diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 899b471b..7c88e76c 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 2013-09-15  Paul Smith  <psmith@gnu.org>
 
+	* read.c (eval_makefile): If the file open fails with an
+	unrecoverable error, stop now rather than trying to make it.
+	Fixes Savannah bug #27374.
+
 	* main.c (main): Perform the validation of the jobserver FDs
 	early, before we read makefiles, to ensure that something hasn't
 	opened and used those FDs for some other reason.
diff --git a/read.c b/read.c
index 834c7f83..f8542b0f 100644
--- a/read.c
+++ b/read.c
@@ -353,10 +353,24 @@ eval_makefile (const char *filename, int flags)
         filename = expanded;
     }
 
-  ebuf.fp = fopen (filename, "r");
+  ENULLLOOP (ebuf.fp, fopen (filename, "r"));
+
   /* Save the error code so we print the right message later.  */
   makefile_errno = errno;
 
+  /* Check for unrecoverable errors: out of mem or FILE slots.  */
+  switch (makefile_errno)
+    {
+#ifdef EMFILE
+    case EMFILE:
+#endif
+#ifdef ENFILE
+    case ENFILE:
+#endif
+    case ENOMEM:
+      fatal (reading_file, "%s", strerror (makefile_errno));
+    }
+
   /* If the makefile wasn't found and it's either a makefile from
      the 'MAKEFILES' variable or an included makefile,
      search the included makefile search path for this makefile.  */
diff --git a/tests/ChangeLog b/tests/ChangeLog
index d97e7e21..c6cebbf1 100644
--- a/tests/ChangeLog
+++ b/tests/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 2013-09-15  Paul Smith  <psmith@gnu.org>
 
+	* scripts/misc/fopen-fail: Check for failure on infinite recursion.
+	* run_make_tests.pl (run_make_test): Allow the answer string to be
+	undef, which means that we shouldn't compare it at all.  Only the
+	exit code matters in this case.
+	* test_driver.pl (compare_output): Ditto.
+	Test for Savannah bug #27374.
+
 	* scripts/features/parallelism: Test broken jobserver on recursion.
 	Test for Savannah bug #39934.
 
diff --git a/tests/run_make_tests.pl b/tests/run_make_tests.pl
index cb8e1bd5..d8a093bc 100644
--- a/tests/run_make_tests.pl
+++ b/tests/run_make_tests.pl
@@ -148,8 +148,10 @@ sub run_make_test
   }
 
   # Do the same processing on $answer as we did on $makestring.
-  $answer && $answer !~ /\n$/s and $answer .= "\n";
-  $answer = subst_make_string($answer);
+  if (defined $answer) {
+      $answer && $answer !~ /\n$/s and $answer .= "\n";
+      $answer = subst_make_string($answer);
+  }
 
   run_make_with_options($makefile, $options, &get_logfile(0),
                         $err_code, $timeout);
diff --git a/tests/scripts/misc/fopen-fail b/tests/scripts/misc/fopen-fail
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6580e519
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/scripts/misc/fopen-fail
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#                                                                    -*-perl-*-
+
+$description = "Make sure make exits with an error if fopen fails.";
+
+# Recurse infinitely until we run out of open files, and ensure we
+# fail with a non-zero exit code.  Don't bother to test the output
+# since it's hard to know what it will be, exactly.
+# See Savannah bug #27374.
+
+run_make_test(q!
+include $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST))
+!,
+              '', undef, 512);
+
+1;
diff --git a/tests/test_driver.pl b/tests/test_driver.pl
index adc38aed..16ae8893 100644
--- a/tests/test_driver.pl
+++ b/tests/test_driver.pl
@@ -653,38 +653,43 @@ sub compare_output
   local($answer,$logfile) = @_;
   local($slurp, $answer_matched) = ('', 0);
 
-  print "Comparing Output ........ " if $debug;
-
-  $slurp = &read_file_into_string ($logfile);
-
-  # For make, get rid of any time skew error before comparing--too bad this
-  # has to go into the "generic" driver code :-/
-  $slurp =~ s/^.*modification time .*in the future.*\n//gm;
-  $slurp =~ s/^.*Clock skew detected.*\n//gm;
-
   ++$tests_run;
 
-  if ($slurp eq $answer) {
-    $answer_matched = 1;
+  if (! defined $answer) {
+      print "Ignoring output ........ " if $debug;
+      $answer_matched = 1;
   } else {
-    # See if it is a slash or CRLF problem
-    local ($answer_mod, $slurp_mod) = ($answer, $slurp);
+      print "Comparing Output ........ " if $debug;
 
-    $answer_mod =~ tr,\\,/,;
-    $answer_mod =~ s,\r\n,\n,gs;
+      $slurp = &read_file_into_string ($logfile);
 
-    $slurp_mod =~ tr,\\,/,;
-    $slurp_mod =~ s,\r\n,\n,gs;
+      # For make, get rid of any time skew error before comparing--too bad this
+      # has to go into the "generic" driver code :-/
+      $slurp =~ s/^.*modification time .*in the future.*\n//gm;
+      $slurp =~ s/^.*Clock skew detected.*\n//gm;
 
-    $answer_matched = ($slurp_mod eq $answer_mod);
+      if ($slurp eq $answer) {
+          $answer_matched = 1;
+      } else {
+          # See if it is a slash or CRLF problem
+          local ($answer_mod, $slurp_mod) = ($answer, $slurp);
 
-    # If it still doesn't match, see if the answer might be a regex.
-    if (!$answer_matched && $answer =~ m,^/(.+)/$,) {
-      $answer_matched = ($slurp =~ /$1/);
-      if (!$answer_matched && $answer_mod =~ m,^/(.+)/$,) {
-          $answer_matched = ($slurp_mod =~ /$1/);
+          $answer_mod =~ tr,\\,/,;
+          $answer_mod =~ s,\r\n,\n,gs;
+
+          $slurp_mod =~ tr,\\,/,;
+          $slurp_mod =~ s,\r\n,\n,gs;
+
+          $answer_matched = ($slurp_mod eq $answer_mod);
+
+          # If it still doesn't match, see if the answer might be a regex.
+          if (!$answer_matched && $answer =~ m,^/(.+)/$,) {
+              $answer_matched = ($slurp =~ /$1/);
+              if (!$answer_matched && $answer_mod =~ m,^/(.+)/$,) {
+                  $answer_matched = ($slurp_mod =~ /$1/);
+              }
+          }
       }
-    }
   }
 
   if ($answer_matched && $test_passed)
@@ -706,8 +711,6 @@ sub compare_output
 
     local($command) = "diff -c " . &get_basefile . " " . $logfile;
     &run_command_with_output(&get_difffile,$command);
-  } else {
-      &rmfiles ();
   }
 
   $suite_passed = 0;