diff --git a/src/sna/kgem.c b/src/sna/kgem.c
index 5d777999..82199a1d 100644
--- a/src/sna/kgem.c
+++ b/src/sna/kgem.c
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ static struct kgem_bo *
 search_snoop_cache(struct kgem *kgem, unsigned int num_pages, unsigned flags);
 
 #define DBG_NO_HW 0
+#define DBG_NO_EXEC 0
 #define DBG_NO_TILING 0
 #define DBG_NO_CACHE 0
 #define DBG_NO_CACHE_LEVEL 0
@@ -2743,6 +2744,14 @@ static int kgem_batch_write(struct kgem *kgem, uint32_t handle, uint32_t size)
 
 	ASSERT_IDLE(kgem, handle);
 
+#if DBG_NO_EXEC
+	{
+		uint32_t batch[] = { MI_BATCH_BUFFER_END, 0};
+		return gem_write(kgem->fd, handle, 0, sizeof(batch), batch);
+	}
+#endif
+
+
 retry:
 	/* If there is no surface data, just upload the batch */
 	if (kgem->surface == kgem->batch_size) {