diff -ruN postgresql-7.1/src/bin/psql/command.c postgresql-7.1.patched/src/bin/psql/command.c
--- postgresql-7.1/src/bin/psql/command.c	Fri Mar 23 18:54:56 2001
+++ postgresql-7.1.patched/src/bin/psql/command.c	Tue Apr 17 14:36:56 2001
@@ -1281,8 +1281,17 @@
 			 */
 			psql_error("\\connect: %s", PQerrorMessage(pset.db));
 			PQfinish(pset.db);
+
+			/*
+			 * if at this point, we have an old connection, clean it up
+			 * and exit cleanly. the script that they are running needs
+			 * to be corrected.
+			 */
 			if (oldconn)
+			{
 				PQfinish(oldconn);
+				exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+			}
 			pset.db = NULL;
 		}
 	}