diff --git a/contrib/tcploop/tcploop.c b/contrib/tcploop/tcploop.c
index af23f3a2e..cd242e38c 100644
--- a/contrib/tcploop/tcploop.c
+++ b/contrib/tcploop/tcploop.c
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include <sys/stat.h>
 #include <sys/time.h>
 #include <sys/ioctl.h>
+#include <sys/wait.h>
 #include <arpa/inet.h>
 #include <netinet/in.h>
 #include <netinet/tcp.h>
@@ -36,6 +37,8 @@ const struct linger nolinger = { .l_onoff = 1, .l_linger = 0 };
 #define TRASH_SIZE 65536
 static char trash[TRASH_SIZE];
 
+volatile int nbproc = 0;
+
 /* display the message and exit with the code */
 __attribute__((noreturn)) void die(int code, const char *format, ...)
 {
@@ -65,6 +68,13 @@ struct err_msg *alloc_err_msg(int size)
 	return err;
 }
 
+void sig_handler(int sig)
+{
+	if (sig == SIGCHLD) {
+		while (waitpid(-1, NULL, WNOHANG) > 0)
+			__sync_sub_and_fetch(&nbproc, 1);
+	}
+}
 
 /* converts str in the form [[<ipv4>|<ipv6>|<hostname>]:]port to struct sockaddr_storage.
  * Returns < 0 with err set in case of error.
@@ -492,18 +502,48 @@ int tcp_pause(int sock, const char *arg)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+/* forks another process while respecting the limit imposed in argument (1 by
+ * default). Will wait for another process to exit before creating a new one.
+ * Returns the value of the fork() syscall, ie 0 for the child, non-zero for
+ * the parent, -1 for an error.
+ */
+int tcp_fork(int sock, const char *arg)
+{
+	int max = 1;
+	int ret;
+
+	if (arg[1]) {
+		max = atoi(arg + 1);
+		if (max <= 0) {
+			fprintf(stderr, "max process must be > 0 or unset (was %d)\n", max);
+			return -1;
+		}
+	}
+
+	while (nbproc >= max)
+		poll(NULL, 0, 1000);
+
+	ret = fork();
+	if (ret > 0)
+		__sync_add_and_fetch(&nbproc, 1);
+	return ret;
+}
+
 int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
 	struct sockaddr_storage ss;
 	struct err_msg err;
 	const char *arg0;
 	int arg;
+	int ret;
 	int sock;
 
 	arg0 = argv[0];
 	if (argc < 2)
 		usage(1, arg0);
 
+	signal(SIGCHLD, sig_handler);
+
 	if (addr_to_ss(argv[1], &ss, &err) < 0)
 		die(1, "%s\n", err.msg);
 
@@ -614,6 +654,17 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 				shutdown(sock, SHUT_WR);
 			break;
 
+		case 'N':
+			ret = tcp_fork(sock, argv[arg]);
+			if (ret < 0)
+				die(1, "Fatal: fork() failed.\n");
+			if (ret > 0) {
+				/* loop back to first arg */
+				arg = 1;
+				continue;
+			}
+			/* OK we're in the child, let's continue */
+			break;
 		default:
 			usage(1, arg0);
 		}