diff --git a/minimal/do b/minimal/do
index d84c442..9fe0c01 100755
--- a/minimal/do
+++ b/minimal/do
@@ -153,19 +153,21 @@ _dir_shovel()
 }
 
 
-redo()
+_redo()
 {
+	set +e
 	for i in "$@"; do
 		_dirsplit "$i"
 		_dir_shovel "$dir" "$base"
 		dir=$xdir base=$xbase basetmp=$xbasetmp
-		( cd "$dir" && _do "$dir" "$base" "$basetmp" ) || return 1
+		( cd "$dir" && _do "$dir" "$base" "$basetmp" )
+		[ "$?" = 0 ] || return 1
 	done
 }
 
 
-set -e
-redo "$@"
+_redo "$@"
+[ "$?" = 0 ] || exit 1
 
 if [ -n "$DO_TOP" ]; then
 	echo "Removing stamp files..." >&2
diff --git a/t/000-set-minus-e/.gitignore b/t/000-set-minus-e/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6bfe6b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/000-set-minus-e/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+log
diff --git a/t/000-set-minus-e/all.do b/t/000-set-minus-e/all.do
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..03b87a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/000-set-minus-e/all.do
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+rm -f log
+redo fatal >&/dev/null || true
+
+[ "$(cat log)" = "ok" ] || exit 5
diff --git a/t/000-set-minus-e/clean.do b/t/000-set-minus-e/clean.do
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4676c2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/000-set-minus-e/clean.do
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+rm -f log *~ .*~
diff --git a/t/000-set-minus-e/fatal.do b/t/000-set-minus-e/fatal.do
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b4037c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/000-set-minus-e/fatal.do
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+rm -f log
+echo ok >>log
+this-should-cause-a-fatal-error
+echo fail >>log  # this line should never run
diff --git a/t/all.do b/t/all.do
index 34a6374..70c1291 100644
--- a/t/all.do
+++ b/t/all.do
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+# tests that "set -e" works (.do scripts always run with -e set by default)
+rm -f 000-set-minus-e/log
+redo 000-set-minus-e/all
+if [ "$(cat 000-set-minus-e/log)" != "ok" ]; then
+    echo "FATAL! .do file not run with 'set -e' in effect!" >&2
+    exit 5
+fi
+
 # builds 1xx*/all
 /bin/ls 1[0-9][0-9]*/all.do |
 sed 's/\.do$//' |