diff --git a/utils/testremove/checkremove.hs b/utils/testremove/checkremove.hs
index 54745122c46edd51f00aa1c7d87f6efb110dedcf..d903d1be52a8147cf7da22cecb3166b00c70ba33 100644
--- a/utils/testremove/checkremove.hs
+++ b/utils/testremove/checkremove.hs
@@ -2,7 +2,10 @@
 module Main (main) where
 
 import Control.Monad
+import Data.Function
 import Data.List
+import qualified Data.Map as Map
+import Data.Map (Map)
 import qualified Data.Set as Set
 import Data.Set (Set)
 import System.Environment
@@ -14,6 +17,84 @@ data CleanWhat = CleanFile FilePath
                | CleanRec  FilePath
     deriving (Read, Show)
 
+data Tree = Node FileInfo (Map FilePath Tree)
+data FileInfo = FileInfo {
+                    fiBefore :: Bool,
+                    fiAfter :: Bool,
+                    fiDeleted :: Bool
+                }
+
+beforeFileInfo :: FileInfo
+beforeFileInfo = noFileInfo { fiBefore  = True }
+
+afterFileInfo :: FileInfo
+afterFileInfo = noFileInfo { fiAfter   = True }
+
+noFileInfo :: FileInfo
+noFileInfo = FileInfo {
+                 fiBefore  = False,
+                 fiAfter   = False,
+                 fiDeleted = False
+             }
+
+readTree :: FileInfo -> FilePath -> IO (Tree)
+readTree fi fp = do xs <- readFile fp
+                    let ls = lines xs
+                    return $ mkTree fi $ lines xs
+
+mkTree :: FileInfo -> [FilePath] -> Tree
+mkTree fi fps = f $ sort $ map splitDirectories $ map normalise fps
+    where f xs = let xs' = g $ groupBy ((==) `on` head)
+                             $ filter (not . null) xs
+                 in Node fi xs'
+          g xss = Map.fromList [ (head (head xs),
+                                  f (map tail xs))
+                               | xs <- xss ]
+
+{-
+... = OK: will happen if a file in a non-existant directory is rm'd [1]
+..D = OK: will happen if a non-existant file is rm'd [1]
+.A. = suspicious: Why wasn't this file cleaned?
+.AD = OK: This is what object files look like
+B.. = suspicious: Where did the file go?
+B.D = suspicious: Why are we removing a file that existed before?
+BA. = OK: This is what source files look like
+BAD = suspicious: Why are we removing a file that existed before?
+
+[1] some files may only be created on certain platforms, or in certain
+    build-system configurations, but the cleaning code is deliberately
+    simple so it will always clean them regardless
+-}
+pprSuspicious :: Tree -> [String]
+pprSuspicious t = f [] t
+    where f ps (Node fi m) = suspicious (joinPath (reverse ps)) fi
+                          ++ concat [ f (p : ps) m' | (p, m') <- Map.toList m ]
+          suspicious fp (FileInfo False True  False) = ["File not deleted:    " ++ show fp]
+          suspicious fp (FileInfo True  False False) = ["File disappeared:    " ++ show fp]
+          suspicious fp (FileInfo True  False True)  = ["Deleted before file: " ++ show fp]
+          suspicious fp (FileInfo True  True  True)  = ["Deleted before file: " ++ show fp]
+          suspicious _  _                            = []
+
+pprTree :: Tree -> [String]
+pprTree t = f [] t
+    where f ps (Node fi m) = (pprInfo fi ++ " " ++ joinPath (reverse ps))
+                           : concat [ f (p : ps) m' | (p, m') <- Map.toList m ]
+
+pprInfo :: FileInfo -> String
+pprInfo (FileInfo before after deleted) = [if before  then 'B' else '.',
+                                           if after   then 'A' else '.',
+                                           if deleted then 'D' else '.']
+
+mergeTree :: Tree -> Tree -> Tree
+mergeTree (Node fi1 m1) (Node fi2 m2)
+    = Node (mergeFileInfo fi1 fi2)
+           (Map.unionWith mergeTree m1 m2)
+
+mergeFileInfo :: FileInfo -> FileInfo -> FileInfo
+mergeFileInfo (FileInfo before1 after1 deleted1)
+              (FileInfo before2 after2 deleted2)
+    = FileInfo (before1 || before2) (after1 || after2) (deleted1 || deleted2)
+
 main :: IO ()
 main = do args <- getArgs
           case args of
@@ -22,27 +103,36 @@ main = do args <- getArgs
               _ ->
                   error "Bad args"
 
-readSet :: FilePath -> IO (Set FilePath)
-readSet fp = liftM (Set.fromList . lines) $ readFile fp
-
 doit :: FilePath -> FilePath -> FilePath -> IO ()
 doit contentsBeforeFile contentsAfterFile wouldBeCleanedFile
- = do contentsBefore <- readSet contentsBeforeFile
-      contentsAfter  <- readSet contentsAfterFile
+ = do contentsBefore <- readTree beforeFileInfo contentsBeforeFile
+      contentsAfter  <- readTree afterFileInfo  contentsAfterFile
+      let contentsMerged = mergeTree contentsBefore contentsAfter
       wouldBeCleaned <- liftM (map read . lines) $ readFile wouldBeCleanedFile
-      let newContentsAfter = contentsAfter `Set.difference` contentsBefore
-      let cleanedAfter = simulateCleans newContentsAfter wouldBeCleaned
-      unless (Set.null cleanedAfter) $ do
-          hPutStrLn stderr "Files not cleaned:"
-          mapM_ (hPutStrLn stderr . show) (Set.toList cleanedAfter)
-          exitWith (ExitFailure 1)
-
-simulateCleans :: Set FilePath -> [CleanWhat] -> Set FilePath
-simulateCleans fs cws = Set.filter (not . cleaned) fs
-    where cleaned f = any (`willClean` f) cws
-
-willClean :: CleanWhat -> FilePath -> Bool
-CleanFile fp `willClean` f = fp `equalFilePath` f
-CleanRec fp `willClean` f
-    = any (fp `equalFilePath`) (map joinPath $ inits $ splitPath f)
+      let contentsCleaned = simulateCleans contentsMerged wouldBeCleaned
+      mapM_ putStrLn $ pprSuspicious contentsCleaned
+
+simulateCleans :: Tree -> [CleanWhat] -> Tree
+simulateCleans = foldl' simulateClean
+
+simulateClean :: Tree -> CleanWhat -> Tree
+simulateClean t (CleanFile fp) = at t fp markDeleted
+simulateClean t (CleanRec  fp) = at t fp markSubtreeDeleted
+
+markDeleted :: Tree -> Tree
+markDeleted (Node fi m) = Node (fi { fiDeleted = True }) m
+
+markSubtreeDeleted :: Tree -> Tree
+markSubtreeDeleted (Node fi m) = Node fi' (Map.map markSubtreeDeleted m)
+    where fi' = -- "rm -r" will only delete things that are there afterwards
+                if fiAfter fi then fi { fiDeleted = True } else fi
+
+at :: Tree -> FilePath -> (Tree -> Tree) -> Tree
+at t fp f = at' t (splitDirectories $ normalise fp) f
+
+at' :: Tree -> [FilePath] -> (Tree -> Tree) -> Tree
+at' t           []       f = f t
+at' (Node fi m) (p : ps) f = Node fi m'
+    where m' = Map.insert p (at' t ps f) m
+          t = Map.findWithDefault (Node noFileInfo Map.empty) p m