diff --git a/quad/quad/wrap.rkt b/quad/quad/wrap.rkt
index 349415f5..c31068f3 100644
--- a/quad/quad/wrap.rkt
+++ b/quad/quad/wrap.rkt
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
     [else 0]))
 
 
+
 (define+provide/contract (wrap xs
                                [target-size (current-wrap-distance)]
                                [debug #f]
@@ -31,7 +32,29 @@
                   #:mandatory-break-proc procedure?
                   #:optional-break-proc procedure?
                   #:finish-wrap-proc procedure?) . ->* . (listof any/c))
-  (define (cleanup-wraplist wraps) (dropf-right (append* (reverse wraps)) (λ (x) (equal? x break-val))))
+  (wrap-mandatory xs
+                  target-size
+                  debug
+                  break-val
+                  break-before?
+                  break-after?
+                  mandatory-break?
+                  optional-break?
+                  finish-wrap-proc))
+
+;; the mandatory breaks can be used to divide the wrap territory into smaller chunks
+;; that can be cached, parallelized, etc.
+(define (wrap-mandatory xs
+                        target-size
+                        debug
+                        break-val
+                        break-before?
+                        break-after?
+                        mandatory-break?
+                        optional-break?
+                        finish-wrap-proc)
+  (define break-val-equal? (if (symbol? break-val) eq? equal?))
+  (define (cleanup-wraplist xs) (dropf-right (append* (reverse xs)) (λ (x) (break-val-equal? break-val x))))
   (define wraps
     (for/fold ([wraps null]
                [xs (dropf xs mandatory-break?)]
@@ -40,6 +63,7 @@
                #:break (null? xs))
       (cond
         [(mandatory-break? (car xs))
+         (when debug (report x 'mandatory-break))
          (values (cons (list break-val) wraps) (cdr xs))]
         [else
          (define-values (head tail) (splitf-at xs (λ (x) (not (mandatory-break? x)))))