diff --git a/master.cfg b/master.cfg
index f772912..b88c827 100644
--- a/master.cfg
+++ b/master.cfg
@@ -177,10 +177,28 @@ def SendRootMessageGDBTesters (branch, change):
     s.sendmail (GDB_MAIL_FROM, [ GDB_MAIL_TO ], mail.as_string ())
     s.quit ()
 
-def SendAuthorMessage (change, text_prepend):
-    """Send a message to the author of the commit if it broke GDB."""
+def make_breakage_lockfile_name (builder):
+    return "/tmp/gdb-buildbot-%s.lock" % builder
+
+def SendAuthorMessage (name, change, text_prepend):
+    """Send a message to the author of the commit if it broke GDB.
+
+We use a lock file to avoid reporting the breakage to different
+people.  This may happen, for example, if a commit X breaks GDB, but
+subsequent commits are made after X, by different people."""
     global GDB_MAIL_FROM
 
+    lockfile = make_breakage_lockfile_name (name)
+
+    if os.path.exists (lockfile):
+        # This means we have already reported this failure for this
+        # builder to the author.
+        return
+
+    # This file will be cleaned the next time we run
+    # MessageGDBTesters, iff the build breakage has been fixed.
+    open (lockfile, 'w').close ()
+
     rev = change.revision
     to = change.who
     title = change.comments.split ('\n')[0]
@@ -263,8 +281,17 @@ send to the gdb-testers mailing list."""
     if isrebuild and isrebuild == 'yes':
         text += "\n*** WARNING: This was a REBUILD request! ***\n"
         text += "*** The previous build (build #%s) MAY NOT BE the ancestor of the current build! ***\n\n" % properties.getProperty ('buildnumber')
-    send_author_msg = False
+
+    # report_build_breakage will be True if we see a build breakage,
+    # i.e., if the 'configure' or the 'compile' steps fail.  In this
+    # case, we use this variable to know if we must report the
+    # breakage directly to the author.
+    report_build_breakage = False
+
+    # found_regressions will be True if the 'regressions' log is not
+    # empty.
     found_regressions = False
+
     for log in build.getLogs ():
         st = log.getStep ()
         if st.getResults ()[0] == FAILURE:
@@ -280,7 +307,7 @@ send to the gdb-testers mailing list."""
                 text += "============================\n"
                 text += log.getText ()
                 text += "============================\n"
-                send_author_msg = True
+                report_build_breakage = True
                 break
             elif n == 'compile gdb':
                 text += "*** Failed to compiled GDB.  ***\n"
@@ -293,7 +320,7 @@ send to the gdb-testers mailing list."""
                 else:
                     text += ct
                 text += "============================\n"
-                send_author_msg = True
+                report_build_breakage = True
                 break
             elif n == 'make tags':
                 # We do not want to break here, because if this step
@@ -330,8 +357,15 @@ send to the gdb-testers mailing list."""
             text += "============================\n"
     text += "\n"
 
-    if send_author_msg:
-        SendAuthorMessage (cur_change, text)
+    if report_build_breakage:
+        SendAuthorMessage (name, cur_change, text)
+    else:
+        # There is no build breakage anymore!  Yay!  Now, let's see if
+        # we need to clean up any lock file from previous breaks.
+        lockfile = make_breakage_lockfile_name (name)
+        if os.path.exists (lockfile):
+            # We need to clean the lockfile.  Garbage-collect it here.
+            os.remove (lockfile)
 
     return { 'body' : text,
              'type' : 'plain',