diff -Naur nagios-3.2.3/base/nagiostats.c nagios-3.2.3+all/base/nagiostats.c
--- nagios-3.2.3/base/nagiostats.c	2010-10-04 05:56:55.000000000 +0200
+++ nagios-3.2.3+all/base/nagiostats.c	2012-06-20 23:26:52.000000000 +0200
@@ -401,7 +401,14 @@
 
 	/* read pre-processed stats file */
 	if(nagiostats_file){
-		result=read_nagiostats_file();
+		/* 20-Jun-2012 The format that read_nagiostats_file() tries to parse seems to have
+		   been dropped entirely some time ago. Replace it with read_status_file() so that
+		   the --statusfile option serves *some* purpose at least */
+		/* result=read_nagiostats_file(); */
+		if(status_file)
+			free(status_file);
+		status_file=strdup(nagiostats_file);
+		result=read_status_file();
 		if(result==ERROR && mrtg_mode==FALSE){
 			printf("Error reading stats file '%s': %s\n",nagiostats_file,strerror(errno));
 			return ERROR;
diff -Naur nagios-3.2.3/t/705nagiostats.t nagios-3.2.3+all/t/705nagiostats.t
--- nagios-3.2.3/t/705nagiostats.t	2009-05-15 01:52:42.000000000 +0200
+++ nagios-3.2.3+all/t/705nagiostats.t	2012-06-20 23:18:51.000000000 +0200
@@ -12,10 +12,11 @@
 my $topdir = "$Bin/..";
 my $nagiostats = "$topdir/base/nagiostats";
 my $etc = "$Bin/etc";
+my $var = "$Bin/var";
 
-plan tests => 5;
+plan tests => 10;
 
-my $output = `$nagiostats -c "$etc/nagios-does-not-exit.cfg"`;
+my $output = `$nagiostats -c "$etc/nagios-does-not-exist.cfg"`;
 isnt( $?, 0, "Bad return code with no config file" );
 like( $output, "/Error processing config file/", "No config file" );
 
@@ -23,6 +24,14 @@
 isnt( $?, 0, "Bad return code with no status file" );
 like( $output, "/Error reading status file 'var/status.dat.no.such.file': No such file or directory/", "No config file" );
 
-$output = `$nagiostats -c "$etc/nagios-no-status.cfg" -m NUMHSTUP`;
+$output = `$nagiostats -c "$etc/nagios-no-status.cfg" -m -d NUMHSTUP`;
 isnt( $?, 0, "Bad return code with no status file in MRTG mode" );
+like( $output, "/^0\$/", "No UP host when no status file" );
 
+$output = `$nagiostats -c "$etc/nagios-with-generated-status.cfg" -m -d NUMHOSTS`;
+is( $?, 0, "Bad return code with implied status file in MRTG mode" );
+unlike( $output, "/^0\$/", "Implied generated status file contains host(s)" );
+
+$output = `$nagiostats -s "$var/status-generated.dat" -m -d NUMHOSTS`;
+is( $?, 0, "Bad return code with explicit status file in MRTG mode" );
+unlike( $output, "/^0\$/", "Explicit generated status file contains host(s)" );