diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 8307252e77..4fe08d537d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ git-annex (6.20161013) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
     Thanks, James MacMahon.
   * Assistant, repair: Improved filtering out of git fsck lines about
     duplicate file entries in tree objects.
+  * test: Deal with gpg-agent behavior change that broke the test suite.
 
  -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Mon, 17 Oct 2016 12:46:54 -0400
 
diff --git a/Utility/Gpg.hs b/Utility/Gpg.hs
index af740c3e0e..21171b6fb0 100644
--- a/Utility/Gpg.hs
+++ b/Utility/Gpg.hs
@@ -352,7 +352,14 @@ testHarness cmd a = do
 			[testSecretKey, testKey]
 		return dir
 		
-	cleanup orig tmpdir = removeDirectoryRecursive tmpdir >> reset orig
+	cleanup orig tmpdir = do
+		removeDirectoryRecursive tmpdir
+			-- gpg-agent may be shutting down at the same time
+			-- and may delete its socket at the same time as
+			-- we're trying to, causing an exception. Retrying
+			-- will deal with this race.
+			`catchIO` (\_ -> removeDirectoryRecursive tmpdir)
+		reset orig
 	reset (Just v) = setEnv var v True
 	reset _ = unsetEnv var