diff --git a/src/ChangeLog b/src/ChangeLog
index 3cf1b82cb..35a34fa86 100644
--- a/src/ChangeLog
+++ b/src/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,27 @@
+Sun May 24 02:45:03 1998  Norbert Warmuth  <k3190@fh-sw.de>
+
+	* utilunix.c, util.h (errno_dir_not_empty): deleted
+
+Sat May 23 22:29:57 1998  Norbert Warmuth  <k3190@fh-sw.de>
+
+	* file.c (check_dir_is_empty): New function which takes a path and 
+	returns -1 on error, 1 if there are no entries besides "." and
+	".."  in the directory path points to, 0 else. This function
+	actually opens and reads the directory and doesn't do tricks we
+	used to do with rmdir.
+	
+	* file.c (erase_dir, erase_dir_iff_empty): Use check_dir_is_empty
+	to detect non empty directories. The old code tried to remove the 
+	directory and decided on errno whether the failure of rmdir was
+	caused by a non empty directory or whether there was a different
+	error. 
+	Unfortunatly not every filesystem sets errno to EDIRNOTEMPTY if
+	you try to delete a non empty directory. Namely the linux user
+	space nfs server sets errno to EIO, Suns nfs server sets it to
+	EEXIST and the AIX nfs server sets it to ??? (Steve reported
+	problems on AIX so I guess AIX sets errno to a value we currently
+	don't check).
+
 1998-maj-18  Tamasi Gyorgy (gt_cosy@usa.net)
 
 	* lib/mc.menu: 'Z' on 'tar.Z' and 'tar.z' files: '%f' -> '$1'.
diff --git a/src/file.c b/src/file.c
index e83af881b..b689ff1f8 100644
--- a/src/file.c
+++ b/src/file.c
@@ -1801,6 +1801,31 @@ recursive_erase (char *s)
     return FILE_CONT;
 }
 
+/* Return -1 on error, 1 if there are no entries besides "." and ".." 
+   in the directory path points to, 0 else. */
+static int 
+check_dir_is_empty(char *path)
+{
+    DIR *dir;
+    struct dirent *d;
+    int i;
+
+    dir = mc_opendir (path);
+    if (!dir)
+	return -1;
+
+    for (i = 1, d = mc_readdir (dir); d; d = mc_readdir (dir)) {
+	if (d->d_name[0] == '.' && (d->d_name[1] == '\0' ||
+            (d->d_name[1] == '.' && d->d_name[2] == '\0')))
+	    continue; /* "." or ".." */
+	i = 0;
+	break;
+    }
+
+    mc_closedir (dir);
+    return i;
+}
+
 int
 erase_dir (char *s)
 {
@@ -1816,16 +1841,25 @@ erase_dir (char *s)
 	return FILE_ABORT;
     mc_refresh ();
 
- retry_rmdir:
-    error = my_rmdir (s);
-    if (error && errno_dir_not_empty (errno)){
+    /* The old way to detect a non empty directory was:
+            error = my_rmdir (s);
+            if (error && (errno == ENOTEMPTY || errno == EEXIST))) {
+       For the linux user space nfs server (nfs-server-2.2beta29-2)
+       we would have to check also for EIO. I hope the new way is
+       fool proof. (Norbert)
+     */
+    error = check_dir_is_empty (s);
+    if (error == 0) { /* not empty */
 	error = query_recursive (s);
 	if (error == FILE_CONT)
 	    return recursive_erase (s);
 	else
 	    return error;
     }
-    if (error){
+
+ retry_rmdir:
+    error = my_rmdir (s);
+    if (error == -1){
 	error = file_error (_(" Cannot remove directory \"%s\" \n %s "), s);
 	if (error == FILE_RETRY)
 	    goto retry_rmdir;
@@ -1849,9 +1883,12 @@ erase_dir_iff_empty (char *s)
 	return FILE_ABORT;
     mc_refresh ();
 
+    if (1 != check_dir_is_empty (s)) /* not empty or error */
+	return FILE_CONT;
+
  retry_rmdir:
     error = my_rmdir (s);
-    if (error && !errno_dir_not_empty (errno)) {
+    if (error) {
 	error = file_error (_(" Cannot remove directory \"%s\" \n %s "), s);
 	if (error == FILE_RETRY)
 	    goto retry_rmdir;
diff --git a/src/util.h b/src/util.h
index 32bb75d63..fdd579039 100644
--- a/src/util.h
+++ b/src/util.h
@@ -124,9 +124,6 @@ char *get_current_wd (char *buffer, int size);
 int my_mkdir (char *s, mode_t mode);
 int my_rmdir (char *s);
 
-/* Returns true if the err means the directory is not empty */
-int errno_dir_not_empty (int err);
-
 /* Filesystem status */
 struct my_statfs {
     int type;
diff --git a/src/utilunix.c b/src/utilunix.c
index c28d142ea..91eb79917 100644
--- a/src/utilunix.c
+++ b/src/utilunix.c
@@ -832,14 +832,6 @@ int gettimeofday (struct timeval *tp, void *tzp)
 }
 #endif
 
-int
-errno_dir_not_empty (int err)
-{
-    if (err == ENOTEMPTY || err == EEXIST)
-	return 1;
-    return 0;
-}
-
 #ifdef SCO_FLAVOR
 /* Define this only for SCO */
 #ifdef USE_NETCODE