diff --git a/ckanapi/cli/dump_metadata.py b/ckanapi/cli/dump_metadata.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2269678
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ckanapi/cli/dump_metadata.py
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+"""
+implementation of dump_metadata cli command
+"""
+
+import sys
+import gzip
+import json
+from datetime import datetime
+import os
+
+from ckanapi.cli.utils import compact_json, \
+    quiet_int_pipe, pretty_json
+
+DEFAULT_PAGINATION = 50
+
+def dump_metadata(ckan, arguments, pagination=DEFAULT_PAGINATION,
+        stdout=None, stderr=None):
+    '''
+    Dump all the JSON metadata records.
+    This is often a better than using dump_things with thing=datasets,
+    as sites like catalog.data.gov do not support package_list api.
+
+    The package_search API is used with pagination.
+    '''
+    if pagination < 1:
+        raise ValueError("Pagination size must be greater or equal to 1")
+    if stdout is None:
+        stdout = getattr(sys.stdout, 'buffer', sys.stdout)
+    if stderr is None:
+        stderr = getattr(sys.stderr, 'buffer', sys.stderr)
+
+    jsonl_output = stdout
+    if arguments['--output']:
+        jsonl_output = open(arguments['--output'], 'wb')
+    if arguments['--gzip']:
+        jsonl_output = gzip.GzipFile(fileobj=jsonl_output)
+
+    with quiet_int_pipe() as errors:
+        count = 0
+        total_count = 0
+        total_known = False
+        while not total_known or total_count > count:
+            response = ckan.call_action("package_search", dict(rows=pagination, 
+                    start=count, sort="id asc"))
+            total_count = response["count"]
+            total_known = True
+            for record in response["results"]:
+                jsonl_output.write(compact_json(record, 
+                    sort_keys=True) + b'\n')
+                count += 1
+    if 'pipe' in errors:
+        return 1
+    if 'interrupt' in errors:
+        return 2
+
diff --git a/ckanapi/cli/main.py b/ckanapi/cli/main.py
index 0904266..6cbb5a1 100644
--- a/ckanapi/cli/main.py
+++ b/ckanapi/cli/main.py
@@ -19,6 +19,10 @@
           (ID_OR_NAME ... | --all) ([-O JSONL_OUTPUT] | [-D DIRECTORY])
           [-p PROCESSES] [-qwz]
           [[-c CONFIG] [-u USER] | -r SITE_URL [-a APIKEY] [-g]]
+  ckanapi dump_datasets2
+          [-O JSONL_OUTPUT]
+          [-z]
+          [[-c CONFIG] [-u USER] | -r SITE_URL [-a APIKEY] [-g]]
   ckanapi delete (datasets | groups | organizations | users | related)
           (ID_OR_NAME ... | [-I JSONL_INPUT] [-s START] [-m MAX])
           [-p PROCESSES] [-l LOG_FILE] [-qwz]
@@ -77,6 +81,7 @@
 from ckanapi.cli.dump import dump_things
 from ckanapi.cli.delete import delete_things
 from ckanapi.cli.action import action
+from ckanapi.cli.dump_metadata import dump_metadata
 
 
 def parse_arguments():
@@ -130,6 +135,9 @@ def main(running_with_paster=False):
     if arguments['delete']:
         return delete_things(ckan, thing[0], arguments)
 
+    if arguments['dump_datasets2']:
+        return dump_metadata(ckan, arguments)
+
     assert 0, arguments # we shouldn't be here
 
 
diff --git a/ckanapi/tests/test_cli_dump_metadata.py b/ckanapi/tests/test_cli_dump_metadata.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..44a16c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ckanapi/tests/test_cli_dump_metadata.py
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+from ckanapi.cli.dump_metadata import dump_metadata
+from ckanapi.errors import NotFound
+import json
+import tempfile
+import shutil
+from os.path import exists
+
+try:
+    import unittest2 as unittest
+except ImportError:
+    import unittest
+from io import BytesIO
+
+
+class MockCKAN(object):
+
+    def __init__(self):
+
+        self.data = [{'id': '12',
+                 'name': 'twelve',
+                 'title': "Twelve"},
+                {'id': '34',
+                 'name': 'thirtyfour',
+                 'title': "Thirty-four"},
+                {'id': '56',
+                 'name': 'fiftysix',
+                 'title': "Fifty-Six"},
+                {'id': '67',
+                 'name': 'sixtyseven',
+                 'title': "Sixty-Seven"},
+                {'id': 'dp',
+                 'name': 'dp',
+                 'title': 'Test for datapackage',
+                 'resources':[ {'name': 'resource1',
+                         'format': 'html',
+                         'url':'http://example.com/test-file'}]}]
+
+    def call_action(self, name, kwargs):
+        start = kwargs["start"]
+        rows = kwargs["rows"]
+        return {"count" : 5,
+                "results" : self.data[start:start+rows]}
+
+
+class TestCLIDumpMetadata(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.ckan = MockCKAN()
+        self.stdout = BytesIO()
+        self.stderr = BytesIO()
+
+    def test_dump_metadata(self):
+        dump_metadata(self.ckan, {
+                '--ckan-user': None,
+                '--config': None,
+                '--remote': None,
+                '--apikey': None,
+                '--output': None,
+                '--gzip': False,
+            }, 2,
+            stdout=self.stdout,
+            stderr=self.stderr)
+        output = self.stdout.getvalue().decode("UTF-8")
+        self.assertEqual(output.count("\n"), 5)
+        self.assertTrue(r'{"id":"12","name":"twelve","title":"Twelve"}' in output)
+        self.assertTrue(r'{"id":"34","name":"thirtyfour","title":"Thirty-four"}' in output)
+        self.assertTrue(r'id":"dp"' in output)
+