diff --git a/tests/rm/rm-readdir-fail.sh b/tests/rm/rm-readdir-fail.sh
index 20ea50e..15ef1d6 100755
--- a/tests/rm/rm-readdir-fail.sh
+++ b/tests/rm/rm-readdir-fail.sh
@@ -26,23 +26,23 @@ mkdir -p dir/notempty || framework_failure_
 # Simulate "readdir" failure.
 cat > k.c <<\EOF || framework_failure_
 #define _GNU_SOURCE
+#include <dlfcn.h>
 #include <dirent.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
-#include <dlfcn.h>
 
 struct dirent *readdir (DIR *dirp)
 {
-  struct dirent *(*real_readdir)(DIR *dirp) = dlsym (RTLD_NEXT, "readdir");
-  if (! real_readdir)
+  static struct dirent *(*real_readdir)(DIR *dirp);
+  if (! real_readdir && ! (real_readdir = dlsym (RTLD_NEXT, "readdir")))
     {
       fprintf (stderr, "Failed to find readdir()\n");
       errno = ESRCH;
       return NULL;
     }
-  struct dirent* d = real_readdir (dirp);
-  if (! d)
+  static struct dirent* d;
+  if (! d && ! ( d = real_readdir (dirp)))
     {
       fprintf (stderr, "Failed to get dirent\n");
       errno = ENOENT;
@@ -50,20 +50,17 @@ struct dirent *readdir (DIR *dirp)
     }
 
   /* Flag that LD_PRELOAD and above functions work.  */
-  static int done = 0;
-  if (! done)
-    {
-      fclose (fopen ("preloaded", "w"));
-      done++;
-    }
+  static int count = 1;
+  if (count == 1)
+    fclose (fopen ("preloaded", "w"));
 
   /* Return some entries to trigger partial read failure,
      ensuring we don't return ignored '.' or '..'  */
   char const *readdir_partial = getenv ("READDIR_PARTIAL");
-  if (readdir_partial && *readdir_partial && done <= 3)
+  if (readdir_partial && *readdir_partial && count <= 3)
     {
-      done++;
-      d->d_name[0]='0'+done; d->d_name[1]='\0';
+      count++;
+      d->d_name[0]='0'+count; d->d_name[1]='\0';
 #ifdef _DIRENT_HAVE_D_NAMLEN
       _D_EXACT_NAMELEN(d)=2;
 #endif
@@ -89,10 +86,11 @@ gcc_shared_ k.c k.so \
 # Test if LD_PRELOAD works:
 export READDIR_PARTIAL
 for READDIR_PARTIAL in '' '1'; do
+  rm -f preloaded
   (LD_PRELOAD=$LD_PRELOAD:./k.so returns_ 1 rm -Rf dir 2>>err) || fail=1
+  test -f preloaded ||
+    skip_ "internal test failure: maybe LD_PRELOAD doesn't work?"
 done
-test -f preloaded ||
-  skip_ "internal test failure: maybe LD_PRELOAD doesn't work?"
 
 # First case is failure to read any items from dir, then assume empty.
 # Generally that will be diagnosed when rm tries to rmdir().