diff --git a/driver-test/ResponseFileSpec.hs b/driver-test/ResponseFileSpec.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/driver-test/ResponseFileSpec.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+module ResponseFileSpec where
+
+import Test.Hspec (context, describe, it, shouldBe, Spec)
+import ResponseFile (escapeArgs, unescapeArgs)
+
+-- The first two elements are
+--   1) a list of 'args' to encode and
+--   2) a single string of the encoded args
+-- The 3rd element is just a description for the tests.
+testStrs :: [(([String], String), String)]
+testStrs =
+  [ ((["a simple command line"],
+      "a\\ simple\\ command\\ line\n"),
+     "the white-space, end with newline")
+
+  , ((["arg 'foo' is single quoted"],
+      "arg\\ \\'foo\\'\\ is\\ single\\ quoted\n"),
+     "the single quotes as well")
+
+  , ((["arg \"bar\" is double quoted"],
+      "arg\\ \\\"bar\\\"\\ is\\ double\\ quoted\n"),
+     "the double quotes as well" )
+
+  , ((["arg \"foo bar\" has embedded whitespace"],
+      "arg\\ \\\"foo\\ bar\\\"\\ has\\ embedded\\ whitespace\n"),
+     "the quote-embedded whitespace")
+
+  , ((["arg 'Jack said \\'hi\\'' has single quotes"],
+      "arg\\ \\'Jack\\ said\\ \\\\\\'hi\\\\\\'\\'\\ has\\ single\\ quotes\n"),
+     "the escaped single quotes")
+
+  , ((["arg 'Jack said \\\"hi\\\"' has double quotes"],
+      "arg\\ \\'Jack\\ said\\ \\\\\\\"hi\\\\\\\"\\'\\ has\\ double\\ quotes\n"),
+     "the escaped double quotes")
+
+  , ((["arg 'Jack said\\r\\n\\t \\\"hi\\\"' has other whitespace"],
+      "arg\\ \\'Jack\\ said\\\\r\\\\n\\\\t\\ \\\\\\\"hi\\\\\\\"\\'\\ has\\ \
+           \other\\ whitespace\n"),
+     "the other whitespace")
+
+  , (([ "--prologue=.\\dist\\.\\haddock-prologue3239114604.txt"
+      , "--title=HaddockNewline-0.1.0.0: This has a\n\
+        \newline yo."
+      , "-BC:\\Program Files\\Haskell Platform\\lib"],
+      "--prologue=.\\\\dist\\\\.\\\\haddock-prologue3239114604.txt\n\
+      \--title=HaddockNewline-0.1.0.0:\\ This\\ has\\ a\\\n\
+      \newline\\ yo.\n\
+      \-BC:\\\\Program\\ Files\\\\Haskell\\ Platform\\\\lib\n"),
+     "an actual haddock response file snippet with embedded newlines")
+  ]
+
+spec :: Spec
+spec = do
+  describe "escapeArgs" $ do
+      mapM_ (\((ss1,s2),des) -> do
+                  context ("given " ++ (show ss1)) $ do
+                      it ("should escape " ++ des) $ do
+                          escapeArgs ss1 `shouldBe` s2
+            ) testStrs
+  describe "unescapeArgs" $ do
+      mapM_ (\((ss1,s2),des) -> do
+                  context ("given " ++ (show s2)) $ do
+                      it ("should unescape " ++ des) $ do
+                          unescapeArgs s2 `shouldBe` ss1
+            ) testStrs
+  describe "unescapeArgs" $ do
+      context "given unescaped single quotes" $ do
+          it "should pass-through, without escaping, everything inside" $ do
+              -- backslash *always* is escaped anywhere it appears
+              (filter (not . null) $
+                unescapeArgs "this\\ is\\ 'not escape\\d \"inside\"'\\ yo\n")
+              `shouldBe`
+              ["this is not escaped \"inside\" yo"]
+      context "given unescaped double quotes" $ do
+          it "should pass-through, without escaping, everything inside" $ do
+              -- backslash *always* is escaped anywhere it appears
+              (filter (not . null) $
+                unescapeArgs "this\\ is\\ \"not escape\\d 'inside'\"\\ yo\n")
+              `shouldBe`
+              ["this is not escaped 'inside' yo"]
diff --git a/haddock.cabal b/haddock.cabal
--- a/haddock.cabal
+++ b/haddock.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:                 haddock
-version:              2.17.4
+version:              2.17.5
 synopsis:             A documentation-generation tool for Haskell libraries
 description:          Haddock is a documentation-generation tool for Haskell
                       libraries
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
   doc/README.md
   doc/*.rst
   doc/conf.py
+  driver-test/*.hs
   haddock-api/src/haddock.sh
   html-test/src/*.hs
   html-test/ref/*.html