diff --git a/tests/runner.pm b/tests/runner.pm
index 5627b5517..c4d37f8e3 100644
--- a/tests/runner.pm
+++ b/tests/runner.pm
@@ -185,9 +185,10 @@ sub runner_init {
         # Create a separate process in multiprocess mode
         my $child = fork();
         if(0 == $child) {
-            # TODO: set up a better signal handler
+            # TODO: set up better signal handlers
             $SIG{INT} = 'IGNORE';
             $SIG{TERM} = 'IGNORE';
+            $SIG{USR1} = 'IGNORE';
 
             $thisrunnerid = $$;
             print "Runner $thisrunnerid starting\n" if($verbose);
@@ -1270,6 +1271,7 @@ sub runnerar_ready {
             $maxfileno = $fd;
         }
     }
+    $maxfileno || die "Internal error: no runners are available to wait on\n";
 
     # Wait for any pipe from any runner to be ready
     # TODO: this is relatively slow with hundreds of fds
@@ -1293,13 +1295,13 @@ sub ipcrecv {
     my $err;
     my $datalen;
     while(! defined ($err = sysread($runnerr, $datalen, 4)) || $err <= 0) {
-        $!{EINTR} || die "error in ipcrecv: $!\n";
+        $!{EINTR} || die "error $err in ipcrecv: $! in runner $$ for $LOGDIR\n";
         # system call was interrupted, probably by ^C; restart it so we stay in sync
     }
     my $len=unpack("L", $datalen);
     my $buf;
     while(! defined ($err = sysread($runnerr, $buf, $len)) || $err <= 0) {
-        $!{EINTR} || die "error in ipcrecv: $!\n";
+        $!{EINTR} || die "error $err in ipcrecv: $! in runner $$ for $LOGDIR\n";
         # system call was interrupted, probably by ^C; restart it so we stay in sync
     }
 
@@ -1336,7 +1338,7 @@ sub ipcrecv {
     # Marshall the results to return
     $buf = freeze \@res;
 
-    syswrite($runnerw, (pack "L", length($buf)) . $buf);
+    defined syswrite($runnerw, (pack "L", length($buf)) . $buf) || $!{EINTR} || die "error $err in ipcrecv write: $! in runner $$ for $LOGDIR\n";
 
     return 0;
 }
diff --git a/tests/runtests.pl b/tests/runtests.pl
index 83933bd7b..2c10c1277 100755
--- a/tests/runtests.pl
+++ b/tests/runtests.pl
@@ -250,12 +250,29 @@ sub singletest_dumplogs {
 
 sub catch_zap {
     my $signame = shift;
-    logmsg "runtests.pl received SIG$signame, exiting\n";
+    print "runtests.pl received SIG$signame, exiting\r\n";
     $globalabort = 1;
 }
 $SIG{INT} = \&catch_zap;
 $SIG{TERM} = \&catch_zap;
 
+sub catch_usr1 {
+    print "runtests.pl internal state:\r\n";
+    print scalar(%runnersrunning) . " busy test runner(s) of " . scalar(keys %runnerids) . "\r\n";
+    foreach my $rid (sort(keys(%runnersrunning))) {
+        my $runnernum = "unknown";
+        foreach my $rnum (keys %runnerids) {
+            if($runnerids{$rnum} == $rid) {
+                $runnernum = $rnum;
+                last;
+            }
+        }
+        print "Runner $runnernum (id $rid) running test $runnersrunning{$rid} in state $singletest_state{$rid}\r\n";
+    }
+}
+
+$SIG{USR1} = \&catch_usr1;
+
 ##########################################################################
 # Clear all possible '*_proxy' environment variables for various protocols
 # to prevent them to interfere with our testing!
@@ -2734,14 +2751,17 @@ while () {
     if($globalabort) {
         logmsg singletest_dumplogs();
         logmsg "Aborting tests\n";
-        logmsg "Waiting for tests to finish...\n";
+        logmsg "Waiting for " . scalar((keys %runnersrunning)) . " outstanding test(s) to finish...\n";
         # Wait for the last requests to complete and throw them away so
         # that IPC calls & responses stay in sync
         # TODO: send a signal to the runners to interrupt a long test
         foreach my $rid (keys %runnersrunning) {
             runnerar($rid);
             delete $runnersrunning{$rid};
+            logmsg ".";
+            $| = 1;
         }
+        logmsg "\n";
         last;
     }
 
@@ -2770,7 +2790,7 @@ while () {
     # See if we've completed all the tests
     if(!scalar(%runnersrunning)) {
         # No runners are running; we must be done
-        scalar(@runtests) && die 'Internal error: tests to run';
+        scalar(@runtests) && die 'Internal error: still have tests to run';
         last;
     }
 
@@ -2783,7 +2803,7 @@ while () {
     if($ridready) {
         # This runner is ready to be serviced
         my $testnum = $runnersrunning{$ridready};
-        defined $testnum ||  die 'Internal error: test for runner unknown';
+        defined $testnum ||  die "Internal error: test for runner $ridready unknown";
         delete $runnersrunning{$ridready};
         my ($error, $again) = singletest($ridready, $testnum, $countforrunner{$ridready}, $totaltests);
         if($again) {