diff --git a/test/Jamfile b/test/Jamfile
index d24462332..1b9a73df8 100644
--- a/test/Jamfile
+++ b/test/Jamfile
@@ -1,36 +1,7 @@
+
 # establish a project root right here in the test directory, so that we can test
 # things independently of the boost jambase, etc.
 project-root ; 
 
-include jam-fail.jam ;
-include assert-equal.jam ;
-
-#######################################
-# Some example expected failure tests #
-#######################################
-
-# This command always exits with a failure.
-Jam-fail "EXIT error ;" ;
-
-# This should fail to fail
-Jam-fail
-     "include jam-fail.jam ; Jam-fail \"# this innocuous Jamfile should fail to fail\" ;"
-      ;
-
-check-arguments goodbye 1 : z ;
-check-arguments hello 1-2 3 1-4 : a b : y z z : w ;
-
-DOLLAR = "\$" ;
-Jam-fail "check-arguments hello 1-2 3 1-4 : a b : c d e f : w ;"
-    : "rule 'hello' expects 3 elements in $(DOLLAR)(2), got arguments ( a b : c d e f : w ) instead."
-    ;
-    
-Jam-fail "check-arguments goodbye 1 : z x ;"
-    : "rule 'goodbye' expects 1 elements in $(DOLLAR)(1), got arguments ( z x ) instead."
-    ;
-
-Jam-fail "include assert_equal.jam ; assert-equal fubar : ECHO checking that assertions fail ;"
-    : "ASSERTION FAILURE"
-    ;
-    
-assert-equal : ECHO checking that assertions succeed ;
+include check-test-tools.jam ;
+include check-jam-patches.jam ;
diff --git a/test/check-bindrule.jam b/test/check-bindrule.jam
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f0045f4e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/check-bindrule.jam
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# This rule establishes a dependency, with no special build actions
+rule do-nothing
+{
+    DEPENDS $(<) : $(>) ;
+}
+actions quietly do-nothing
+{
+}
+
+# Make a non-file target which depends on a file that exists
+NOTFILE fake-target ;
+SEARCH on file-to-bind = subdir1 ;
+
+do-nothing fake-target
+    : file-to-bind ;
+
+# Set jam up to call our bind-rule
+BINDRULE = bind-rule ;
+
+rule bind-rule
+{
+    ECHO found: $(<) at $(>) ;
+}
+
+DEPENDS all : fake-target ;
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/check-jam-patches.jam b/test/check-jam-patches.jam
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..93a97e8f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/check-jam-patches.jam
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+include recursive.jam ;
+
+Jam "include check-bindrule.jam ;"
+    : "found: file-to-bind at subdir1$(SLASH)file-to-bind"
+    ;
+
+if $(NT)
+{
+    # if this one fails, you don't have the line length patch
+    Jam "include test_nt_line_length.jam ;" ;
+}
diff --git a/test/check-test-tools.jam b/test/check-test-tools.jam
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a1850052b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/check-test-tools.jam
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+include recursive.jam ;
+include assert-equal.jam ;
+
+#####################################
+# Test the testing tools right here #
+#####################################
+
+# This command always exits with a failure.
+Jam-fail "EXIT error ;" ;
+
+# This should fail to fail
+Jam-fail
+     "include recursive.jam ; Jam-fail \"# this innocuous Jamfile should fail to fail\" ;"
+      ;
+
+check-arguments goodbye 1 : z ;
+check-arguments hello 1-2 3 1-4 : a b : y z z : w ;
+
+DOLLAR = "\$" ;
+Jam-fail "check-arguments hello 1-2 3 1-4 : a b : c d e f : w ;"
+    : "rule 'hello' expects 3 elements in $(DOLLAR)(2), got arguments ( a b : c d e f : w ) instead."
+    ;
+    
+Jam-fail "check-arguments goodbye 1 : z x ;"
+    : "rule 'goodbye' expects 1 elements in $(DOLLAR)(1), got arguments ( z x ) instead."
+    ;
+
+Jam-fail "include assert-equal.jam ; assert-equal fubar : ECHO checking that assertions fail ;"
+    : "ASSERTION FAILURE"
+    ;
+
+local NOTHING = ;
+assert-equal $(NOTHING) : ECHO checking that assertions succeed ;
+
diff --git a/test/jam-fail.jam b/test/recursive.jam
similarity index 51%
rename from test/jam-fail.jam
rename to test/recursive.jam
index 1e5793046..5a75abca2 100644
--- a/test/jam-fail.jam
+++ b/test/recursive.jam
@@ -1,14 +1,17 @@
-#######################################################################
-# Rules and actions for testing the build system's response to errors #
-#######################################################################
+##############################################################
+# Rules and actions that test Jam by invoking it recursively #
+##############################################################
 
