diff --git a/libraries/chain/block_log.cpp b/libraries/chain/block_log.cpp
index 9336fa92dd6..11aafc167cb 100644
--- a/libraries/chain/block_log.cpp
+++ b/libraries/chain/block_log.cpp
@@ -262,4 +262,113 @@ namespace eosio { namespace chain {
       }
    } // construct_index
 
+   void block_log::repair_log( const fc::path& data_dir ) {
+      ilog("Recovering Block Log...");
+      FC_ASSERT( fc::is_directory(data_dir) && fc::is_regular_file(data_dir / "blocks.log"),
+                 "Block log not found in '${blocks_dir}'", ("blocks_dir", data_dir)          );
+
+      auto now = fc::time_point::now();
+
+      auto blocks_dir = fc::canonical( data_dir );
+      auto backup_dir = blocks_dir.parent_path();
+      auto blocks_dir_name = blocks_dir.filename();
+      if( blocks_dir_name.generic_string() == "." ) {
+         blocks_dir_name = backup_dir.filename();
+         backup_dir = backup_dir.parent_path();
+         FC_ASSERT( blocks_dir_name.generic_string() != ".", "Invalid path to blocks directory" );
+      }
+      backup_dir = backup_dir / blocks_dir_name.generic_string().append("-").append( now );
+
+      FC_ASSERT( !fc::exists(backup_dir),
+                 "Cannot move existing blocks directory to already existing directory '${new_blocks_dir}'",
+                 ("new_blocks_dir", backup_dir) );
+
+      fc::rename( blocks_dir, backup_dir );
+      ilog( "Moved existing blocks directory to backup location: '${new_blocks_dir}'", ("new_blocks_dir", backup_dir) );
+
+      fc::create_directories(blocks_dir);
+      auto block_log_path = blocks_dir / "blocks.log";
+
+      ilog( "Reconstructing '${new_block_log}' from backed up block log", ("new_block_log", block_log_path) );
+
+      std::fstream  old_block_stream;
+      std::fstream  new_block_stream;
+
+      old_block_stream.open( (backup_dir / "blocks.log").generic_string().c_str(), LOG_READ );
+      new_block_stream.open( block_log_path.generic_string().c_str(), LOG_WRITE );
+
+      uint64_t pos = 0;
+      uint64_t end_pos = old_block_stream.tellg();
+      old_block_stream.seekg( 0, std::ios::end );
+      end_pos = static_cast<uint64_t>(old_block_stream.tellg()) - end_pos;
+      old_block_stream.seekg( 0 );
+
+      std::exception_ptr     except_ptr;
+      vector<char>           incomplete_block_data;
+      optional<signed_block> bad_block;
+      uint32_t               block_num = 0;
+
+      while( pos < end_pos ) {
+         signed_block tmp;
+
+         try {
+            fc::raw::unpack(old_block_stream, tmp);
+         } catch( ... ) {
+            except_ptr = std::current_exception();
+            incomplete_block_data.resize( end_pos - pos );
+            old_block_stream.read( incomplete_block_data.data(), incomplete_block_data.size() );
+            break;
+         }
+
+         uint64_t tmp_pos = std::numeric_limits<uint64_t>::max();
+         if( (static_cast<uint64_t>(old_block_stream.tellg()) + sizeof(pos)) <= end_pos ) {
+            old_block_stream.read( reinterpret_cast<char*>(&tmp_pos), sizeof(tmp_pos) );
+         }
+         if( pos != tmp_pos ) {
+            bad_block = tmp;
+            break;
+         }
+
+         auto data = fc::raw::pack(tmp);
+         new_block_stream.write( data.data(), data.size() );
+         new_block_stream.write( reinterpret_cast<char*>(&pos), sizeof(pos) );
+         block_num = tmp.block_num();
+         pos = new_block_stream.tellp();
+      }
+
+      if( bad_block.valid() ) {
+         ilog( "Recovered only up to block number ${num}. Last block in block log was not properly committed:\n${last_block}",
+               ("num", block_num)("last_block", *bad_block) );
+      } else if( except_ptr ) {
+         std::string error_msg;
+
+         try {
+            std::rethrow_exception(except_ptr);
+         } catch( const fc::exception& e ) {
+            error_msg = e.what();
+         } catch( const std::exception& e ) {
+            error_msg = e.what();
+         } catch( ... ) {
+            error_msg = "unrecognized exception";
+         }
+
+         ilog( "Recovered only up to block number ${num}. "
+               "The block ${next_num} could not be deserialized from the block log due to error:\n${error_msg}",
+               ("num", block_num)("next_num", block_num+1)("error_msg", error_msg) );
+
+         auto tail_path = blocks_dir / std::string("blocks-bad-tail-").append( now ).append(".log");
+         if( !fc::exists(tail_path) && incomplete_block_data.size() > 0 ) {
+            std::fstream tail_stream;
+            tail_stream.open( tail_path.generic_string().c_str(), LOG_WRITE );
+            tail_stream.write( incomplete_block_data.data(), incomplete_block_data.size() );
+
+            ilog( "Data at tail end of block log which should contain the (incomplete) serialization of block ${num} "
+                  "has been written out to '${tail_path}'.",
+                  ("num", block_num+1)("tail_path", tail_path) );
+         }
+      } else {
+         ilog( "Existing block log was undamaged. Recovered all irreversible blocks up to block number ${num}.", ("num", block_num) );
+      }
+   }
+
 } } /// eosio::chain
diff --git a/libraries/chain/include/eosio/chain/block_log.hpp b/libraries/chain/include/eosio/chain/block_log.hpp
index 0ebca3e536b..8b3c8ff6e1d 100644
--- a/libraries/chain/include/eosio/chain/block_log.hpp
+++ b/libraries/chain/include/eosio/chain/block_log.hpp
@@ -58,6 +58,8 @@ namespace eosio { namespace chain {
 
