diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index e4cbedd0b..ad98ee7bc 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -939,6 +939,7 @@ check: all
 	fi
 	rm -rf $(TMPD)
 ifneq ($(PLATFORM), OS_AIX)
+	python tools/check_all_python.py
 ifeq ($(filter -DROCKSDB_LITE,$(OPT)),)
 	python tools/ldb_test.py
 	sh tools/rocksdb_dump_test.sh
@@ -2051,6 +2052,7 @@ jtest_run:
 
 jtest: rocksdbjava
 	cd java;$(MAKE) sample;$(MAKE) test;
+	python tools/check_all_python.py # TODO peterd: find a better place for this check in CI targets
 
 jdb_bench:
 	cd java;$(MAKE) db_bench;
diff --git a/tools/check_all_python.py b/tools/check_all_python.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e6aa9e12a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/check_all_python.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python2
+# Copyright (c) Facebook, Inc. and its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
+import glob
+
+# Checks that all python files in the repository are at least free of syntax
+# errors. This provides a minimal pre-/post-commit check for python file
+# modifications.
+
+count = 0
+# Clean this up when we finally upgrade to Python 3
+for filename in glob.glob("*.py") + glob.glob("*/*.py") + glob.glob("*/*/*.py") + glob.glob("*/*/*/*.py"):
+    source = open(filename, 'r').read() + '\n'
+    # Parses and syntax checks the file, throwing on error. (No pyc written.)
+    _ = compile(source, filename, 'exec')
+    count = count + 1
+
+print("No syntax errors in {0} .py files".format(count))