diff --git a/man/man1/pmsleep.1 b/man/man1/pmsleep.1
index 3cd4c7d..832c710 100644
--- a/man/man1/pmsleep.1
+++ b/man/man1/pmsleep.1
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 '\"macro stdmacro
 .\"
+.\" Copyright (c) 2015 Red Hat.
 .\" Copyright (c) 2007 Silicon Graphics, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
 .\" 
 .\" This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -15,15 +16,21 @@
 .\"
 .TH PMSLEEP 1 "PCP" "Performance Co-Pilot"
 .SH NAME
+\f3pmpause\f1,
 \f3pmsleep\f1 \- portable subsecond-capable sleep
 .\" literals use .B or \f3
 .\" arguments use .I or \f2
 .SH SYNOPSIS
+.B $PCP_BINADM_DIR/pmpause
+.br
 .B $PCP_BINADM_DIR/pmsleep
 .I interval
 .SH DESCRIPTION
+.B pmpause
+sleeps indefinitely, until interrupted by SIGKILL.
+.PP
 .B pmsleep
-sleeps for 
+sleeps for the specified
 .I interval.
 The
 .I interval
@@ -37,8 +44,10 @@ or floating point constant
 .SH DIAGNOSTICS
 The exit status is 0 for success, or 1 for a malformed command line.
 If the underlying
-.B nanosleep (2)
+.BR nanosleep (2)
 system call fails, an errno is returned.
 .SH SEE ALSO
 .BR sleep (1),
-.BR nanosleep (3).
+.BR pause (2)
+and
+.BR nanosleep (2).
diff --git a/src/pmcd/rc_pmcd b/src/pmcd/rc_pmcd
index 6e78a36..8659a19 100644
--- a/src/pmcd/rc_pmcd
+++ b/src/pmcd/rc_pmcd
@@ -499,9 +499,10 @@ Error: pmcd control file '"$PCP_PMCDCONF_PATH"' is missing, cannot start pmcd.'
 	    rm -f "$PCP_TMP_DIR/pmlogger/primary"
 
 	    # site-local customisations after PMCD startup
-	    #
 	    [ -x $PCPLOCAL ] && $PCPLOCAL $VFLAG start
-	    
+
+	    # finally, pause here if running in a container
+	    [ -f $PCP_SYSCONF_DIR/rc.pause ] && $PCP_BINADM_DIR/pmpause
 	fi
 	status=0
         ;;
diff --git a/src/pmsleep/GNUmakefile b/src/pmsleep/GNUmakefile
index 4682093..de529ee 100644
--- a/src/pmsleep/GNUmakefile
+++ b/src/pmsleep/GNUmakefile
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #
+# Copyright (c) 2015 Red Hat.
 # Copyright (c) 2007 Silicon Graphics, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
 # 
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -26,6 +27,7 @@ include $(BUILDRULES)
 
 install:	$(CMDTARGET)
 	$(INSTALL) -m 755 $(CMDTARGET) $(PCP_BINADM_DIR)/$(CMDTARGET)
+	$(INSTALL) -S $(PCP_BINADM_DIR)/$(CMDTARGET) $(PCP_BINADM_DIR)/pmpause
 
 default_pcp:	default
 
diff --git a/src/pmsleep/pmsleep.c b/src/pmsleep/pmsleep.c
index a3c5f75..187b408 100644
--- a/src/pmsleep/pmsleep.c
+++ b/src/pmsleep/pmsleep.c
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 /*
+ * Copyright (c) 2015 Red Hat.  All Rights Reserved.
  * Copyright (c) 2007 Silicon Graphics, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
  * 
  * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -12,32 +13,49 @@
  * for more details.
  */
 
-#include <stdio.h>
-#include <stdlib.h>
-#include <time.h>
 #include "pmapi.h"
+#include "impl.h"
 
-int
-main(int argc, char **argv)
+static int
+pmpause(void)
+{
+    sigset_t sigset;
+    sigfillset(&sigset);
+    sigprocmask(SIG_BLOCK, &sigset, NULL);
+    pause();
+    return 0;
+}
+
+static int
+pmsleep(const char *interval)
 {
     struct timespec rqt;
     struct timeval delta;
-    int r = 0;
     char *msg;
+    
+    if (pmParseInterval(interval, &delta, &msg) < 0) {
+	fputs(msg, stderr);
+	free(msg);
+    } else {
+	rqt.tv_sec  = delta.tv_sec;
+	rqt.tv_nsec = delta.tv_usec * 1000;
+	if (0 != nanosleep(&rqt, NULL))
+	    return oserror();
+    }
+    return 0;
+}
 
-    if (argc == 2) {
-	if (pmParseInterval(argv[1], &delta, &msg) < 0) {
-	    fputs(msg, stderr);
-	    free(msg);
-	} else {
-	    rqt.tv_sec  = delta.tv_sec;
-	    rqt.tv_nsec = delta.tv_usec * 1000;
-	    if (0 != nanosleep(&rqt, NULL))
-		r = oserror();
+int
+main(int argc, char **argv)
+{
+    int sts = 1;
 
-	    exit(r);
-	}
-    }
-    fprintf(stderr, "Usage: pmsleep interval\n");
-    exit(1);
+    __pmSetProgname(argv[0]);
+    if (strcmp(pmProgname, "pmpause") == 0)
+	sts = pmpause();
+    else if (argc == 2)
+	sts = pmsleep(argv[1]);
+    else
+	fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s interval\n", pmProgname);
+    exit(sts);
 }