diff --git a/glib/Makefile.am b/glib/Makefile.am
index 3707cb4a1..0744a6c52 100644
--- a/glib/Makefile.am
+++ b/glib/Makefile.am
@@ -152,6 +152,7 @@ libglib_2_0_la_SOURCES = 	\
 	gmarkup.c		\
 	gmem.c			\
 	gmessages.c		\
+	gmessages-private.h	\
 	gmirroringtable.h	\
 	gnode.c			\
 	goption.c		\
diff --git a/glib/gmessages-private.h b/glib/gmessages-private.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1a592b95f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/glib/gmessages-private.h
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+/* gmain.h - the GLib Main loop
+ * Copyright (C) 1998-2000 Red Hat, Inc.
+ *
+ * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ * modify it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public
+ * License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+ * version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+ * Library General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public
+ * License along with this library; if not, write to the
+ * Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
+ * Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
+ */
+
+#ifndef __G_MESSAGES_PRIVATE_H__
+#define __G_MESSAGES_PRIVATE_H__
+
+#include <glib/gmessages.h>
+
+G_BEGIN_DECLS
+
+G_GNUC_INTERNAL void
+_g_log_set_exit_on_fatal (void);
+
+G_GNUC_INTERNAL void
+_g_log_abort (void) G_GNUC_NORETURN;
+
+G_END_DECLS
+
+#endif /* __G_MESSAGES_PRIVATE_H__ */
diff --git a/glib/gmessages.c b/glib/gmessages.c
index 6160bf5d8..daab0c446 100644
--- a/glib/gmessages.c
+++ b/glib/gmessages.c
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@
 #include <locale.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 
-#include "gmessages.h"
+#include "gmessages-private.h"
 
 #include "glib-init.h"
 #include "gbacktrace.h"
@@ -238,12 +238,23 @@ static GLogDomain    *g_log_domains = NULL;
 static GPrintFunc     glib_print_func = NULL;
 static GPrintFunc     glib_printerr_func = NULL;
 static GPrivate       g_log_depth;
+static gboolean       exit_on_fatal;
 static GLogFunc       default_log_func = g_log_default_handler;
 static gpointer       default_log_data = NULL;
 static GTestLogFatalFunc fatal_log_func = NULL;
 static gpointer          fatal_log_data;
 
 /* --- functions --- */
+
+void
+_g_log_abort (void)
+{
+  if (exit_on_fatal)
+    _exit (1);
+  else
+    abort ();
+}
+
 #ifdef G_OS_WIN32
 #  include <windows.h>
 static gboolean win32_keep_fatal_message = FALSE;
@@ -955,7 +966,11 @@ g_logv (const gchar   *log_domain,
                 && !fatal_log_func (log_domain, test_level, msg, fatal_log_data);
             }
 
-	  if ((test_level & G_LOG_FLAG_FATAL) && !masquerade_fatal)
+          if ((test_level & G_LOG_FLAG_FATAL) && exit_on_fatal)
+            {
+              _g_log_abort ();
+            }
+	  else if ((test_level & G_LOG_FLAG_FATAL) && !masquerade_fatal)
             {
 #ifdef G_OS_WIN32
               if (win32_keep_fatal_message)
@@ -1060,7 +1075,7 @@ g_assert_warning (const char *log_domain,
 	 line, 
 	 pretty_function,
 	 expression);
-  abort ();
+  _g_log_abort ();
 }
 
 /**
@@ -1552,3 +1567,9 @@ g_printf_string_upper_bound (const gchar *format,
   gchar c;
   return _g_vsnprintf (&c, 1, format, args) + 1;
 }
+
+void
+_g_log_set_exit_on_fatal (void)
+{
+  exit_on_fatal = TRUE;
+}
diff --git a/glib/gtestutils.c b/glib/gtestutils.c
index 6e34f65bf..b5cb321d3 100644
--- a/glib/gtestutils.c
+++ b/glib/gtestutils.c
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #include "config.h"
 
 #include "gtestutils.h"
+#include "gmessages-private.h"
 #include "gfileutils.h"
 
 #include <sys/types.h>
@@ -36,6 +37,9 @@
 #ifdef HAVE_UNISTD_H
 #include <unistd.h>
 #endif
+#ifdef HAVE_SYS_RESOURCE_H
+#include <sys/resource.h>
+#endif
 #ifdef G_OS_WIN32
 #include <io.h>
 #include <windows.h>
@@ -54,6 +58,7 @@
 #include "gslice.h"
 #include "gspawn.h"
 #include "glib-private.h"
+#include "gmessages-private.h"
 
 
 /**
@@ -759,6 +764,17 @@ parse_args (gint    *argc_p,
       else if (strcmp ("--GTestSubprocess", argv[i]) == 0)
         {
           test_in_subprocess = TRUE;
+          /* We typically expect these child processes to crash, and some
+           * tests spawn a *lot* of them.  Avoid spamming system crash
+           * collection programs such as systemd-coredump and abrt.
+           */
+#ifdef HAVE_SYS_RESOURCE_H
+          {
+            struct rlimit limit = { 0, 0 };
+            (void) setrlimit (RLIMIT_CORE, &limit);
+          }
+#endif
+          _g_log_set_exit_on_fatal ();
           argv[i] = NULL;
         }
       else if (strcmp ("-p", argv[i]) == 0 || strncmp ("-p=", argv[i], 3) == 0)
@@ -2027,7 +2043,7 @@ g_assertion_message (const char     *domain,
 
   g_test_log (G_TEST_LOG_ERROR, s, NULL, 0, NULL);
   g_free (s);
-  abort();
+  _g_log_abort ();
 }
 
 void