diff --git a/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.txt b/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.txt
index b8b77bb..dbf746b 100644
--- a/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.txt
+++ b/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.txt
@@ -90,6 +90,15 @@
 mini-config files.
 
 ______________________________________________________________________
+Environment variables for 'randconfig'
+
+KCONFIG_SEED
+--------------------------------------------------
+You can set this to the integer value used to seed the RNG, if you want
+to somehow debug the behaviour of the kconfig parser/frontends.
+If not set, the current time will be used.
+
+______________________________________________________________________
 Environment variables for 'silentoldconfig'
 
 KCONFIG_NOSILENTUPDATE
diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/conf.c b/scripts/kconfig/conf.c
index e39fcd8..bde5b95 100644
--- a/scripts/kconfig/conf.c
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/conf.c
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 #include <getopt.h>
 #include <sys/stat.h>
 #include <sys/time.h>
+#include <errno.h>
 
 #include "lkc.h"
 
@@ -514,14 +515,23 @@
 		{
 			struct timeval now;
 			unsigned int seed;
+			char *seed_env;
 
 			/*
 			 * Use microseconds derived seed,
 			 * compensate for systems where it may be zero
 			 */
 			gettimeofday(&now, NULL);
-
 			seed = (unsigned int)((now.tv_sec + 1) * (now.tv_usec + 1));
+
+			seed_env = getenv("KCONFIG_SEED");
+			if( seed_env && *seed_env ) {
+				char *endp;
+				int tmp = (int)strtol(seed_env, &endp, 10);
+				if (*endp == '\0') {
+					seed = tmp;
+				}
+			}
 			srand(seed);
 			break;
 		}