diff --git a/bitbake/bin/bitbake b/bitbake/bin/bitbake
index c06d4e8..89582f7 100755
--- a/bitbake/bin/bitbake
+++ b/bitbake/bin/bitbake
@@ -170,6 +170,10 @@ Default BBFILES are the .bb files in the current directory.""")
 
     parser.add_option("-B", "--bind", help = "The name/address for the bitbake server to bind to",
                action = "store", dest = "bind", default = False)
+
+    parser.add_option("-C", "--clean-workdir", help = "Clean up the old version build directories in workdir",
+               action = "store_true", dest = "clean_workdir", default = False)
+
     options, args = parser.parse_args(sys.argv)
 
     configuration = BBConfiguration(options)
diff --git a/bitbake/lib/bb/command.py b/bitbake/lib/bb/command.py
index 1799f1c..a924e85 100644
--- a/bitbake/lib/bb/command.py
+++ b/bitbake/lib/bb/command.py
@@ -294,6 +294,11 @@ class CommandsAsync:
         command.finishAsyncCommand()
     findConfigFilePath.needcache = False
 
+    def cleanupWorkdir(self, command, params):
+        command.cooker.cleanupWorkdir()
+        command.finishAsyncCommand()
+    cleanupWorkdir.needcache = True
+
     def showVersions(self, command, params):
         """
         Show the currently selected versions
diff --git a/bitbake/lib/bb/cooker.py b/bitbake/lib/bb/cooker.py
index 558eadd..0870488 100644
--- a/bitbake/lib/bb/cooker.py
+++ b/bitbake/lib/bb/cooker.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import logging
 import multiprocessing
 import sre_constants
 import threading
+import shutil
 from cStringIO import StringIO
 from contextlib import closing
 from functools import wraps
@@ -247,6 +248,8 @@ class BBCooker:
                 self.commandlineAction['action'] = ["generateDotGraph", self.configuration.pkgs_to_build, self.configuration.cmd]
             else:
                 self.commandlineAction['msg'] = "Please specify a package name for dependency graph generation."
+        elif self.configuration.clean_workdir:
+            self.commandlineAction['action'] = ["cleanupWorkdir"]
         else:
             if self.configuration.pkgs_to_build:
                 self.commandlineAction['action'] = ["buildTargets", self.configuration.pkgs_to_build, self.configuration.cmd]
@@ -254,6 +257,66 @@ class BBCooker:
                 #self.commandlineAction['msg'] = "Nothing to do.  Use 'bitbake world' to build everything, or run 'bitbake --help' for usage information."
                 self.commandlineAction = None
 
+    def cleanupWorkdir(self):
+        """
+        Clean up the package old version build directory in workdir
+        """
+
+        def parseDirName(match):
+            pkg_name = match.group(1)
+            pkg_version = match.group(2)
+            if pkg_name in pkg_pn:
+                pref = preferred_versions[pkg_name]
+                epoch = pref[0][0]
+                if len(epoch) > 0:
+                    epoch += '_'
+                prefstr = epoch + pref[0][1] + '-' +pref[0][2]
+                if pkg_version != prefstr:
+                    obsolete_dirs.append(pkgabsdir)
+                return True
+            return False
+
+        # Need files parsed
+        self.updateCache()
+
+        pkg_pn = self.status.pkg_pn
+        (latest_versions, preferred_versions) = bb.providers.findProviders(self.configuration.data, self.status, pkg_pn)
+
+        tmpdir = self.configuration.data.getVar('TMPDIR', True)
+        workdir = os.path.join(tmpdir, 'work')
+
+        obsolete_dirs = []
+
+        for archdir in os.listdir(workdir):
+            archdir = os.path.join(workdir, archdir)
+            if not os.path.isdir(archdir):
+                pass
+
+            for pkgdir in os.listdir(archdir):
+                pkgabsdir = os.path.join(archdir, pkgdir)
+                if not os.path.isdir(pkgabsdir):
+                    pass
+
+                # parse the package directory names
+                # parse native/nativesdk packages first
+                match = re.match('(.*?-native.*?)-(.*)', pkgdir)
+                if match and parseDirName(match):
+                    continue
+
+                # parse package names which ends with numbers such as 'glib-2.0'
+                match = re.match('(.*?-[\.\d]+)-(\d.*)', pkgdir)
+                if match and parseDirName(match):
+                    continue
+
+                # other packages
+                match = re.match('(.*?)-(\d.*)', pkgdir)
+                if match and parseDirName(match):
+                    continue
+
+        for d in obsolete_dirs:
+            logger.warn("Deleleting %s", d)
+            shutil.rmtree(d, True)
+
     def runCommands(self, server, data, abort):
         """
         Run any queued asynchronous command