diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index b55e7d7..23639c3 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ Known issues:
 
 ## bunyan 0.23.1 (not yet released)
 
-(nothing yet)
+- #97 Unref rotating-file timeout which was preventing processes from exiting
 
 
 ## bunyan 0.23.0
diff --git a/lib/bunyan.js b/lib/bunyan.js
index da73279..aba58a8 100644
--- a/lib/bunyan.js
+++ b/lib/bunyan.js
@@ -1017,6 +1017,9 @@ RotatingFileStream.prototype._setupNextRot = function () {
     this.timeout = setTimeout(
         function () { self.rotate(); },
         this.rotAt - Date.now());
+    if (typeof this.timeout.unref === 'function') {
+      this.timeout.unref();
+    }
 }
 
 RotatingFileStream.prototype._nextRotTime = function _nextRotTime(first) {
diff --git a/test/process-exit.js b/test/process-exit.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5e547c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/process-exit.js
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+var bunyan = require('../lib/bunyan');
+var log = bunyan.createLogger({
+  name: 'default',
+  streams: [{
+    type: 'rotating-file',
+    path: __dirname + '/log.test.rot.log',
+    period: '1d',
+    count: 7
+  }]
+});
+console.log('done');
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/process-exit.test.js b/test/process-exit.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..954cf46
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/process-exit.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+'use strict';
+/*
+ * Test that bunyan process will terminate
+ */
+
+var exec = require('child_process').exec;
+
+// node-tap API
+if (require.cache[__dirname + '/tap4nodeunit.js'])
+        delete require.cache[__dirname + '/tap4nodeunit.js'];
+var tap4nodeunit = require('./tap4nodeunit.js');
+var test = tap4nodeunit.test;
+
+test('log with rotating file stream will terminate gracefully', function (t) {
+  exec('node ' +__dirname + '/process-exit.js', {timeout: 1000}, function(err, stdout, stderr) {
+    t.ifError(err);
+    t.equal(stdout, 'done\n');
+    t.equal(stderr, '');
+    t.end();
+  });
+});
\ No newline at end of file