diff -urNp coreutils-7.6-orig/doc/coreutils.texi coreutils-7.6/doc/coreutils.texi
--- coreutils-7.6-orig/doc/coreutils.texi	2009-11-23 10:21:55.000000000 +0100
+++ coreutils-7.6/doc/coreutils.texi	2009-11-23 10:24:03.000000000 +0100
@@ -6113,8 +6113,9 @@ Exit status:
 1 minor problems  (e.g., failure to access a file or directory not
   specified as a command line argument.  This happens when listing a
   directory in which entries are actively being removed or renamed.)
-2 serious trouble (e.g., memory exhausted, invalid option or failure
-  to access file or directory specified as a command line argument)
+2 serious trouble (e.g., memory exhausted, invalid option, failure
+  to access a file or directory specified as a command line argument
+  or a directory loop)
 @end display
 
 Also see @ref{Common options}.
diff -urNp coreutils-7.6-orig/src/ls.c coreutils-7.6/src/ls.c
--- coreutils-7.6-orig/src/ls.c	2009-11-23 10:21:55.000000000 +0100
+++ coreutils-7.6/src/ls.c	2009-11-23 10:24:40.000000000 +0100
@@ -2494,6 +2494,7 @@ print_dir (char const *name, char const 
           error (0, 0, _("%s: not listing already-listed directory"),
                  quotearg_colon (name));
           closedir (dirp);
+          set_exit_status (true);
           return;
         }
 
diff -urNp coreutils-7.6-orig/tests/ls/infloop coreutils-7.6/tests/ls/infloop
--- coreutils-7.6-orig/tests/ls/infloop	2009-09-01 13:01:16.000000000 +0200
+++ coreutils-7.6/tests/ls/infloop	2009-11-23 10:28:45.000000000 +0100
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 # show that the following no longer makes ls infloop
 # mkdir loop; cd loop; ln -s ../loop sub; ls -RL
 
+# Also ensure ls exits with status = 2 in that case.
 # Copyright (C) 2001-2002, 2004, 2006-2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 
 # This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
@@ -27,21 +28,22 @@ fi
 mkdir loop || framework_failure
 ln -s ../loop loop/sub || framework_failure
 
-fail=0
-
-ls -RL loop 2>err | head -n 7 > out
-# With an inf-looping ls, out will contain these 7 lines:
-cat <<EOF > bad
+cat <<\EOF > exp-out || framework_failure
 loop:
 sub
+EOF
 
-loop/sub:
-sub
-
-loop/sub/sub:
+cat <<\EOF > exp-err || framework_failure
+ls: loop/sub: not listing already-listed directory
 EOF
 
-# Make sure we don't get the "bad" output.
-compare out bad > /dev/null 2>&1 && fail=1
+fail=0
+
+timeout 1 ls -RL loop 2>err > out
+# Ensure that ls exits with status 2 upon detecting a cycle
+test $? = 2 || fail=1
+
+compare err exp-err || fail=1
+compare out exp-out || fail=1
 
 Exit $fail