diff --git a/git-flow b/git-flow
index cdf0e07..fd16d51 100755
--- a/git-flow
+++ b/git-flow
@@ -80,6 +80,11 @@
 	# use the shFlags project to parse the command line arguments
 	. "$GITFLOW_DIR/gitflow-shFlags"
 	FLAGS_PARENT="git flow"
+
+  # allow user to request git action logging
+  DEFINE_boolean show_commands false 'show actions taken (git commands)' g
+
+  # do actual parsing
 	FLAGS "$@" || exit $?
 	eval set -- "${FLAGS_ARGV}"
 
diff --git a/gitflow-common b/gitflow-common
index 4834cf1..3327405 100644
--- a/gitflow-common
+++ b/gitflow-common
@@ -70,6 +70,14 @@
 # Git specific common functionality
 #
 
+git_do() {
+  # equivalent to git, used to indicate actions that make modifications
+  if flag show_commands; then
+    echo "git $@" >&2
+  fi
+  git "$@"
+}
+
 git_local_branches() { git branch --no-color | sed 's/^[* ] //'; }
 git_remote_branches() { git branch -r --no-color | sed 's/^[* ] //'; }
 git_all_branches() { ( git branch --no-color; git branch -r --no-color) | sed 's/^[* ] //'; }