diff --git a/src/shell.js b/src/shell.js
index dafec67cd..5432cc737 100644
--- a/src/shell.js
+++ b/src/shell.js
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 
 exports = module.exports = {
     sudo: sudo,
-    exec: exec
+    exec: exec,
+    execSync: execSync
 };
 
 var assert = require('assert'),
@@ -13,6 +14,13 @@ var assert = require('assert'),
 
 var SUDO = '/usr/bin/sudo';
 
+function execSync(tag, cmd) {
+    assert.strictEqual(typeof tag, 'string');
+    assert.strictEqual(typeof cmd, 'string');
+
+    child_process.execSync(cmd, { stdio: 'inherit' });
+}
+
 function exec(tag, file, args, callback) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof tag, 'string');
     assert.strictEqual(typeof file, 'string');
diff --git a/src/test/shell-test.js b/src/test/shell-test.js
index 1f09632f7..ac17f7f06 100644
--- a/src/test/shell-test.js
+++ b/src/test/shell-test.js
@@ -47,5 +47,20 @@ describe('shell', function () {
             done();
         });
     });
+
+    it('execSync a valid program', function (done) {
+        shell.execSync('test', 'ls -l | wc -c');
+        done();
+    });
+
+    it('execSync throws for invalid program', function (done) {
+        expect(function () { shell.execSync('test', 'cannotexist') }).to.throwException();
+        done();
+    });
+
+    it('execSync throws for failed program', function (done) {
+        expect(function () { shell.execSync('test', 'false'); }).to.throwException();
+        done();
+    });
 });