diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 235bf1ee..f71ec700 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -168,6 +168,75 @@ Or you can skip conditionally:
 }
 ```
 
+### Explicit test names
+
+In most cases, tests don't need to be assigned an explicit name, but some features,
+like dependencies described below, reference tests by their names. In such cases,
+the test(s) you reference must be assigned an explicit name.
+
+An explicit name is defined using an extension to the base
+syntax: replace '@test' by '@test[<explicit_name>]'.
+
+Example:
+
+```bash
+@test[mytest1] "Test description..." {
+...
+```
+
+Notes:
+
+* Every test may define an explicit name, even if it not referenced anywhere,
+* In a given test file, each explicit name must be unique. You cannot assign the
+same name to different tests,
+* Explicit names must be composed from alphanumeric characters + underscore
+('_') only.
+
+### Test dependencies
+
+Some tests may have one or more tests as pre-requisites, meaning that tests
+are irrelevant if the pre-requisites fail. A common case is test A checking that
+service 'foo' is running, while test B and C use this service to retrieve more
+information. If service 'foo' is not running, we know for sure that tests B and C will
+fail. In such cases, readability is much better if we display test A as failed
+and tests B and C as skipped.
+
+In order to implement such a dependency, you will use the 'bats_test_succeeds()'
+function. This function returns true (0) if all the test names given as arguments
+succeeded, and false if any of them failed.
+
+Example:
+
+```bash
+@test[testA] "A pre-requisite check" {
+  service foo status
+}
+
+@test[testAbis] "Oh, I need this too!" {
+  service bar status
+}
+
+# I don't want to run this if pre-requisites are unavailable
+
+@test "Let's check this more in depth..." {
+  bats_test_succeeds testA testAbis || skip "Pre-requisites are unavailable"
+  # In-depth check starts here
+  ...
+}
+```
+
+Notes:
+
+* You cannot define cross-file dependencies. The test(s) you refer to must
+be located in the same test file.
+* As tests are executed in the order they appear in the file, you can only depend
+on tests that appear in the test file BEFORE/ABOVE the current test. If this is
+not the case, a warning message is issued on stderr and the parent test is
+supposed to be successful (depending test will run).
+* Dependencies are transitive/inherited. If a test depends on a test skipped for any reason,
+it will be skipped too, along with its descendants.
+* You need to set explicit names for the tests you want to create dependencies on.
+
 ### `setup` and `teardown`: Pre- and post-test hooks
 
 You can define special `setup` and `teardown` functions, which run
@@ -199,10 +268,12 @@ test case.
 case.
 * `$BATS_TEST_NUMBER` is the (1-based) index of the current test case
 in the test file.
+* `BATS_TEST_RESULTS` is an array of results for tests that ran so far.
+Only elements from 1 to $BATS_TEST_NUMBER (excluded) are set. Values are
+0 if test succeeded, and different from 0 if test failed.
 * `$BATS_TMPDIR` is the location to a directory that may be used to
 store temporary files.
 
-
 ## Installing Bats from source
 
 Check out a copy of the Bats repository. Then, either add the Bats
diff --git a/libexec/bats-exec-test b/libexec/bats-exec-test
index 8f3bd510..7320621e 100755
--- a/libexec/bats-exec-test
+++ b/libexec/bats-exec-test
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ fi
 
 BATS_TEST_DIRNAME="$(dirname "$BATS_TEST_FILENAME")"
 BATS_TEST_NAMES=()
+BATS_TEST_RESULTS=()
 
 load() {
   local name="$1"
@@ -240,7 +241,7 @@ bats_teardown_trap() {
 }
 
 bats_exit_trap() {
-  local status
+  local status    # Exit code: 0=OK, 1=error, 2=skipped
   local skipped
   trap - err exit
 
@@ -261,21 +262,57 @@ bats_exit_trap() {
   else
     echo "ok ${BATS_TEST_NUMBER}${skipped} ${BATS_TEST_DESCRIPTION}" >&3
     status=0
+    [ -n "$BATS_TEST_SKIPPED" ] && status=2
   fi
 
   rm -f "$BATS_OUT"
   exit "$status"
 }
 
+bats_test_succeeds() {
+  local name status index i ret
+
+  ret=0
+
+  for name in $@
+    do
+    index=''
+    i=0
+    while [ $i -lt ${#BATS_TEST_NAMES[@]} ; do
+      if [ "${BATS_TEST_NAMES[$i]}" = "test_$name" ] ; then
+        index=$i
+        break
+      fi
+    done
+    if [ -z $index ] ; then
+      echo "Error: $name: this test name does not exist" >&2
+    else
+      status=${BATS_TEST_RESULTS[$index]}
+      if [ -z $status ] ; then
+        echo "Warning: $name: Cannot check status as test didn't run yet" >&2
+      else
+        [ $status = 0 ] && ret=1
+      fi
+    fi
+  done
+
+  return $ret
+}
+
 bats_perform_tests() {
+  local ret status test_number test_name
+
+  ret=0
   echo "1..$#"
   test_number=1
   status=0
   for test_name in "$@"; do
-    "$0" $BATS_EXTENDED_SYNTAX "$BATS_TEST_FILENAME" "$test_name" "$test_number" || status=1
+    "$0" $BATS_EXTENDED_SYNTAX "$BATS_TEST_FILENAME" "$test_name" "$test_number" || status=$?
+    [ $status = 1 ] && ret=1 # Skip -> OK
+    BATS_TEST_RESULTS[$test_number]=$status
     let test_number+=1
   done
-  exit "$status"
+  exit "$ret"
 }
 
 bats_perform_test() {
diff --git a/libexec/bats-preprocess b/libexec/bats-preprocess
index 04297ed0..81fae9ce 100755
--- a/libexec/bats-preprocess
+++ b/libexec/bats-preprocess
@@ -31,15 +31,19 @@ encode_name() {
 
 tests=()
 index=0
-pattern='^ *@test  *([^ ].*)  *\{ *(.*)$'
+pattern='^ *@test(\[([^ ])[^ ]*\])?  *([^ ].*)  *\{ *(.*)$'
 
 while IFS= read -r line; do
   let index+=1
   if [[ "$line" =~ $pattern ]]; then
-    quoted_name="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
-    body="${BASH_REMATCH[2]}"
-    name="$(eval echo "$quoted_name")"
-    encoded_name="$(encode_name "$name")"
+    quoted_name="${BASH_REMATCH[3]}"
+    if [ -n "${BASH_REMATCH[2]}" ] ; then
+      encoded_name="test_${BASH_REMATCH[2]}"
+    else
+      name="$(eval echo "$quoted_name")"
+      encoded_name="$(encode_name "$name")"
+    fi
+    body="${BASH_REMATCH[4]}"
     tests["${#tests[@]}"]="$encoded_name"
     echo "${encoded_name}() { bats_test_begin ${quoted_name} ${index}; ${body}"
   else