diff --git a/tests/heredoctest.py b/tests/heredoctest.py
--- a/tests/heredoctest.py
+++ b/tests/heredoctest.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import sys
 
 globalvars = {}
-localvars = {}
 lines = sys.stdin.readlines()
 while lines:
     l = lines.pop(0)
@@ -14,6 +13,6 @@ while lines:
             snippet += "\n" + l[4:]
         c = compile(snippet, '<heredoc>', 'single')
         try:
-            exec c in globalvars, localvars
+            exec c in globalvars
         except Exception, inst:
             print repr(inst)
diff --git a/tests/test-unified-test.t b/tests/test-unified-test.t
--- a/tests/test-unified-test.t
+++ b/tests/test-unified-test.t
@@ -37,6 +37,11 @@ Doctest commands:
   z
   >>> print
   
+  >>> foo = 'global name'
+  >>> def func():
+  ...     print foo, 'should be visible in func()'
+  >>> func()
+  global name should be visible in func()
 
 Regular expressions: