/test_sys.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_sys.py	Wed Oct 31 16:04:22 2012 +0200
+++ b/Lib/test/test_sys.py	Thu Nov 01 14:02:43 2012 +0100
@@ -515,7 +515,7 @@
         attrs = ("debug",
                  "inspect", "interactive", "optimize", "dont_write_bytecode",
                  "no_user_site", "no_site", "ignore_environment", "verbose",
-                 "bytes_warning", "quiet", "hash_randomization")
+                 "bytes_warning", "quiet", "hash_randomization", "oom_fatal")
         for attr in attrs:
             self.assertTrue(hasattr(sys.flags, attr), attr)
             self.assertEqual(type(getattr(sys.flags, attr)), int, attr)
diff -r 0c1b81465d9c -r 323bb572344d Modules/main.c
--- a/Modules/main.c	Wed Oct 31 16:04:22 2012 +0200
+++ b/Modules/main.c	Thu Nov 01 14:02:43 2012 +0100
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
 static int  orig_argc;
 
 /* command line options */
-#define BASE_OPTS L"bBc:dEhiJm:OqRsStuvVW:xX:?"
+#define BASE_OPTS L"bBc:dEhiJm:oOqRsStuvVW:xX:?"
 
 #define PROGRAM_OPTS BASE_OPTS
 
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@
 -i     : inspect interactively after running script; forces a prompt even\n\
          if stdin does not appear to be a terminal; also PYTHONINSPECT=x\n\
 -m mod : run library module as a script (terminates option list)\n\
+-o     : make MemoryError exceptions fatal\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\
@@ -394,6 +395,10 @@
 
         /* case 'J': reserved for Jython */
 
+        case 'o':
+            Py_OomFatalFlag++;
+            break;
+
         case 'O':
             Py_OptimizeFlag++;
             break;
diff -r 0c1b81465d9c -r 323bb572344d Python/errors.c
--- a/Python/errors.c	Wed Oct 31 16:04:22 2012 +0200
+++ b/Python/errors.c	Thu Nov 01 14:02:43 2012 +0100
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@
     PyThreadState *tstate = PyThreadState_GET();
     PyObject *oldtype, *oldvalue, *oldtraceback;
 
+    if (Py_OomFatalFlag && PyErr_GivenExceptionMatches(type, PyExc_MemoryError)) {
+        Py_FatalError("Out of memory");
+    }
+
     if (traceback != NULL && !PyTraceBack_Check(traceback)) {
         /* XXX Should never happen -- fatal error instead? */
         /* Well, it could be None. */
diff -r 0c1b81465d9c -r 323bb572344d Python/pythonrun.c
--- a/Python/pythonrun.c	Wed Oct 31 16:04:22 2012 +0200
+++ b/Python/pythonrun.c	Thu Nov 01 14:02:43 2012 +0100
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@
 int Py_NoUserSiteDirectory = 0; /* for -s and site.py */
 int Py_UnbufferedStdioFlag = 0; /* Unbuffered binary std{in,out,err} */
 int Py_HashRandomizationFlag = 0; /* for -R and PYTHONHASHSEED */
+int Py_OomFatalFlag = 0; /* for -o and PYTHONOOMFATAL: crash under OOM conditions (MemoryError) */
 
 PyThreadState *_Py_Finalizing = NULL;
 
@@ -274,6 +275,8 @@
        check its value further. */
     if ((p = Py_GETENV("PYTHONHASHSEED")) && *p != '\0')
         Py_HashRandomizationFlag = add_flag(Py_HashRandomizationFlag, p);
+    if ((p = Py_GETENV("PYTHONOOMFATAL")) && *p != '\0')
+        Py_OomFatalFlag = add_flag(Py_OomFatalFlag, p);
 
     _PyRandom_Init();
 
diff -r 0c1b81465d9c -r 323bb572344d Python/sysmodule.c
--- a/Python/sysmodule.c	Wed Oct 31 16:04:22 2012 +0200
+++ b/Python/sysmodule.c	Thu Nov 01 14:02:43 2012 +0100
@@ -1357,6 +1357,7 @@
     {"bytes_warning",           "-b"},
     {"quiet",                   "-q"},
     {"hash_randomization",      "-R"},
+    {"oom_fatal",               "-o"},
     {0}
 };
 
@@ -1365,9 +1366,9 @@
     flags__doc__,       /* doc */
     flags_fields,       /* fields */
 #ifdef RISCOS
+    14
+#else
     13
-#else
-    12
 #endif
 };
 
@@ -1401,6 +1402,7 @@
     SetFlag(Py_BytesWarningFlag);
     SetFlag(Py_QuietFlag);
     SetFlag(Py_HashRandomizationFlag);
+    SetFlag(Py_OomFatalFlag);
 #undef SetFlag
 
     if (PyErr_Occurred()) {