diff -up iputils-s20070202/arping.c.arping_timeout iputils-s20070202/arping.c
--- iputils-s20070202/arping.c.arping_timeout	2008-02-18 16:51:36.000000000 +0100
+++ iputils-s20070202/arping.c	2008-02-18 16:54:03.000000000 +0100
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@ struct in_addr src, dst;
 char *target;
 int dad, unsolicited, advert;
 int quiet;
-int count=-1;
+int count;
+int forever = 1;
 int timeout;
 int unicasting;
 int s;
@@ -59,7 +60,7 @@ int broadcast_only;
 struct sockaddr_ll me[2];
 struct sockaddr_ll he[2];
 
-struct timeval start, last;
+struct timeval last;
 
 int sent, brd_sent;
 int received, brd_recv, req_recv;
@@ -172,13 +173,15 @@ void catcher(void)
 
 	gettimeofday(&tv, NULL);
 
-	if (start.tv_sec==0)
-		start = tv;
-
-	if (count-- == 0 || (timeout && MS_TDIFF(tv,start) > timeout*1000 + 500))
-		finish();
+	if (!forever && count == 0) {
+		if (timeout && MS_TDIFF(tv, last) > timeout * 1000 + 500)
+			finish();
+		else if (!timeout)
+			finish();
+	}
 
-	if (last.tv_sec==0 || MS_TDIFF(tv,last) > 500) {
+	if ((count > 0 || forever) && (last.tv_sec == 0 || MS_TDIFF(tv, last) > 500)) {
+		count--;
 		send_pack(s, src, dst, &me[0], &he[0]);
 		if (count == 0 && unsolicited)
 			finish();
@@ -339,6 +342,10 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 			break;
 		case 'c':
 			count = atoi(optarg);
+			if (count > 0)
+				forever = 0;
+			else
+				forever = 1;
 			break;
 		case 'w':
 			timeout = atoi(optarg);
@@ -544,7 +551,8 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 		sigaddset(&sset, SIGALRM);
 		sigaddset(&sset, SIGINT);
 		sigprocmask(SIG_BLOCK, &sset, &osset);
-		recv_pack(packet, cc, &from[0]);
+		if (recv_pack(packet, cc, from) && count == 0 && !forever)
+			finish();
 		sigprocmask(SIG_SETMASK, &osset, NULL);
 	}
 }