diff --git a/checkin_notes b/checkin_notes
index 8524c58a40..6656659d0b 100755
--- a/checkin_notes
+++ b/checkin_notes
@@ -4961,3 +4961,15 @@ David  23 May 2006
 
 	client/
 		client_state.C
+
+Bruce 23 May 2006
+    - Make backend more robust, to prevent 'stuck' workunits. Now
+      transitioner will not sent the transition_time to INT_MAX
+      UNLESS a canonical result has been found.  Otherwise it is
+      set to MAX(ten days, 1.5*delay_bound) in the future.  This
+      ensures that the transition will 'see' the workunit again
+      if no canonical result has been found.
+
+    sched/
+        transitioner.C
+
diff --git a/sched/transitioner.C b/sched/transitioner.C
index 40cfd815d4..18d1b91a58 100644
--- a/sched/transitioner.C
+++ b/sched/transitioner.C
@@ -475,7 +475,18 @@ int handle_wu(
 
     // compute next transition time = minimum timeout of in-progress results
     //
-    wu_item.transition_time = INT_MAX;
+    if (wu_item.canonical_resultid) {
+        wu_item.transition_time = INT_MAX;
+    } else {
+        // If there is no canonical result, make sure that the transitioner will 'see'
+        // this WU again.  In principle this is NOT needed, but it is one way to make
+        // the BOINC back-end more robust.
+        //
+        const int ten_days = 10*86400;
+        int long_delay = 1.5*wu_item.delay_bound;
+        wu_item.transition_time = (long_delay > ten_days) ? long_delay : ten_days;
+        wu_item.transition_time += time(0);
+    }  
     for (i=0; i<items.size(); i++) {
         TRANSITIONER_ITEM& res_item = items[i];
         if (res_item.res_id) {