Index: dashboard.scm
==================================================================
--- dashboard.scm
+++ dashboard.scm
@@ -101,10 +101,18 @@
                         "-rh5.11" ;; fix to allow running on rh5.11
 			)
 		 args:arg-hash
 		 0))
 
+;; check for MT_* environment variables and exit if found
+(for-each (lambda (var)
+	    (if (get-environment-variable var)
+		(begin
+		  (print "ERROR: environment variable " var " is set in this terminal, this will cause you problems. Exiting now.")
+		  (exit 1))))
+	  '("MT_RUN_AREA_HOME" "MT_MEGATEST" "MT_CMDINFO" "MT_TEST_RUN_DIR" "MT_LINKTREE" "MT_TESTSUITENAME"))
+
 (if (not (null? remargs))
     (begin
       (print "Unrecognised arguments: " (string-intersperse remargs " "))
       (exit)))