diff --git a/src/internal.h b/src/internal.h
index cef3da03282ac3a9c42d5ba06283d40ffeb7704a..5a38448b16d32f2872bd8a761873fb0bae213aa5 100644
--- a/src/internal.h
+++ b/src/internal.h
@@ -438,5 +438,12 @@
                   #NAME ": " FMT, __VA_ARGS__);
 # endif
 
+/* Specific error values for use in forwarding programs such as
+ * virt-login-shell; these values match what GNU env does.  */
+enum {
+    EXIT_CANCELED = 125, /* Failed before attempting exec */
+    EXIT_CANNOT_INVOKE = 126, /* Exists but couldn't exec */
+    EXIT_ENOENT = 127, /* Could not find program to exec */
+};
 
 #endif                          /* __VIR_INTERNAL_H__ */
diff --git a/src/util/vircommand.c b/src/util/vircommand.c
index b137436ea6747f3c796590a19412c34315ed4922..b9e5f3748a87d135a9574636a9e8986a8e8ec768 100644
--- a/src/util/vircommand.c
+++ b/src/util/vircommand.c
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /*
  * vircommand.c: Child command execution
  *
- * Copyright (C) 2010-2013 Red Hat, Inc.
+ * Copyright (C) 2010-2014 Red Hat, Inc.
  *
  * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
  * modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ virCommandFDSet(virCommandPtr cmd,
  * @pid - a pointer to a pid_t that will receive the return value from
  *        fork()
  *
- * fork a new process while avoiding various race/deadlock conditions
+ * Wrapper around fork() that avoids various race/deadlock conditions.
  *
  * on return from virFork(), if *pid < 0, the fork failed and there is
  * no new process. Otherwise, just like fork(), if *pid == 0, it is the
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ virCommandFDSet(virCommandPtr cmd,
  * Even if *pid >= 0, if the return value from virFork() is < 0, it
  * indicates a failure that occurred in the parent or child process
  * after the fork. In this case, the child process should call
- * _exit(EXIT_FAILURE) after doing any additional error reporting.
+ * _exit(EXIT_CANCELED) after doing any additional error reporting.
  */
 int
 virFork(pid_t *pid)
@@ -304,7 +304,8 @@ virFork(pid_t *pid)
         if (pthread_sigmask(SIG_SETMASK, &newmask, NULL) != 0) {
             saved_errno = errno; /* save for caller */
             virReportSystemError(errno, "%s", _("cannot unblock signals"));
-            goto cleanup;
+            virDispatchError(NULL);
+            _exit(EXIT_CANCELED);
         }
         ret = 0;
     }
@@ -518,6 +519,7 @@ virExec(virCommandPtr cmd)
 
     /* child */
 
+    ret = EXIT_CANCELED;
     if (forkRet < 0) {
         /* The fork was successful, but after that there was an error
          * in the child (which was already logged).
@@ -603,7 +605,7 @@ virExec(virCommandPtr cmd)
                                      cmd->pidfile, pid);
                 goto fork_error;
             }
-            _exit(0);
+            _exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
         }
     }
 
@@ -703,13 +705,14 @@ virExec(virCommandPtr cmd)
     else
         execv(binary, cmd->args);
 
+    ret = errno == ENOENT ? EXIT_ENOENT : EXIT_CANNOT_INVOKE;
     virReportSystemError(errno,
                          _("cannot execute binary %s"),
                          cmd->args[0]);
 
  fork_error:
     virDispatchError(NULL);
-    _exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+    _exit(ret);
 
  cleanup:
     /* This is cleanup of parent process only - child
diff --git a/tests/commandtest.c b/tests/commandtest.c
index 2ae8871fd14fa699e4f49e797bf3a9cd9ed6a1b8..042f04959d67894f5de89f6f7c82eb4e77e7f944 100644
--- a/tests/commandtest.c
+++ b/tests/commandtest.c
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /*
  * commandtest.c: Test the libCommand API
  *
- * Copyright (C) 2010-2013 Red Hat, Inc.
+ * Copyright (C) 2010-2014 Red Hat, Inc.
  *
  * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
  * modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ static int test1(const void *unused ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
     cmd = virCommandNew(abs_builddir "/commandhelper-doesnotexist");
     if (virCommandRun(cmd, &status) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
-    if (status == 0)
+    if (!WIFEXITED(status) || WEXITSTATUS(status) != EXIT_ENOENT)
         goto cleanup;
     ret = 0;
 
@@ -899,6 +899,44 @@ cleanup:
     return ret;
 }
 
+static int
+test22(const void *unused ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
+{
+    int ret = -1;
+    virCommandPtr cmd;
+    int status = -1;
+
+    cmd = virCommandNewArgList("/bin/sh", "-c", "exit 3", NULL);
+
+    if (virCommandRun(cmd, &status) < 0) {
+        virErrorPtr err = virGetLastError();
+        printf("Cannot run child %s\n", err->message);
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+    if (!WIFEXITED(status) || WEXITSTATUS(status) != 3) {
+        printf("Unexpected status %d\n", status);
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
+    virCommandFree(cmd);
+    cmd = virCommandNewArgList("/bin/sh", "-c", "kill -9 $$", NULL);
+
+    if (virCommandRun(cmd, &status) < 0) {
+        virErrorPtr err = virGetLastError();
+        printf("Cannot run child %s\n", err->message);
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+    if (!WIFSIGNALED(status) || WTERMSIG(status) != SIGKILL) {
+        printf("Unexpected status %d\n", status);
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
+    ret = 0;
+cleanup:
+    virCommandFree(cmd);
+    return ret;
+}
+
 static void virCommandThreadWorker(void *opaque)
 {
     virCommandTestDataPtr test = opaque;
@@ -1046,6 +1084,7 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST(test19);
     DO_TEST(test20);
     DO_TEST(test21);
+    DO_TEST(test22);
 
     virMutexLock(&test->lock);
     if (test->running) {