-# Jam-fail string : optional-expected-output
+# Jam string : optional-expected-output
 #
 # Creates a fake target, always built, which succeeds in building if
-# interpreting the given string causes an error. If optional-expected-output is
+# Invoking a Jamfile containing the given string succeeds. If optional-expected-output is
 # supplied, creates another fake target which succeeds in building if
-# optional-expected-output is in the Jam error messages.
-rule Jam-fail
+# optional-expected-output is in the Jam output.
+#
+# RETURNS: the target name of the Jam command.
+#
+rule Jam
 {
     local jam-cmd = "$(<:G=jam_command)" ;
     
@@ -16,9 +19,17 @@ rule Jam-fail
     ALWAYS "$(jam-cmd)" ;
     DEPENDS all : "$(jam-cmd)" ;
 
-    redirect on $(jam-cmd) = "nul" ;
-    Jam-expect-failure $(jam-cmd) ;
+    if ($NT)
+    {
+        redirect on $(jam-cmd) = "nul" ;
+    }
+    else if $(UNIX)
+    {
+        redirect on $(jam-cmd) = "/dev/null" ;
+    }
 
+    invoke-Jam "$(jam-cmd)" ;
+    
     if $(>)
     {
         redirect on $(jam-cmd) = "scratch-output.txt" ;
@@ -28,22 +39,39 @@ rule Jam-fail
         DEPENDS all : "$(output-target)" ;
         Expect-in-output "$(output-target)" ;
     }
+    return $(jam-cmd) ;
 }
 
-BOOST_TEST_JAMFILE ?= expected-failure.jam ;
+# Jam-fail string
+rule Jam-fail
+{
+    FAIL_EXPECTED [ Jam $(<) : $(>) ] ;
+}
 
-# Jam-fail-action
+
+# The temporary jamfile we write is called "temp.jam". If the user has set
+# BOOST_BUILD_ROOT, it will be built there.
+gBOOST_TEST_JAMFILE = temp.jam ;
+LOCATE on gBOOST_TEST_JAMFILE ?= $(BOOST_BUILD_ROOT) ;
+
+# invoke-Jam
 #
 # Will run Jam on a temporary Jamfile which contains the string in $(<:G=) and
 # redirect the results into a temporary files called scratch-output.txt.
-rule Jam-expect-failure
+rule invoke-Jam
 {
-    FAIL_EXPECTED $(<) ;
+    PREFIX on $(<) = "actions unbuilt { } unbuilt all ;" ;
+    if $(NT)
+    {
+        REMOVE on $(<) = $(SystemRoot)\System32\find ;
+    }
+    REMOVE on $(<) ?= rm ;
 }
-actions Jam-expect-failure
+actions invoke-Jam
 {
-    echo actions unbuilt { } unbuilt all ; $(<:G=) > expected-failure.jam
-    jam -f../Jambase -sJAMFILE=expected-failure.jam >$(redirect)
+    echo $(PREFIX) $(<:G=) > $(gBOOST_TEST_JAMFILE)
+    jam -f../Jambase -sJAMFILE=$(gBOOST_TEST_JAMFILE) >$(redirect)
+    $(REMOVE) $(gBOOST_TEST_JAMFILE)
 }
 
 # These actions expect to find the ungristed part of $(<) in scratch-output.txt
diff --git a/test/test_nt_line_length.jam b/test/test_nt_line_length.jam
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f6bc046ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_nt_line_length.jam
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+if $(NT)
+{
+    ten = 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ;
+    1x7chars = 0_____ ;
+    # add a digit and multiply by 10
+    10x8chars = $(ten)$(1x7chars) ;
+    # add a digit to each of 10 strings and multiply by 10
+    100x9chars = $(ten)$(10x8chars) ;
+    # add a digit to each of 100 strings and multiply by 10
+    1000x10chars = $(ten)$(100x9chars) ;
+
+    400x10chars = $(ten[1-4])$(100x9chars) ;
+
+    text on test = $(1000x10chars) $(1000x10chars) ;
+    JAMSHELL on test = % ;
+
+    actions do_echo
+    {
+    echo $(text)
+    }
+    do_echo test ;
+    DEPENDS all : test ;
+}
+
diff --git a/v2/test/Jamfile b/v2/test/Jamfile
index d24462332..1b9a73df8 100644
--- a/v2/test/Jamfile
+++ b/v2/test/Jamfile
@@ -1,36 +1,7 @@
+
 # establish a project root right here in the test directory, so that we can test
 # things independently of the boost jambase, etc.
 project-root ; 
 
