diff --git a/test_archivemail.py b/test_archivemail.py
index 78c5c91..ef46949 100755
--- a/test_archivemail.py
+++ b/test_archivemail.py
@@ -158,14 +158,47 @@ class TestMboxExclusiveLock(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def testExclusiveLock(self):
         """exclusive_lock/unlock should create/delete an advisory lock"""
-        self.mbox.exclusive_lock()
+        
+        # We're using flock(2) locks; these aren't completely portable, and on
+        # some systems (e.g. Solaris) they may be emulated with fcntl(2) locks,
+        # which have pretty different semantics.  We could test real flock
+        # locks within this process, but that doesn't work for fcntl locks.  
+        #
+        # The following code snippet heavily lends from the Python 2.5 mailbox
+        # unittest.
+        # BEGIN robbery:
+
+        # Fork off a subprocess that will lock the file for 2 seconds,
+        # unlock it, and then exit.
+        if not hasattr(os, 'fork'):
+            return
+        pid = os.fork()
+        if pid == 0:
+            # In the child, lock the mailbox.
+            self.mbox.exclusive_lock()
+            time.sleep(2)
+            self.mbox.exclusive_unlock()
+            os._exit(0)
+
+        # In the parent, sleep a bit to give the child time to acquire
+        # the lock.
+        time.sleep(0.5)
+        # The parent's file self.mbox.mbox_file shares flock locks with the
+        # duplicated FD in the child; reopen it so we get a different file
+        # table entry.
         file = open(self.mbox_name, "r+")
         lock_nb = fcntl.LOCK_EX | fcntl.LOCK_NB
-        self.assertRaises(IOError, fcntl.flock, file.fileno(), lock_nb)
+        fd = file.fileno()
+        try:
+            self.assertRaises(IOError, fcntl.flock, fd, lock_nb)
 
-        self.mbox.exclusive_unlock()
-        fcntl.flock(file.fileno(), lock_nb)
-        fcntl.flock(file.fileno(), fcntl.LOCK_UN)
+        finally:
+            # Wait for child to exit.  Locking should now succeed.
+            exited_pid, status = os.waitpid(pid, 0)
+
+        fcntl.flock(fd, lock_nb)
+        fcntl.flock(fd, fcntl.LOCK_UN)
+        # END robbery
 
     def tearDown(self):
         if os.path.exists(self.mbox_name):