diff --git a/lib/rake/application.rb b/lib/rake/application.rb
index 8927d951b..21a055153 100644
--- a/lib/rake/application.rb
+++ b/lib/rake/application.rb
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ def initialize
       @loaders = {}
       @default_loader = Rake::DefaultLoader.new
       @original_dir = Dir.pwd
+      @running = false
       @top_level_tasks = []
       add_loader("rb", DefaultLoader.new)
       add_loader("rf", DefaultLoader.new)
@@ -77,11 +78,14 @@ def initialize
     # +init+ on your application.  Then define any tasks.  Finally,
     # call +top_level+ to run your top level tasks.
     def run(argv = ARGV)
+      @running = true
       standard_exception_handling do
         init "rake", argv
         load_rakefile
         top_level
       end
+    ensure
+      @running = false
     end
 
     # Initialize the command line parameters and app name.
@@ -151,6 +155,12 @@ def thread_pool             # :nodoc:
       @thread_pool ||= ThreadPool.new(options.thread_pool_size || Rake.suggested_thread_count-1)
     end
 
+    # Is true, if the Rake application is currently running
+    # (in other words, that the +rake+ command line script was invoked)
+    def running?
+      @running
+    end
+
     # internal ----------------------------------------------------------------
 
     # Invokes a task with arguments that are extracted from +task_string+
diff --git a/test/test_rake_application.rb b/test/test_rake_application.rb
index d17445c7e..4b5fe9a71 100644
--- a/test/test_rake_application.rb
+++ b/test/test_rake_application.rb
@@ -634,4 +634,37 @@ def loader.make_dummy
     loader
   end
 
+  def test_running_flag
+    was_running = false
+
+    @app.instance_eval do
+      app = self
+      intern(Rake::Task, "default").enhance do
+        was_running = app.running?
+      end
+    end
+
+    rakefile_default
+
+    assert !@app.running?
+    @app.run %w[--rakelib=""]
+    assert !@app.running?
+    assert was_running
+  end
+
+  def test_running_flag_false_after_abort
+    @app.instance_eval do
+      intern(Rake::Task, "default").enhance do
+        abort "Task execution failed"
+      end
+    end
+
+    rakefile_default
+
+    assert_raises(SystemExit) {
+      @app.run %w[--rakelib=""]
+    }
+
+    assert !@app.running?
+  end
 end