diff --git a/bitbake/bin/bitbake-server b/bitbake/bin/bitbake-server
index a559109e3f..01f83d982f 100755
--- a/bitbake/bin/bitbake-server
+++ b/bitbake/bin/bitbake-server
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ logfile = sys.argv[4]
 lockname = sys.argv[5]
 sockname = sys.argv[6]
 timeout = float(sys.argv[7])
-profile = bool(int(sys.argv[8]))
+profile = sys.argv[8]
 xmlrpcinterface = (sys.argv[9], int(sys.argv[10]))
 if xmlrpcinterface[0] == "None":
     xmlrpcinterface = (None, xmlrpcinterface[1])
diff --git a/bitbake/lib/bb/cooker.py b/bitbake/lib/bb/cooker.py
index c60fcd2719..fe33a4f34c 100644
--- a/bitbake/lib/bb/cooker.py
+++ b/bitbake/lib/bb/cooker.py
@@ -2027,7 +2027,7 @@ class Parser(multiprocessing.Process):
             self.exit = True
 
     def run(self):
-        bb.utils.profile_function(self.profile, self.realrun, "profile-parse-%s.log" % multiprocessing.current_process().name, process=False)
+        bb.utils.profile_function("parsing" in self.profile, self.realrun, "profile-parse-%s.log" % multiprocessing.current_process().name, process=False)
 
     def realrun(self):
         # Signal handling here is hard. We must not terminate any process or thread holding the write
diff --git a/bitbake/lib/bb/main.py b/bitbake/lib/bb/main.py
index bca8ebfa09..597cb27846 100755
--- a/bitbake/lib/bb/main.py
+++ b/bitbake/lib/bb/main.py
@@ -208,8 +208,10 @@ def create_bitbake_parser():
                              "failed and anything depending on it cannot be built, as much as "
                              "possible will be built before stopping.")
 
-    exec_group.add_argument("-P", "--profile", action="store_true",
-                        help="Profile the command and save reports.")
+    exec_group.add_argument("-P", "--profile", action="append",
+                        default=[],
+                        help="Profile the command and save reports. Specify 'main', 'idle' or 'parsing' "
+                             "to indicate which bitbake code to profile.")
 
     exec_group.add_argument("-S", "--dump-signatures", action="append",
                         default=[], metavar="SIGNATURE_HANDLER",
diff --git a/bitbake/lib/bb/server/process.py b/bitbake/lib/bb/server/process.py
index 2c5057bff1..7d1b38f78c 100644
--- a/bitbake/lib/bb/server/process.py
+++ b/bitbake/lib/bb/server/process.py
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ class ProcessServer():
             serverlog("Error writing to lock file: %s" % str(e))
             pass
 
-        return bb.utils.profile_function(self.cooker.configuration.profile, self.main, "profile-mainloop.log")
+        return bb.utils.profile_function("main" in self.cooker.configuration.profile, self.main, "profile-mainloop.log")
 
     def _idle_check(self):
         return len(self._idlefuns) == 0 and self.cooker.command.currentAsyncCommand is None
@@ -398,7 +398,7 @@ class ProcessServer():
                 serverlog("".join(msg))
 
     def idle_thread(self):
-        bb.utils.profile_function(self.cooker.configuration.profile, self.idle_thread_internal, "profile-idleloop.log")
+        bb.utils.profile_function("idle" in self.cooker.configuration.profile, self.idle_thread_internal, "profile-idleloop.log")
 
     def idle_thread_internal(self):
         def remove_idle_func(function):
@@ -600,7 +600,7 @@ class BitBakeServer(object):
         os.set_inheritable(self.bitbake_lock.fileno(), True)
         os.set_inheritable(self.readypipein, True)
         serverscript = os.path.realpath(os.path.dirname(__file__) + "/../../../bin/bitbake-server")
-        os.execl(sys.executable, sys.executable, serverscript, "decafbad", str(self.bitbake_lock.fileno()), str(self.readypipein), self.logfile, self.bitbake_lock.name, self.sockname,  str(self.server_timeout or 0), str(int(self.profile)), str(self.xmlrpcinterface[0]), str(self.xmlrpcinterface[1]))
+        os.execl(sys.executable, sys.executable, serverscript, "decafbad", str(self.bitbake_lock.fileno()), str(self.readypipein), self.logfile, self.bitbake_lock.name, self.sockname,  str(self.server_timeout or 0), str(list(self.profile)), str(self.xmlrpcinterface[0]), str(self.xmlrpcinterface[1]))
 
 def execServer(lockfd, readypipeinfd, lockname, sockname, server_timeout, xmlrpcinterface, profile):