diff --git a/Lib/xdrlib.py b/Lib/xdrlib.py
index 3c18233..fb1e72d 100644
--- a/Lib/xdrlib.py
+++ b/Lib/xdrlib.py
@@ -150,6 +150,9 @@
     def set_position(self, position):
 	self.__pos = position
 
+    def get_buffer(self):
+	return self.__buf
+
     def done(self):
 	if self.__pos < len(self.__buf):
 	    raise Error('unextracted data remains')