diff --git a/configure/RULES_BUILD b/configure/RULES_BUILD
index 4440b2345..a58590739 100644
--- a/configure/RULES_BUILD
+++ b/configure/RULES_BUILD
@@ -348,7 +348,7 @@ testspec: $(TESTSCRIPTS)
 test-results: tapfiles
 ifneq ($(TAPFILES),)
 ifdef RUNTESTS_ENABLED
-	prove --failures --ext .tap --exec cat --color $(TAPFILES)
+	prove --failures --ext .tap --exec "$(CAT)" --color $(TAPFILES)
 endif
 endif
 
diff --git a/src/ioc/dbtemplate/test/msi.plt b/src/ioc/dbtemplate/test/msi.plt
index 230a2c18b..bd663070f 100644
--- a/src/ioc/dbtemplate/test/msi.plt
+++ b/src/ioc/dbtemplate/test/msi.plt
@@ -33,9 +33,16 @@ ok(msi('-S../t6-substitute.txt ../t6-template.txt'), slurp('../t6-result.txt'));
 
 # Output option -o
 my $out = 't7-output.txt';
-unlink $out;
-msi("-I.. -o $out ../t1-template.txt");
-ok(slurp($out), slurp('../t1-result.txt'));
+my $count = 5; # Try up to 5 times...
+my $result;
+do {
+    unlink $out;
+    msi("-I.. -o $out ../t1-template.txt");
+    $result = slurp($out);
+    print "# msi output file empty, retrying\n"
+        if $result eq '';
+} while ($result eq '') && (--$count > 0);
+ok($result, slurp('../t1-result.txt'));
 
 # Dependency generation, include/substitute model
 ok(msi('-I.. -D -o t8.txt ../t1-template.txt'), slurp('../t8-result.txt'));
diff --git a/src/tools/EPICS/Release.pm b/src/tools/EPICS/Release.pm
index e2c4a6826..bceed2ed7 100644
--- a/src/tools/EPICS/Release.pm
+++ b/src/tools/EPICS/Release.pm
@@ -17,22 +17,24 @@ sub readReleaseFiles {
     $Rmacros->{'EPICS_HOST_ARCH'} = $hostarch if $hostarch;
 
     return unless (-e $relfile);
-    readRelease($relfile, $Rmacros, $Rapps);
+
+    my %done;
+    &readRelease($relfile, $Rmacros, $Rapps, \%done);
 
     if ($hostarch) {
         my $hrelfile = "$relfile.$hostarch";
-        readRelease($hrelfile, $Rmacros, $Rapps) if (-e $hrelfile);
+        &readRelease($hrelfile, $Rmacros, $Rapps, \%done) if (-e $hrelfile);
         $hrelfile .= '.Common';
-        readRelease($hrelfile, $Rmacros, $Rapps) if (-e $hrelfile);
+        &readRelease($hrelfile, $Rmacros, $Rapps, \%done) if (-e $hrelfile);
     }
 
     if ($arch) {
         my $crelfile = "$relfile.Common.$arch";
-        readRelease($crelfile, $Rmacros, $Rapps) if (-e $crelfile);
+        &readRelease($crelfile, $Rmacros, $Rapps, \%done) if (-e $crelfile);
 
         if ($hostarch) {
             my $arelfile = "$relfile.$hostarch.$arch";
-            readRelease($arelfile, $Rmacros, $Rapps) if (-e $arelfile);
+            &readRelease($arelfile, $Rmacros, $Rapps, \%done) if (-e $arelfile);
         }
     }
 }
@@ -41,10 +43,16 @@ sub readReleaseFiles {
 # Parse a configure/RELEASE* file and anything it includes
 #
 sub readRelease {
-    my ($file, $Rmacros, $Rapps) = @_;
-    # $Rmacros is a reference to a hash, $Rapps a ref to an array
+    my ($file, $Rmacros, $Rapps, $Rdone) = @_;
+    # $Rmacros and $Rdone are hash-refs, $Rapps an array-ref
+
+    if (exists $Rdone->{$file}) {
+        die "Release.pm: Recursive loop found in RELEASE files,\n" .
+            "discovered in $file\n";
+    }
 
     open(my $IN, '<', $file) or croak "Can't open $file: $!\n";
+    $Rdone->{$file}++;
     while (<$IN>) {
         chomp;
         s/ \r $//x;             # Shouldn't need this, but sometimes...
@@ -69,7 +77,7 @@ sub readRelease {
         my ($op, $path) = m/^ \s* (-? include) \s+ (.*)/x;
         $path = expandMacros($path, $Rmacros);
         if (-e $path) {
-            readRelease($path, $Rmacros, $Rapps);
+            &readRelease($path, $Rmacros, $Rapps, $Rdone);
         } elsif ($op eq "include") {
             carp "EPICS/Release.pm: Include file '$path' not found\n";
         }