diff --git a/mythtv/libs/libmythbase/mythsystem.cpp b/mythtv/libs/libmythbase/mythsystem.cpp
index 4d9d0da328e..382ba2b0d30 100644
--- a/mythtv/libs/libmythbase/mythsystem.cpp
+++ b/mythtv/libs/libmythbase/mythsystem.cpp
@@ -300,6 +300,8 @@ void MythSystem::ProcessFlags(uint flags)
         m_settings["AutoCleanup"] = true;
     if( flags & kMSAnonLog )
         m_settings["AnonLog"] = true;
+    if( flags & kMSLowExitVal )
+        m_settings["OnlyLowExitVal"] = true;
 }
 
 QByteArray  MythSystem::Read(int size)
diff --git a/mythtv/libs/libmythbase/mythsystem.h b/mythtv/libs/libmythbase/mythsystem.h
index edb2d3b7c3d..5c4bcb13ae3 100644
--- a/mythtv/libs/libmythbase/mythsystem.h
+++ b/mythtv/libs/libmythbase/mythsystem.h
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ typedef enum MythSystemMask {
     kMSAbortOnJump        = 0x00001000, //< abort this process on a jumppoint
     kMSSetPGID            = 0x00002000, //< set the process group id
     kMSAutoCleanup        = 0x00004000, //< automatically delete if backgrounded
+    kMSLowExitVal         = 0x00008000, //< allow exit values 0-127 only
 } MythSystemFlag;
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus
@@ -73,8 +74,9 @@ class MBASE_PUBLIC MythSystem : public QObject
 
         void JumpAbort(void);
 
-        bool isBackground()  { return GetSetting("RunInBackground"); };
-        bool doAutoCleanup() { return GetSetting("AutoCleanup"); };
+        bool isBackground()   { return GetSetting("RunInBackground"); };
+        bool doAutoCleanup()  { return GetSetting("AutoCleanup"); };
+        bool onlyLowExitVal() { return GetSetting("OnlyLowExitVal"); };
         void HandlePreRun();
         void HandlePostRun();
 
diff --git a/mythtv/libs/libmythbase/system-unix.cpp b/mythtv/libs/libmythbase/system-unix.cpp
index b2d3594b3b6..77ce404c0b1 100644
--- a/mythtv/libs/libmythbase/system-unix.cpp
+++ b/mythtv/libs/libmythbase/system-unix.cpp
@@ -315,6 +315,22 @@ void MythSystemManager::run(void)
 
             msList.append(ms);
 
+            // Deal with (primarily) Ubuntu which seems to consistently be
+            // screwing up and reporting the signalled case as an exit.  This
+            // workaround will limit the valid exit value to 0 - 127.  As all
+            // of our return values match that (other than the occasional 255)
+            // this shouldn't cause any issues
+            if (ms->m_parent->onlyLowExitVal() && WIFEXITED(status) &&
+                WEXITSTATUS(status) != 255 && WEXITSTATUS(status) & 0x80)
+            {
+                // Just byte swap the status and it seems to be correctly done
+                uint16_t oldstatus = status;
+                status = ((status & 0x00FF) << 8) | ((status & 0xFF00) >> 8);
+                LOG(VB_SYSTEM, LOG_INFO,
+                    QString("Odd return value: swapping from %1 to %2")
+                    .arg(oldstatus) .arg(status));
+            }
+
             // handle normal exit
             if( WIFEXITED(status) )
             {
diff --git a/mythtv/libs/libmythtv/jobqueue.cpp b/mythtv/libs/libmythtv/jobqueue.cpp
index 1291c405848..fdefb3e66f1 100644
--- a/mythtv/libs/libmythtv/jobqueue.cpp
+++ b/mythtv/libs/libmythtv/jobqueue.cpp
@@ -2296,7 +2296,7 @@ void JobQueue::DoFlagCommercialsThread(int jobID)
     LOG(VB_JOBQUEUE, LOG_INFO, LOC + QString("Running command: '%1'")
             .arg(command));
 
-    breaksFound = myth_system(command);
+    breaksFound = myth_system(command, kMSLowExitVal);
     int priority = LOG_NOTICE;
     QString comment;