diff --git a/src/scripts/xzdiff.in b/src/scripts/xzdiff.in
index 45633e0a..deec3ebf 100644
--- a/src/scripts/xzdiff.in
+++ b/src/scripts/xzdiff.in
@@ -120,10 +120,12 @@ elif test $# -eq 2; then
                 ( ($xz2 -cdfq -- "$2" 4>&-; echo $? >&4) 3>&- 5<&- </dev/null |
                 eval "$cmp" /dev/fd/5 - >&3) 5<&0
             )
+            cmp_status=$?
             case $xz_status in
               *[1-9]*) xz_status=1;;
               *) xz_status=0;;
             esac
+            (exit $cmp_status)
           else
             F=`expr "/$2" : '.*/\(.*\)[-.][ablmtxz2]*$'` || F=$prog
             tmp=
diff --git a/tests/Makefile.am b/tests/Makefile.am
index d0807ae4..0469264a 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile.am
+++ b/tests/Makefile.am
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ EXTRA_DIST = \
 	tests.h \
 	test_files.sh \
 	test_compress.sh \
+	test_scripts.sh \
 	bcj_test.c \
 	compress_prepared_bcj_sparc \
 	compress_prepared_bcj_x86
@@ -42,7 +43,8 @@ TESTS = \
 	test_block_header \
 	test_index \
 	test_files.sh \
-	test_compress.sh
+	test_compress.sh \
+	test_scripts.sh
 
 clean-local:
 	-rm -f compress_generated_*
diff --git a/tests/test_scripts.sh b/tests/test_scripts.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..891fc76a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_scripts.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+###############################################################################
+#
+# Author: Jonathan Nieder
+#
+# This file has been put into the public domain.
+# You can do whatever you want with this file.
+#
+###############################################################################
+
+# If scripts weren't built, this test is skipped.
+XZ=../src/xz/xz
+XZDIFF=../src/scripts/xzdiff
+test -x "$XZ" || XZ=
+test -r "$XZDIFF" || XZDIFF=
+if test -z "$XZ" || test -z "$XZDIFF"; then
+	(exit 77)
+	exit 77
+fi
+
+PATH=`pwd`/../src/xz:$PATH
+export PATH
+
+preimage=$srcdir/files/good-1-check-crc32.xz
+samepostimage=$srcdir/files/good-1-check-crc64.xz
+otherpostimage=$srcdir/files/good-1-lzma2-1.xz
+
+sh "$XZDIFF" "$preimage" "$samepostimage" >/dev/null
+status=$?
+if test "$status" != 0 ; then
+	echo "xzdiff with no changes exited with status $status != 0"
+	(exit 1)
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+sh "$XZDIFF" "$preimage" "$otherpostimage" >/dev/null
+status=$?
+if test "$status" != 1 ; then
+	echo "xzdiff with changes exited with status $status != 1"
+	(exit 1)
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+sh "$XZDIFF" "$preimage" "$srcdir/files/missing.xz" >/dev/null 2>&1
+status=$?
+if test "$status" != 2 ; then
+	echo "xzdiff with missing operand exited with status $status != 2"
+	(exit 1)
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+(exit 0)
+exit 0