-include jam-fail.jam ;
-include assert-equal.jam ;
-
-#######################################
-# Some example expected failure tests #
-#######################################
-
-# This command always exits with a failure.
-Jam-fail "EXIT error ;" ;
-
-# This should fail to fail
-Jam-fail
-     "include jam-fail.jam ; Jam-fail \"# this innocuous Jamfile should fail to fail\" ;"
-      ;
-
-check-arguments goodbye 1 : z ;
-check-arguments hello 1-2 3 1-4 : a b : y z z : w ;
-
-DOLLAR = "\$" ;
-Jam-fail "check-arguments hello 1-2 3 1-4 : a b : c d e f : w ;"
-    : "rule 'hello' expects 3 elements in $(DOLLAR)(2), got arguments ( a b : c d e f : w ) instead."
-    ;
-    
-Jam-fail "check-arguments goodbye 1 : z x ;"
-    : "rule 'goodbye' expects 1 elements in $(DOLLAR)(1), got arguments ( z x ) instead."
-    ;
-
-Jam-fail "include assert_equal.jam ; assert-equal fubar : ECHO checking that assertions fail ;"
-    : "ASSERTION FAILURE"
-    ;
-    
-assert-equal : ECHO checking that assertions succeed ;
+include check-test-tools.jam ;
+include check-jam-patches.jam ;
diff --git a/v2/test/check-bindrule.jam b/v2/test/check-bindrule.jam
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f0045f4e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/v2/test/check-bindrule.jam
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# This rule establishes a dependency, with no special build actions
+rule do-nothing
+{
+    DEPENDS $(<) : $(>) ;
+}
+actions quietly do-nothing
+{
+}
+
+# Make a non-file target which depends on a file that exists
+NOTFILE fake-target ;
+SEARCH on file-to-bind = subdir1 ;
+
+do-nothing fake-target
+    : file-to-bind ;
+
+# Set jam up to call our bind-rule
+BINDRULE = bind-rule ;
+
+rule bind-rule
+{
+    ECHO found: $(<) at $(>) ;
+}
+
+DEPENDS all : fake-target ;
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/v2/test/check-jam-patches.jam b/v2/test/check-jam-patches.jam
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..93a97e8f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/v2/test/check-jam-patches.jam
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+include recursive.jam ;
+
+Jam "include check-bindrule.jam ;"
+    : "found: file-to-bind at subdir1$(SLASH)file-to-bind"
+    ;
+
+if $(NT)
+{
+    # if this one fails, you don't have the line length patch
+    Jam "include test_nt_line_length.jam ;" ;
+}
diff --git a/v2/test/check-test-tools.jam b/v2/test/check-test-tools.jam
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a1850052b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/v2/test/check-test-tools.jam
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+include recursive.jam ;
+include assert-equal.jam ;
+
+#####################################
+# Test the testing tools right here #
+#####################################
+
+# This command always exits with a failure.
+Jam-fail "EXIT error ;" ;
+
+# This should fail to fail
+Jam-fail
+     "include recursive.jam ; Jam-fail \"# this innocuous Jamfile should fail to fail\" ;"
+      ;
+
+check-arguments goodbye 1 : z ;
+check-arguments hello 1-2 3 1-4 : a b : y z z : w ;
+
+DOLLAR = "\$" ;
+Jam-fail "check-arguments hello 1-2 3 1-4 : a b : c d e f : w ;"
+    : "rule 'hello' expects 3 elements in $(DOLLAR)(2), got arguments ( a b : c d e f : w ) instead."
+    ;
+    
+Jam-fail "check-arguments goodbye 1 : z x ;"
+    : "rule 'goodbye' expects 1 elements in $(DOLLAR)(1), got arguments ( z x ) instead."
+    ;
+
+Jam-fail "include assert-equal.jam ; assert-equal fubar : ECHO checking that assertions fail ;"
+    : "ASSERTION FAILURE"
+    ;
+
+local NOTHING = ;
+assert-equal $(NOTHING) : ECHO checking that assertions succeed ;
+
diff --git a/v2/test/jam-fail.jam b/v2/test/recursive.jam
similarity index 51%
rename from v2/test/jam-fail.jam
rename to v2/test/recursive.jam
index 1e5793046..5a75abca2 100644
--- a/v2/test/jam-fail.jam
+++ b/v2/test/recursive.jam
@@ -1,14 +1,17 @@
-#######################################################################
-# Rules and actions for testing the build system's response to errors #
-#######################################################################
+##############################################################
+# Rules and actions that test Jam by invoking it recursively #
+##############################################################
 
