diff --git a/Lib/bdb.py b/Lib/bdb.py
index 5cfb5ef6c5d..3fdfbddabf6 100644
--- a/Lib/bdb.py
+++ b/Lib/bdb.py
@@ -113,6 +113,9 @@ class Bdb:
         else:
             return 0
 
+    def do_clear(self, arg):
+        raise NotImplementedError, "subclass of bdb must implement do_clear()"
+
     def break_anywhere(self, frame):
         return self.breaks.has_key(
             self.canonic(frame.f_code.co_filename))