diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index da5150df..db68a815 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 2009-02-20  Jay Berkenbilt  <ejb@ql.org>
 
+	* qpdf/qpdf.cc: in --check mode, if there are warnings but no
+	errors, exit with a status of 3.
+
 	* libqpdf/QPDF.cc (QPDF::insertXrefEntry): when recovering the
 	cross-reference table, have objects we encounter later in the file
 	supersede those we found earlier.  This improves the chances of
diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index e5097fb7..9f0c9ea5 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -4,9 +4,6 @@
  * Spell check to fix types in messages and comments.  Known type in
    "damanged".
 
- * Exit with a different exit code if warning are found during check
-   mode.
-
 
 General
 =======
diff --git a/manual/qpdf-manual.xml b/manual/qpdf-manual.xml
index 442285df..35e6aa81 100644
--- a/manual/qpdf-manual.xml
+++ b/manual/qpdf-manual.xml
@@ -741,7 +741,13 @@ make
         Checks file structure and well as encryption and
         linearization.  A file for which <option>--check</option>
         reports no errors may still have errors in stream data but
-        should otherwise be otherwise structurally sound.
+        should otherwise be otherwise structurally sound.  If
+        <option>--check</option> any errors, qpdf will exit with a
+        status of 2.  There are some recoverable conditions that
+        <option>--check</option> detects.  These are issued as
+        warnings instead of errors.  If qpdf finds no errors but finds
+        warnings, it will exit with a status of 3 (as of
+        version&nbsp;2.0.4).
        </para>
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
diff --git a/qpdf/qpdf.cc b/qpdf/qpdf.cc
index d05f51ec..c7f3cbe0 100644
--- a/qpdf/qpdf.cc
+++ b/qpdf/qpdf.cc
@@ -875,7 +875,15 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
 		}
 		if (okay)
 		{
-		    std::cout << "No errors found" << std::endl;
+		    if (! pdf.getWarnings().empty())
+		    {
+			// special exit status for warnings without errors
+			exit(3);
+		    }
+		    else
+		    {
+			std::cout << "No errors found" << std::endl;
+		    }
 		}
 	    }
 	}
diff --git a/qpdf/qtest/qpdf.test b/qpdf/qtest/qpdf.test
index 0fec2af5..7432edbd 100644
--- a/qpdf/qtest/qpdf.test
+++ b/qpdf/qtest/qpdf.test
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ for (my $i = 1; $i <= scalar(@badfiles); ++$i)
 show_ntests();
 # ----------
 $td->notify("--- Recovery Tests ---");
-$n_tests += @badfiles + 6;
+$n_tests += @badfiles + 7;
 
 # Recovery tests.  These are mostly after-the-fact -- when recovery
 # was implemented, some degree of recovery was possible on many of the
@@ -211,6 +211,11 @@ $td->runtest("damaged replaced page contents",
 $td->runtest("check output",
 	     {$td->FILE => "a.pdf"},
 	     {$td->FILE => "append-page-content-damaged.qdf"});
+$td->runtest("run check on damaged file",
+	     {$td->COMMAND => "qpdf --check append-page-content-damaged.pdf"},
+	     {$td->FILE => "append-page-content-damaged-check.out",
+	      $td->EXIT_STATUS => 3},
+	     $td->NORMALIZE_NEWLINES);
 
 show_ntests();
 # ----------
diff --git a/qpdf/qtest/qpdf/append-page-content-damaged-check.out b/qpdf/qtest/qpdf/append-page-content-damaged-check.out
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..884de3a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qpdf/qtest/qpdf/append-page-content-damaged-check.out
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+WARNING: append-page-content-damaged.pdf: offset 0: file is damaged
+WARNING: append-page-content-damaged.pdf: can't find startxref
+WARNING: Attempting to reconstruct cross-reference table
+checking append-page-content-damaged.pdf
+File is not encrypted
+File is not linearized