diff --git a/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/HWComposer.cpp b/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/HWComposer.cpp
index 129be4e43..ff887e436 100644
--- a/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/HWComposer.cpp
+++ b/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/HWComposer.cpp
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #include <sys/types.h>
 
 #include <utils/Errors.h>
+#include <utils/String8.h>
 
 #include <hardware/hardware.h>
 
@@ -100,5 +101,25 @@ hwc_layer_t* HWComposer::getLayers() const {
     return mList ? mList->hwLayers : 0;
 }
 
+void HWComposer::dump(String8& result, char* buffer, size_t SIZE) const {
+    if (mHwc && mList) {
+        result.append("Hardware Composer state:\n");
+
+        snprintf(buffer, SIZE, "  numHwLayers=%u, flags=%08x\n",
+                mList->numHwLayers, mList->flags);
+        result.append(buffer);
+
+        for (size_t i=0 ; i<mList->numHwLayers ; i++) {
+            const hwc_layer_t& l(mList->hwLayers[i]);
+            snprintf(buffer, SIZE, "  %8s | %08x | %08x | %02x | %04x | [%5d,%5d,%5d,%5d] |  [%5d,%5d,%5d,%5d]\n",
+                    l.compositionType ? "OVERLAY" : "FB",
+                    l.hints, l.flags, l.transform, l.blending,
+                    l.sourceCrop.left, l.sourceCrop.top, l.sourceCrop.right, l.sourceCrop.bottom,
+                    l.displayFrame.left, l.displayFrame.top, l.displayFrame.right, l.displayFrame.bottom);
+            result.append(buffer);
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 }; // namespace android
diff --git a/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/HWComposer.h b/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/HWComposer.h
index 22ff10ca5..5a9e9ebb1 100644
--- a/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/HWComposer.h
+++ b/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/HWComposer.h
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@
 namespace android {
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+class String8;
+
 class HWComposer
 {
 public:
@@ -54,6 +56,9 @@ public:
     size_t getNumLayers() const;
     hwc_layer_t* getLayers() const;
 
+    // for debugging
+    void dump(String8& out, char* scratch, size_t SIZE) const;
+
 private:
     hw_module_t const*      mModule;
     hwc_composer_device_t*  mHwc;
diff --git a/services/surfaceflinger/SurfaceFlinger.cpp b/services/surfaceflinger/SurfaceFlinger.cpp
index 06c86ddef..b353bffe6 100644
--- a/services/surfaceflinger/SurfaceFlinger.cpp
+++ b/services/surfaceflinger/SurfaceFlinger.cpp
@@ -1533,6 +1533,7 @@ status_t SurfaceFlinger::dump(int fd, const Vector<String16>& args)
                 hwc.initCheck()==NO_ERROR ? "present" : "not present",
                 mDebugDisableHWC ? "disabled" : "enabled");
         result.append(buffer);
+        hwc.dump(result, buffer, SIZE);
 
         const GraphicBufferAllocator& alloc(GraphicBufferAllocator::get());
         alloc.dump(result);