diff -ruN qemu-0.8.2/hw/pc.c qemu-0.8.2.new/hw/pc.c
--- qemu-0.8.2/hw/pc.c	2006-07-22 13:23:34.000000000 -0400
+++ qemu-0.8.2.new/hw/pc.c	2006-09-02 15:30:49.000000000 -0400
@@ -163,11 +163,16 @@
     int i;
 
     /* set the CMOS date */
-    time(&ti);
-    if (rtc_utc)
-        tm = gmtime(&ti);
+    if (rtc_use_time)
+        tm = &rtc_tm;
     else
-        tm = localtime(&ti);
+    {
+        time(&ti);
+        if (rtc_utc)
+            tm = gmtime(&ti);
+        else
+            tm = localtime(&ti);
+    }
     rtc_set_date(s, tm);
 
     val = to_bcd(s, (tm->tm_year / 100) + 19);
diff -ruN qemu-0.8.2/vl.c qemu-0.8.2.new/vl.c
--- qemu-0.8.2/vl.c	2006-07-22 13:23:34.000000000 -0400
+++ qemu-0.8.2.new/vl.c	2006-09-02 20:14:44.000000000 -0400
@@ -128,6 +128,8 @@
 QEMUTimer *gui_timer;
 int vm_running;
 int rtc_utc = 1;
+int rtc_use_time = 0;
+struct tm rtc_tm;
 int cirrus_vga_enabled = 1;
 #ifdef TARGET_SPARC
 int graphic_width = 1024;
@@ -5150,6 +5152,7 @@
            "                use -soundhw all to enable all of them\n"
 #endif
            "-localtime      set the real time clock to local time [default=utc]\n"
+           "-date [date]    set the real time clock to given date using getdate(3)\n"
            "-full-screen    start in full screen\n"
 #ifdef TARGET_I386
            "-win2k-hack     use it when installing Windows 2000 to avoid a disk full bug\n"
@@ -5285,6 +5288,7 @@
     QEMU_OPTION_no_code_copy,
     QEMU_OPTION_k,
     QEMU_OPTION_localtime,
+    QEMU_OPTION_setdate,
     QEMU_OPTION_cirrusvga,
     QEMU_OPTION_g,
     QEMU_OPTION_std_vga,
@@ -5362,6 +5366,7 @@
     { "g", 1, QEMU_OPTION_g },
 #endif
     { "localtime", 0, QEMU_OPTION_localtime },
+    { "date", 1, QEMU_OPTION_setdate },
     { "std-vga", 0, QEMU_OPTION_std_vga },
     { "monitor", 1, QEMU_OPTION_monitor },
     { "serial", 1, QEMU_OPTION_serial },
@@ -5607,6 +5612,7 @@
     QEMUMachine *machine;
     char usb_devices[MAX_USB_CMDLINE][128];
     int usb_devices_index;
+    struct tm* tmp_tm;
 
     LIST_INIT (&vm_change_state_head);
 #ifndef _WIN32
@@ -5907,6 +5913,16 @@
             case QEMU_OPTION_localtime:
                 rtc_utc = 0;
                 break;
+            case QEMU_OPTION_setdate:
+                rtc_use_time = 1;
+		tmp_tm = getdate(optarg);
+                if (!tmp_tm)
+		{
+        		fprintf (stderr, "qemu: bad date format '%s'\n",optarg);
+			exit(1);
+		}
+		memcpy(&rtc_tm,tmp_tm,sizeof(rtc_tm));
+                break;
             case QEMU_OPTION_cirrusvga:
                 cirrus_vga_enabled = 1;
                 break;
diff -ruN qemu-0.8.2/vl.h qemu-0.8.2.new/vl.h
--- qemu-0.8.2/vl.h	2006-07-22 13:23:34.000000000 -0400
+++ qemu-0.8.2.new/vl.h	2006-09-02 15:45:25.000000000 -0400
@@ -142,6 +142,8 @@
 extern int ram_size;
 extern int bios_size;
 extern int rtc_utc;
+extern int rtc_use_time;
+extern struct tm rtc_tm;
 extern int cirrus_vga_enabled;
 extern int graphic_width;
 extern int graphic_height;