diff --git a/meson.py b/meson.py
index 0ea4cea5d..cad449ed5 100755
--- a/meson.py
+++ b/meson.py
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
             else:
                 mlog.log(mlog.red('\nMeson encountered an error:'))
             mlog.log(e)
-            sys.exit(1)
         else:
             traceback.print_exc()
+        sys.exit(1)
 
diff --git a/test cases/failing/3 missing subdir/meson.build b/test cases/failing/3 missing subdir/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fef8c4bca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test cases/failing/3 missing subdir/meson.build	
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+project('subdir', 'c')
+
+subdir('missing')
diff --git a/test cases/failing/4 missing meson.build/meson.build b/test cases/failing/4 missing meson.build/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..18654be2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test cases/failing/4 missing meson.build/meson.build	
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+project('missing meson.build', 'c')
+
+subdir('subdir')
diff --git a/test cases/failing/4 missing meson.build/subdir/dummy.txt b/test cases/failing/4 missing meson.build/subdir/dummy.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..03327bdee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test cases/failing/4 missing meson.build/subdir/dummy.txt	
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+This needs to be here because Git can't handle empty dirs.