diff --git a/tests/ftp.pm b/tests/ftp.pm
index 421fee1a6afaaa715c3ac91f651a59dd335a4a5a..eed64903e36743907d58f4994ba072e255883a35 100644
--- a/tests/ftp.pm
+++ b/tests/ftp.pm
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 #                            | (__| |_| |  _ <| |___
 #                             \___|\___/|_| \_\_____|
 #
-# Copyright (C) 1998 - 2008, Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.
+# Copyright (C) 1998 - 2009, Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.
 #
 # This software is licensed as described in the file COPYING, which
 # you should have received as part of this distribution. The terms
@@ -22,30 +22,48 @@
 ###########################################################################
 
 #######################################################################
-# Return the pid of the server as found in the given pid file
+# pidfromfile returns the pid stored in the given pidfile.  The value
+# of the returned pid will never be a negative value. It will be zero
+# on any file related error or if a pid can not be extracted from the
+# given file.
 #
-sub serverpid {
-    my $PIDFILE = $_[0];
-    open(PFILE, "<$PIDFILE");
-    my $PID=0+<PFILE>;
-    close(PFILE);
-    return $PID;
+sub pidfromfile {
+    my $pidfile = $_[0];
+    my $pid = 0;
+
+    if(-f $pidfile && -s $pidfile && open(PIDFH, "<$pidfile")) {
+        $pid = 0 + <PIDFH>;
+        close(PIDFH);
+        $pid = 0 unless($pid > 0);
+    }
+    return $pid;
 }
 
 #######################################################################
-# Check the given test server if it is still alive.
+# processexists checks if a process with the pid stored in the given
+# pidfile exists and is alive. This will return 0 on any file related
+# error or if a pid can not be extracted from the given file. When a
+# process with the same pid as the one extracted from the given file
+# is currently alive this returns that positive pid. Otherwise, when
+# the process is not alive, will return the negative value of the pid.
 #
-sub checkserver {
-    my ($pidfile)=@_;
-    my $pid=0;
-
-    # check for pidfile
-    if ( -f $pidfile ) {
-        $pid=serverpid($pidfile);
-        if ($pid ne "" && kill(0, $pid)) {
+sub processexists {
+#   use POSIX ":sys_wait_h";
+    my $pidfile = $_[0];
+
+    # fetch pid from pidfile
+    my $pid = pidfromfile($pidfile);
+
+    if($pid > 0) {
+        # verify if currently alive
+        if(kill(0, $pid)) {
             return $pid;
         }
         else {
+            # reap it if this has not already been done
+            # waitpid($pid, &WNOHANG);
+            # get rid of the certainly invalid pidfile
+            unlink($pidfile) if($pid == pidfromfile($pidfile));
             return -$pid; # negative means dead process
         }
     }
@@ -60,7 +78,7 @@ sub ftpkillslave {
     my $base;
     for $base (('filt', 'data')) {
         my $f = ".sock$base$id$ext.pid";
-        my $pid = checkserver($f);
+        my $pid = processexists($f);
         if($pid > 0) {
             printf ("* kill pid for %s => %d\n", "ftp-$base$id$ext", $pid) if($verbose);
             kill (9, $pid); # die!
diff --git a/tests/ftpserver.pl b/tests/ftpserver.pl
index ddbc57430d89eb638135a5b32ffb5944109a23a0..c1b53cdfcdebf21ea1fef2d144bbb9e7833a856d 100644
--- a/tests/ftpserver.pl
+++ b/tests/ftpserver.pl
@@ -577,7 +577,7 @@ sub PASV_command {
     my $pasvport;
     my $pidf=".sockdata$ftpdnum$ext.pid";
 
-    my $prev = checkserver($pidf);
+    my $prev = processexists($pidf);
     if($prev > 0) {
         print "kill existing server: $prev\n" if($verbose);
         kill(9, $prev);
diff --git a/tests/runtests.pl b/tests/runtests.pl
index be20a63abe75ffccef43eb9cc9e12bf847f796d1..834c86652cf3eca3dcaccda883986e749f563781 100755
--- a/tests/runtests.pl
+++ b/tests/runtests.pl
@@ -828,7 +828,7 @@ sub runhttpserver {
         return (0,0);
     }
 
-    my $pid = checkserver($pidfile);
+    my $pid = processexists($pidfile);
     if($pid > 0) {
         stopserver($pid);
     }
@@ -898,7 +898,7 @@ sub runhttpsserver {
         return (0,0);
     }
 
-    my $pid = checkserver($pidfile);
+    my $pid = processexists($pidfile);
     if($pid > 0) {
         # kill previous stunnel!
         stopserver($pid);
@@ -968,7 +968,7 @@ sub runftpserver {
         return (0,0);
     }
 
-    my $pid = checkserver($pidfile);
+    my $pid = processexists($pidfile);
     if($pid > 0) {
         stopserver($pid);
     }
@@ -1045,7 +1045,7 @@ sub runftpsserver {
         return (0,0);
     }
 
-    my $pid = checkserver($pidfile);
+    my $pid = processexists($pidfile);
     if($pid > 0) {
         # kill previous stunnel!
         stopserver($pid);
@@ -1114,7 +1114,7 @@ sub runtftpserver {
         return (0,0);
     }
 
-    my $pid = checkserver($pidfile);
+    my $pid = processexists($pidfile);
     if($pid > 0) {
         stopserver($pid);
     }
@@ -1179,7 +1179,7 @@ sub runsshserver {
         return (0,0);
     }
 
-    my $pid = checkserver($pidfile);
+    my $pid = processexists($pidfile);
     if($pid > 0) {
         stopserver($pid);
     }
@@ -1254,7 +1254,7 @@ sub runsocksserver {
         return (0,0);
     }
 
-    my $pid = checkserver($pidfile);
+    my $pid = processexists($pidfile);
     if($pid > 0) {
         stopserver($pid);
     }