diff --git a/changelog b/changelog
index 2dae7ad5f3a95d2c113a058e9575e25b44e77ad4..8e056cfb238a58176e41a0b789ff37783ea04aa4 100644
--- a/changelog
+++ b/changelog
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ version 0.8 --
           then nano, vim and vi, and aborts if none of these exists.
     added helper for pgsql handler.
     rdiff handler now does not require 'label'
+    changes to mysql and svn handlers' vservers support
+        these handlers now check if the source vserver is running
 
 version 0.7 -- July 26 2005
 	added ninjahelper: a dialog based wizard for creating backupninja configs.
diff --git a/handlers/mysql b/handlers/mysql
index d5c0370e733c9252c217e574cfd0c1a2af0fea89..e5306db4c5a42adafcafeb87e31f29f24c163328 100644
--- a/handlers/mysql
+++ b/handlers/mysql
@@ -39,11 +39,16 @@ then
 	fi
 fi
 
-# Check to make sure that the specified vserver exists
+# If needed, make sure that the specified vserver exists and is running.
 if [ $usevserver ]
 then
+        info "examining vserver '$vsname'"
+        # does it exist ?
 	vroot="$VROOTDIR/$vsname"
 	[ -d $vroot ] || fatal "vserver '$vsname' does not exist at '$vroot'"
+        # is it running ?
+        running=`$VSERVERINFO $vsname RUNNING`
+        [ $running = 1 ] || fatal "vserver $vsname is not running."
 fi
 	
 # create backup dirs, the vroot variable will be empty if no vsname was specified
diff --git a/handlers/pgsql b/handlers/pgsql
index 11a5cfef772475fbed210b7e474212034cd255e8..9b1d8b7f4de134fae545e2490c3a98b53ed54022 100644
--- a/handlers/pgsql
+++ b/handlers/pgsql
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+#! /bin/sh
 #
 # PostgreSQL handler script for backupninja
 #
diff --git a/handlers/svn b/handlers/svn
index 551255b943038d6226b95a97f6735a3b978541f5..6ac54029547665829ba01b09ccbd47a19e18d784 100644
--- a/handlers/svn
+++ b/handlers/svn
@@ -23,11 +23,16 @@ then
 	fi
 fi
 
-# Check to make sure that the specified vserver exists
+# If needed, make sure that the specified vserver exists and is running.
 if [ $usevserver ]
 then
+	info "examining vserver '$vsname'"
+        # does it exist ?
 	vroot="$VROOTDIR/$vsname"
 	[ -d $vroot ] || fatal "vserver '$vsname' does not exist at '$vroot'"
+        # is it running ?
+	running=`$VSERVERINFO $vsname RUNNING`
+	[ $running = 1 ] || fatal "vserver $vsname is not running."
 fi
 
 cd $vroot$src