diff --git a/libexec/bats-exec-test b/libexec/bats-exec-test
index 8242d177..ea190a85 100755
--- a/libexec/bats-exec-test
+++ b/libexec/bats-exec-test
@@ -55,9 +55,18 @@ run() {
   set +e
   set +E
   set +T
-  output="$("$@" 2>&1)"
+
+  local temp_stdout=$(mktemp -t stdout.XXXXXX)
+  local temp_stderr=$(mktemp -t stderr.XXXXXX)
+
+  ( "$@" 2> "$temp_stderr" 1> "$temp_stdout" )
   status="$?"
-  IFS=$'\n' lines=($output)
+
+  output_stdout=$( < "$temp_stdout")
+  output_stderr=$( < "$temp_stderr")
+  output="${output_stderr}${output_stdout}"
+
+  IFS=$'\n' lines=($output) lines_stdout=($output_stdout) lines_stderr=($output_stderr)
   [ -z "$e" ] || set -e
   [ -z "$E" ] || set -E
   [ -z "$T" ] || set -T
diff --git a/test/bats.bats b/test/bats.bats
index d2efad85..4da08c38 100755
--- a/test/bats.bats
+++ b/test/bats.bats
@@ -206,3 +206,26 @@ fixtures bats
   [ "${lines[4]}" = "not ok 4 failing" ]
   [ "${lines[5]}" = "# (in test file $FIXTURE_ROOT/single_line.bats, line 9)" ]
 }
+
+@test "test output_stderr and lines_stderr are populated" {
+  run bats nonexistent
+  [ $status -eq 1 ]
+  [ $(expr "$output_stderr" : ".*does not exist") -ne 0 ]
+  [ "${lines_stdout[0]}" = "" ]
+
+  run bats
+  [ $status -eq 1 ]
+  [ $(expr "${lines_stderr[1]}" : "Usage:") -ne 0 ]
+}
+
+@test "test output_stdout and lines_stdout are populated" {
+  run bats -c "$FIXTURE_ROOT/output.bats"
+  [ $status -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output_stdout" = "4" ]
+
+  run bats -v
+  [ $status -eq 0 ]
+  [ $(expr "${lines_stdout[0]}" : "Bats [0-9][0-9.]*") -ne 0 ]
+  [ "${lines_stderr[0]}" = "" ]
+  
+}