diff --git a/git-cvsexportcommit.perl b/git-cvsexportcommit.perl
index 2a8ad1e9f4..b6036bd4d3 100755
--- a/git-cvsexportcommit.perl
+++ b/git-cvsexportcommit.perl
@@ -197,15 +197,39 @@
       my @updated = xargs_safe_pipe_capture([@cvs, 'update'], @canstatusfiles);
       print @updated;
     }
-    my @cvsoutput;
-    @cvsoutput = xargs_safe_pipe_capture([@cvs, 'status'], @canstatusfiles);
-    my $matchcount = 0;
-    foreach my $l (@cvsoutput) {
-        chomp $l;
-        if ( $l =~ /^File:/ and  $l =~ /Status: (.*)$/ ) {
-            $cvsstat{$canstatusfiles[$matchcount]} = $1;
-            $matchcount++;
+    # "cvs status" reorders the parameters, notably when there are multiple
+    # arguments with the same basename.  So be precise here.
+
+    my %added = map { $_ => 1 } @afiles;
+    my %todo = map { $_ => 1 } @canstatusfiles;
+
+    while (%todo) {
+      my @canstatusfiles2 = ();
+      my %fullname = ();
+      foreach my $name (keys %todo) {
+	my $basename = basename($name);
+
+	$basename = "no file " . $basename if (exists($added{$basename}));
+	chomp($basename);
+
+	if (!exists($fullname{$basename})) {
+	  $fullname{$basename} = $name;
+	  push (@canstatusfiles2, $name);
+	  delete($todo{$name});
         }
+      }
+      my @cvsoutput;
+      @cvsoutput = xargs_safe_pipe_capture([@cvs, 'status'], @canstatusfiles2);
+      foreach my $l (@cvsoutput) {
+        chomp $l;
+        if ($l =~ /^File:\s+(.*\S)\s+Status: (.*)$/) {
+	  if (!exists($fullname{$1})) {
+	    print STDERR "Huh? Status reported for unexpected file '$1'\n";
+	  } else {
+	    $cvsstat{$fullname{$1}} = $2;
+	  }
+	}
+      }
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/t/t9200-git-cvsexportcommit.sh b/t/t9200-git-cvsexportcommit.sh
index 49d57a81ec..58c59ed5ae 100755
--- a/t/t9200-git-cvsexportcommit.sh
+++ b/t/t9200-git-cvsexportcommit.sh
@@ -262,4 +262,39 @@ test_expect_success '-w option should work with relative GIT_DIR' '
       )
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'check files before directories' '
+
+	echo Notes > release-notes &&
+	git add release-notes &&
+	git commit -m "Add release notes" release-notes &&
+	id=$(git rev-parse HEAD) &&
+	git cvsexportcommit -w "$CVSWORK" -c $id &&
+
+	echo new > DS &&
+	echo new > E/DS &&
+	echo modified > release-notes &&
+	git add DS E/DS release-notes &&
+	git commit -m "Add two files with the same basename" &&
+	id=$(git rev-parse HEAD) &&
+	git cvsexportcommit -w "$CVSWORK" -c $id &&
+	check_entries "$CVSWORK/E" "DS/1.1/|newfile5.txt/1.1/" &&
+	check_entries "$CVSWORK" "DS/1.1/|release-notes/1.2/" &&
+	diff -u "$CVSWORK/DS" DS &&
+	diff -u "$CVSWORK/E/DS" E/DS &&
+	diff -u "$CVSWORK/release-notes" release-notes
+
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'commit a file with leading spaces in the name' '
+
+	echo space > " space" &&
+	git add " space" &&
+	git commit -m "Add a file with a leading space" &&
+	id=$(git rev-parse HEAD) &&
+	git cvsexportcommit -w "$CVSWORK" -c $id &&
+	check_entries "$CVSWORK" " space/1.1/|DS/1.1/|release-notes/1.2/" &&
+	diff -u "$CVSWORK/ space" " space"
+
+'
+
 test_done