-# Jam-fail string : optional-expected-output
+# Jam string : optional-expected-output
 #
 # Creates a fake target, always built, which succeeds in building if
-# interpreting the given string causes an error. If optional-expected-output is
+# Invoking a Jamfile containing the given string succeeds. If optional-expected-output is
 # supplied, creates another fake target which succeeds in building if
-# optional-expected-output is in the Jam error messages.
-rule Jam-fail
+# optional-expected-output is in the Jam output.
+#
+# RETURNS: the target name of the Jam command.
+#
+rule Jam
 {
     local jam-cmd = "$(<:G=jam_command)" ;
     
@@ -16,9 +19,17 @@ rule Jam-fail
     ALWAYS "$(jam-cmd)" ;
     DEPENDS all : "$(jam-cmd)" ;
 
-    redirect on $(jam-cmd) = "nul" ;
-    Jam-expect-failure $(jam-cmd) ;
+    if ($NT)
+    {
+        redirect on $(jam-cmd) = "nul" ;
+    }
+    else if $(UNIX)
+    {
+        redirect on $(jam-cmd) = "/dev/null" ;
+    }
 
+    invoke-Jam "$(jam-cmd)" ;
+    
     if $(>)
     {
         redirect on $(jam-cmd) = "scratch-output.txt" ;
@@ -28,22 +39,39 @@ rule Jam-fail
         DEPENDS all : "$(output-target)" ;
         Expect-in-output "$(output-target)" ;
     }
+    return $(jam-cmd) ;
 }
 
-BOOST_TEST_JAMFILE ?= expected-failure.jam ;
+# Jam-fail string
+rule Jam-fail
+{
+    FAIL_EXPECTED [ Jam $(<) : $(>) ] ;
+}
 
-# Jam-fail-action
+
+# The temporary jamfile we write is called "temp.jam". If the user has set
+# BOOST_BUILD_ROOT, it will be built there.
+gBOOST_TEST_JAMFILE = temp.jam ;
+LOCATE on gBOOST_TEST_JAMFILE ?= $(BOOST_BUILD_ROOT) ;
+
+# invoke-Jam
 #
 # Will run Jam on a temporary Jamfile which contains the string in $(<:G=) and
 # redirect the results into a temporary files called scratch-output.txt.
-rule Jam-expect-failure
+rule invoke-Jam
 {
-    FAIL_EXPECTED $(<) ;
+    PREFIX on $(<) = "actions unbuilt { } unbuilt all ;" ;
+    if $(NT)
+    {
+        REMOVE on $(<) = $(SystemRoot)\System32\find ;
+    }
+    REMOVE on $(<) ?= rm ;
 }
-actions Jam-expect-failure
+actions invoke-Jam
 {
-    echo actions unbuilt { } unbuilt all ; $(<:G=) > expected-failure.jam
-    jam -f../Jambase -sJAMFILE=expected-failure.jam >$(redirect)
+    echo $(PREFIX) $(<:G=) > $(gBOOST_TEST_JAMFILE)
+    jam -f../Jambase -sJAMFILE=$(gBOOST_TEST_JAMFILE) >$(redirect)
+    $(REMOVE) $(gBOOST_TEST_JAMFILE)
 }
 
 # These actions expect to find the ungristed part of $(<) in scratch-output.txt
diff --git a/v2/test/test_nt_line_length.jam b/v2/test/test_nt_line_length.jam
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f6bc046ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/v2/test/test_nt_line_length.jam
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+if $(NT)
+{
+    ten = 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ;
+    1x7chars = 0_____ ;
+    # add a digit and multiply by 10
+    10x8chars = $(ten)$(1x7chars) ;
+    # add a digit to each of 10 strings and multiply by 10
+    100x9chars = $(ten)$(10x8chars) ;
+    # add a digit to each of 100 strings and multiply by 10
+    1000x10chars = $(ten)$(100x9chars) ;
+
+    400x10chars = $(ten[1-4])$(100x9chars) ;
+
+    text on test = $(1000x10chars) $(1000x10chars) ;
+    JAMSHELL on test = % ;
+
+    actions do_echo
+    {
+    echo $(text)
+    }
+    do_echo test ;
+    DEPENDS all : test ;
+}
+