diff --git a/redo.py b/redo.py
index 5f1a482..c232244 100755
--- a/redo.py
+++ b/redo.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ if opt.verbose:
 if opt.shuffle:
     os.environ['REDO_SHUFFLE'] = '1'
 
-is_root = not os.environ.get('REDO_BASE', '')
+is_root = not os.environ.get('REDO', '')
 
 if is_root:
     # toplevel call to redo
diff --git a/t/all.do b/t/all.do
index 41379ff..db9c7b6 100644
--- a/t/all.do
+++ b/t/all.do
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
-redo-ifchange hello yellow bellow c d example/all curse/all
+redo-ifchange hello yellow bellow c d example/all curse/all deps/all
+
 
diff --git a/t/clean.do b/t/clean.do
index 1fde6f4..75b7dd2 100644
--- a/t/clean.do
+++ b/t/clean.do
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-redo example/clean curse/clean
+redo example/clean curse/clean deps/clean
 rm -f c c.c c.c.c c.c.c.b c.c.c.b.b d
 rm -f hello [by]ellow *.o *~ .*~ CC LD
diff --git a/t/deps/.gitignore b/t/deps/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1c802f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/deps/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+t1a
diff --git a/t/deps/all.do b/t/deps/all.do
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3f5418f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/deps/all.do
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+redo test1
diff --git a/t/deps/clean.do b/t/deps/clean.do
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a0946c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/deps/clean.do
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+rm -f *~ .*~ t1a
diff --git a/t/deps/t1a.do b/t/deps/t1a.do
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..679cee5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/deps/t1a.do
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+redo-ifchange t1dep
+echo $$
diff --git a/t/deps/t1dep.do b/t/deps/t1dep.do
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..be830bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/deps/t1dep.do
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+# nothing to do
diff --git a/t/deps/test1.do b/t/deps/test1.do
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c09feb4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/deps/test1.do
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+# force-rebuild t1dep
+redo t1dep
+
+if [ -e t1a ]; then
+	BEFORE="$(cat t1a)"
+else
+	BEFORE=
+fi
+redo-ifchange t1a  # it definitely had to rebuild because t1dep changed
+AFTER="$(cat t1a)"
+if [ "$BEFORE" == "$AFTER" ]; then
+	echo "t1a was not rebuilt!" >&2
+	exit 43
+fi