diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/bootstrap/Bootstrap.java b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/bootstrap/Bootstrap.java
index 5bdce89fb3..25ca73a4d8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/bootstrap/Bootstrap.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/bootstrap/Bootstrap.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelFactory;
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelHandler;
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelPipeline;
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelPipelineFactory;
+import org.jboss.netty.util.ExternalResourceReleasable;
 import org.jboss.netty.util.internal.MapUtil;
 
 /**
@@ -50,7 +51,7 @@ import org.jboss.netty.util.internal.MapUtil;
  *
  * @apiviz.uses org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelFactory
  */
-public class Bootstrap {
+public class Bootstrap implements ExternalResourceReleasable {
 
     private volatile ChannelFactory factory;
     private volatile ChannelPipeline pipeline = pipeline();
@@ -264,4 +265,11 @@ public class Bootstrap {
             options.put(key, value);
         }
     }
+
+    public void releaseExternalResources() {
+        ChannelFactory factory = this.factory;
+        if (factory != null) {
+            factory.releaseExternalResources();
+        }
+    }
 }