diff --git a/lib/puppet/provider/package/rpm.rb b/lib/puppet/provider/package/rpm.rb
index 72dc260a4..ec6121743 100755
--- a/lib/puppet/provider/package/rpm.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/provider/package/rpm.rb
@@ -1,132 +1,133 @@
 require 'puppet/provider/package'
 # RPM packaging.  Should work anywhere that has rpm installed.
 Puppet::Type.type(:package).provide :rpm, :source => :rpm, :parent => Puppet::Provider::Package do
   desc "RPM packaging support; should work anywhere with a working `rpm`
     binary."
 
   has_feature :versionable
 
   # The query format by which we identify installed packages
   NEVRAFORMAT = "%{NAME} %|EPOCH?{%{EPOCH}}:{0}| %{VERSION} %{RELEASE} %{ARCH}"
   NEVRA_FIELDS = [:name, :epoch, :version, :release, :arch]
 
   commands :rpm => "rpm"
 
   if command('rpm')
     confine :true => begin
       rpm('--version')
       rescue Puppet::ExecutionFailure
         false
       else
         true
       end
   end
 
   def self.instances
     packages = []
 
     # rpm < 4.1 don't support --nosignature
     output = rpm "--version"
     sig = "--nosignature"
     if output =~ /RPM version (([123].*)|(4\.0.*))/
       sig = ""
     end
 
     # list out all of the packages
     begin
       execpipe("#{command(:rpm)} -qa #{sig} --nodigest --qf '#{NEVRAFORMAT}\n'") { |process|
         # now turn each returned line into a package object
         process.each { |line|
           hash = nevra_to_hash(line)
           packages << new(hash)
         }
       }
     rescue Puppet::ExecutionFailure
       raise Puppet::Error, "Failed to list packages"
     end
 
     packages
   end
 
   # Find the fully versioned package name and the version alone. Returns
   # a hash with entries :instance => fully versioned package name, and
   # :ensure => version-release
   def query
     #NOTE: Prior to a fix for issue 1243, this method potentially returned a cached value
     #IF YOU CALL THIS METHOD, IT WILL CALL RPM
     #Use get(:property) to check if cached values are available
     cmd = ["-q", @resource[:name], "--nosignature", "--nodigest", "--qf", "#{NEVRAFORMAT}\n"]
 
     begin
       output = rpm(*cmd)
     rescue Puppet::ExecutionFailure
-      return nil
+      # rpm exits 1 if the package is not found.
+      return {:ensure => :purged, :status => 'missing', :name => @resource[:name], :error => 'ok'}    
     end
 
     # FIXME: We could actually be getting back multiple packages
     # for multilib
     @property_hash.update(self.class.nevra_to_hash(output))
 
     @property_hash.dup
   end
 
   # Here we just retrieve the version from the file specified in the source.
   def latest
     unless source = @resource[:source]
       @resource.fail "RPMs must specify a package source"
     end
 
     cmd = [command(:rpm), "-q", "--qf", "#{NEVRAFORMAT}\n", "-p", "#{@resource[:source]}"]
     h = self.class.nevra_to_hash(execfail(cmd, Puppet::Error))
     h[:ensure]
   end
 
   def install
     source = nil
     unless source = @resource[:source]
       @resource.fail "RPMs must specify a package source"
     end
     # RPM gets pissy if you try to install an already
     # installed package
     if @resource.should(:ensure) == @property_hash[:ensure] or
       @resource.should(:ensure) == :latest && @property_hash[:ensure] == latest
       return
     end
 
     flag = "-i"
     flag = "-U" if @property_hash[:ensure] and @property_hash[:ensure] != :absent
 
     rpm flag, "--oldpackage", source
   end
 
   def uninstall
     query unless get(:arch)
     nvr = "#{get(:name)}-#{get(:version)}-#{get(:release)}"
     arch = ".#{get(:arch)}"
     # If they specified an arch in the manifest, erase that Otherwise,
     # erase the arch we got back from the query. If multiple arches are
     # installed and only the package name is specified (without the
     # arch), this will uninstall all of them on successive runs of the
     # client, one after the other
     if @resource[:name][-arch.size, arch.size] == arch
       nvr += arch
     else
       nvr += ".#{get(:arch)}"
     end
     rpm "-e", nvr
   end
 
   def update
     self.install
   end
 
   def self.nevra_to_hash(line)
     line.chomp!
     hash = {}
     NEVRA_FIELDS.zip(line.split) { |f, v| hash[f] = v }
     hash[:provider] = self.name
     hash[:ensure] = "#{hash[:version]}-#{hash[:release]}"
     hash
   end
 end