diff --git a/bin/glance-control b/bin/glance-control
index 732a619baa..349a902cc9 100755
--- a/bin/glance-control
+++ b/bin/glance-control
@@ -111,6 +111,18 @@ def do_start(server, conf, args):
         fp.write('%d\n' % pid)
         fp.close()
 
+    def await_child(pid):
+        if conf.await_child:
+            bail_time = time.time() + conf.await_child
+            while time.time() < bail_time:
+                reported_pid, status = os.waitpid(pid, os.WNOHANG)
+                if reported_pid == pid:
+                    global exitcode
+                    # the exit code is encoded in 2nd least significant byte
+                    exitcode = status >> 8
+                    break
+                time.sleep(0.05)
+
     def launch(pid_file, conf_file=None):
         args = [server]
         print 'Starting %s' % server,
@@ -136,6 +148,7 @@ def do_start(server, conf, args):
             sys.exit(0)
         else:
             write_pid_file(pid_file, pid)
+            await_child(pid)
 
     if not conf.pid_file:
         pid_file = '/var/run/glance/%s.pid' % server
@@ -181,11 +194,19 @@ def do_stop(server, conf, args, graceful=False):
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
+    exitcode = 0
+
     conf = config.GlanceConfigOpts(usage=USAGE)
     conf.register_cli_opt(cfg.StrOpt('pid-file',
                                      metavar='PATH',
                                      help='File to use as pid file. Default: '
                                           '/var/run/glance/$server.pid'))
+    conf.register_cli_opt(cfg.IntOpt('await-child',
+                                     metavar='DELAY',
+                                     default=0,
+                                     help='Period to wait for service death '
+                                          'in order to report exit code '
+                                          '(default is to not wait at all)'))
     args = conf()
 
     if len(args) < 2:
@@ -235,3 +256,5 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
         for server in servers:
             do_stop(server, conf, args, graceful=True)
             do_start(server, conf, args)
+
+    sys.exit(exitcode)
diff --git a/glance/tests/functional/__init__.py b/glance/tests/functional/__init__.py
index bd2b908b7c..6819d3ceae 100644
--- a/glance/tests/functional/__init__.py
+++ b/glance/tests/functional/__init__.py
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ class Server(object):
         self.server_control = './bin/glance-control'
         self.exec_env = None
         self.deployment_flavor = ''
+        self.server_control_options = ''
 
     def write_conf(self, **kwargs):
         """
@@ -128,7 +129,7 @@ class Server(object):
 
         return self.conf_file_name
 
-    def start(self, **kwargs):
+    def start(self, expected_exitcode=0, **kwargs):
         """
         Starts the server.
 
@@ -140,9 +141,13 @@ class Server(object):
         self.write_conf(**kwargs)
 
         cmd = ("%(server_control)s %(server_name)s start "
-               "%(conf_file_name)s --pid-file=%(pid_file)s"
+               "%(conf_file_name)s --pid-file=%(pid_file)s "
+               "%(server_control_options)s"
                % self.__dict__)
-        return execute(cmd, no_venv=self.no_venv, exec_env=self.exec_env)
+        return execute(cmd,
+                       no_venv=self.no_venv,
+                       exec_env=self.exec_env,
+                       expected_exitcode=expected_exitcode)
 
     def stop(self):
         """
@@ -439,7 +444,11 @@ class FunctionalTest(unittest.TestCase):
             if os.path.exists(f):
                 os.unlink(f)
 
-    def start_server(self, server, expect_launch, **kwargs):
+    def start_server(self,
+                     server,
+                     expect_launch,
+                     expected_exitcode=0,
+                     **kwargs):
         """
         Starts a server on an unused port.
 
@@ -449,13 +458,15 @@ class FunctionalTest(unittest.TestCase):
         :param server: the server to launch
         :param expect_launch: true iff the server is expected to
                               successfully start
+        :param expected_exitcode: expected exitcode from the launcher
         """
         self.cleanup()
 
         # Start up the requested server
-        exitcode, out, err = server.start(**kwargs)
+        exitcode, out, err = server.start(expected_exitcode=expected_exitcode,
+                                          **kwargs)
 
-        self.assertEqual(0, exitcode,
+        self.assertEqual(expected_exitcode, exitcode,
                          "Failed to spin up the requested server. "
                          "Got: %s" % err)
         self.assertTrue(re.search("Starting glance-[a-z]+ with", out))
diff --git a/glance/tests/functional/test_api.py b/glance/tests/functional/test_api.py
index 75297babc3..6b96b6181e 100644
--- a/glance/tests/functional/test_api.py
+++ b/glance/tests/functional/test_api.py
@@ -1248,8 +1248,10 @@ class TestApi(functional.FunctionalTest):
         """
         self.cleanup()
         self.api_server.default_store = 'shouldnotexist'
+        self.api_server.server_control_options += ' --await-child=1'
 
         # ensure that the API server fails to launch
         self.start_server(self.api_server,
                           expect_launch=False,
+                          expected_exitcode=255,
                           **self.__dict__.copy())
diff --git a/glance/tests/utils.py b/glance/tests/utils.py
index 5b94bfa273..e421611711 100644
--- a/glance/tests/utils.py
+++ b/glance/tests/utils.py
@@ -168,7 +168,11 @@ def skip_if_disabled(func):
     return wrapped
 
 
-def execute(cmd, raise_error=True, no_venv=False, exec_env=None):
+def execute(cmd,
+            raise_error=True,
+            no_venv=False,
+            exec_env=None,
+            expected_exitcode=0):
     """
     Executes a command in a subprocess. Returns a tuple
     of (exitcode, out, err), where out is the string output
@@ -183,6 +187,7 @@ def execute(cmd, raise_error=True, no_venv=False, exec_env=None):
                      variables; values may be callables, which will
                      be passed the current value of the named
                      environment variable
+    :param expected_exitcode: expected exitcode from the launcher
     """
 
     env = os.environ.copy()
@@ -219,7 +224,7 @@ def execute(cmd, raise_error=True, no_venv=False, exec_env=None):
     result = process.communicate()
     (out, err) = result
     exitcode = process.returncode
-    if process.returncode != 0 and raise_error:
+    if process.returncode != expected_exitcode and raise_error:
         msg = "Command %(cmd)s did not succeed. Returned an exit "\
               "code of %(exitcode)d."\
               "\n\nSTDOUT: %(out)s"\