diff --git a/test/README b/test/README
index ce403cef..e54e36b7 100644
--- a/test/README
+++ b/test/README
@@ -117,6 +117,13 @@ Note that some tests in the existing test suite rely on previous test
 items, so you cannot arbitrarily skip any test and expect the
 remaining tests to be unaffected.
 
+Currently we do not consider skipped tests as build failures. For
+maximum robustness, when setting up automated build processes, you
+should explicitely skip tests, rather than relying on notmuch's
+detection of missing prerequisites. In the future we may treat tests
+unable to run because of missing prerequisites, but not explicitely
+skipped by the user, as failures.
+
 Writing Tests
 -------------
 The test script is written as a shell script.  It should start with
diff --git a/test/aggregate-results.sh b/test/aggregate-results.sh
index b016edb9..63228546 100755
--- a/test/aggregate-results.sh
+++ b/test/aggregate-results.sh
@@ -82,7 +82,10 @@ if [ "$skipped" != "0" ]; then
     echo "$skipped $tests skipped."
 fi
 
-if [ $success -gt 0 -a $fixed -eq 0 -a $failed -eq 0 -a $skipped -eq 0 ]
+# Note that we currently do not consider skipped tests as failing the
+# build.
+
+if [ $success -gt 0 -a $fixed -eq 0 -a $failed -eq 0 ]
 then
     exit 0
 else