          static const uint64_t npos = std::numeric_limits<uint64_t>::max();
 
+         static void repair_log( const fc::path& data_dir );
+
       private:
          void open(const fc::path& data_dir);
          void construct_index();
diff --git a/plugins/chain_plugin/chain_plugin.cpp b/plugins/chain_plugin/chain_plugin.cpp
index 9eb0efbd7bd..7db34c316aa 100644
--- a/plugins/chain_plugin/chain_plugin.cpp
+++ b/plugins/chain_plugin/chain_plugin.cpp
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ class chain_plugin_impl {
    ,incoming_block_sync_method(app().get_method<incoming::methods::block_sync>())
    ,incoming_transaction_sync_method(app().get_method<incoming::methods::transaction_sync>())
    {}
-   
+
    bfs::path                        block_log_dir;
    bfs::path                        genesis_file;
    time_point                       genesis_timestamp;
@@ -116,6 +116,8 @@ void chain_plugin::set_program_options(options_description& cli, options_descrip
    cli.add_options()
          ("replay-blockchain", bpo::bool_switch()->default_value(false),
           "clear chain database and replay all blocks")
+         ("hard-replay-blockchain", bpo::bool_switch()->default_value(false),
+          "clear chain database, recover as many blocks as possible from the block log, and then replay those blocks")
          ("resync-blockchain", bpo::bool_switch()->default_value(false),
           "clear chain database and block log")
          ;
@@ -158,16 +160,20 @@ void chain_plugin::plugin_initialize(const variables_map& options) {
       my->shared_memory_size = options.at("shared-memory-size-mb").as<uint64_t>() * 1024 * 1024;
    }
 
-   if (options.at("replay-blockchain").as<bool>()) {
-      ilog("Replay requested: wiping database");
-      fc::remove_all(app().data_dir() / default_shared_memory_dir);
-   }
-   if (options.at("resync-blockchain").as<bool>()) {
+   if( options.at("resync-blockchain").as<bool>() ) {
       ilog("Resync requested: wiping database and blocks");
       fc::remove_all(app().data_dir() / default_shared_memory_dir);
       fc::remove_all(my->block_log_dir);
+   } else if( options.at("hard-replay-blockchain").as<bool>() ) {
+      ilog("Hard replay requested: wiping database");
+      fc::remove_all(app().data_dir() / default_shared_memory_dir);
+      block_log::repair_log( my->block_log_dir );
+   } else if( options.at("replay-blockchain").as<bool>() ) {
+      ilog("Replay requested: wiping database");
+      fc::remove_all(app().data_dir() / default_shared_memory_dir);
    }
 
+
    if(options.count("checkpoint"))
    {
       auto cps = options.at("checkpoint").as<vector<string>>();
diff --git a/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index a747d6401d5..92d66564f45 100644
--- a/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ target_include_directories( plugin_test PUBLIC ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/plugins/net_p
 add_dependencies(plugin_test asserter test_api test_api_mem test_api_db test_api_multi_index exchange proxy identity identity_test stltest infinite eosio.system eosio.token eosio.bios test.inline multi_index_test noop dice eosio.msig)
 
 #
-configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/core_symbol.py.in ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/core_symbol.py)
+configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/core_symbol.py.in ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/core_symbol.py)
 
 configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/p2p_tests/sync/test.sh ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/p2p_tests/sync/test.sh COPYONLY)
 configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/p2p_tests/dawn_515/test.sh ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/p2p_tests/dawn_515/test.sh COPYONLY)
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/distributed-transactions-remote-test.
 configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/sample-cluster-map.json ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/sample-cluster-map.json COPYONLY)
 configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/restart-scenarios-test.py ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/restart-scenarios-test.py COPYONLY)
 configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/testUtils.py ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/testUtils.py COPYONLY)
-configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/core_symbol.py ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/core_symbol.py COPYONLY)
 configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/nodeos_run_test.py ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/nodeos_run_test.py COPYONLY)
 configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/nodeos_run_remote_test.py ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/nodeos_run_remote_test.py COPYONLY)
 configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/consensus-validation-malicious-producers.py ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/consensus-validation-malicious-producers.py COPYONLY)