diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index 7f866e74f..e11dcb85b 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ Daniel Nuri
 Dave Hunt
 David Mohr
 Eduardo Schettino
+Eric Siegerman
 Florian Bruhin
 Edison Gustavo Muenz
 Floris Bruynooghe
diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 07eecd171..b35147df6 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 2.8.0.dev (compared to 2.7.X)
 -----------------------------
 
+- partial fix for issue500: color the summary bar yellow for warning
+  situations, including the case where no tests were run
+
 - fix issue713: JUnit XML reports for doctest failures.
   Thanks Punyashloka Biswal.
 
diff --git a/_pytest/terminal.py b/_pytest/terminal.py
index 576893bbf..98ac5556b 100644
--- a/_pytest/terminal.py
+++ b/_pytest/terminal.py
@@ -487,26 +487,9 @@ class TerminalReporter:
 
     def summary_stats(self):
         session_duration = time.time() - self._sessionstarttime
-
-        keys = ("failed passed skipped deselected "
-               "xfailed xpassed warnings").split()
-        for key in self.stats.keys():
-            if key not in keys:
-                keys.append(key)
-        parts = []
-        for key in keys:
-            if key: # setup/teardown reports have an empty key, ignore them
-                val = self.stats.get(key, None)
-                if val:
-                    parts.append("%d %s" % (len(val), key))
-        line = ", ".join(parts)
+        (line, color) = build_summary_stats_line(self.stats)
         msg = "%s in %.2f seconds" % (line, session_duration)
-
-        markup = {'bold': True}
-        if 'failed' in self.stats or 'error' in self.stats:
-            markup = {'red': True, 'bold': True}
-        else:
-            markup = {'green': True, 'bold': True}
+        markup = {color: True, 'bold': True}
 
         if self.verbosity >= 0:
             self.write_sep("=", msg, **markup)
@@ -542,3 +525,29 @@ def flatten(l):
         else:
             yield x
 
+def build_summary_stats_line(stats):
+    keys = ("failed passed skipped deselected "
+           "xfailed xpassed warnings error").split()
+    unknown_key_seen = False
+    for key in stats.keys():
+        if key not in keys:
+            if key: # setup/teardown reports have an empty key, ignore them
+                keys.append(key)
+                unknown_key_seen = True
+    parts = []
+    for key in keys:
+        val = stats.get(key, None)
+        if val:
+            parts.append("%d %s" % (len(val), key))
+    line = ", ".join(parts)
+
+    if 'failed' in stats or 'error' in stats:
+        color = 'red'
+    elif 'warnings' in stats or unknown_key_seen:
+        color = 'yellow'
+    elif 'passed' in stats:
+        color = 'green'
+    else:
+        color = 'yellow'
+
+    return (line, color)
diff --git a/testing/test_terminal.py b/testing/test_terminal.py
index fba3021e0..7ad74a921 100644
--- a/testing/test_terminal.py
+++ b/testing/test_terminal.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import pluggy
 import sys
 
 from _pytest.terminal import TerminalReporter, repr_pythonversion, getreportopt
+from _pytest.terminal import build_summary_stats_line
 from _pytest import runner
 
 def basic_run_report(item):
@@ -718,3 +719,68 @@ def test_terminal_summary(testdir):
         *==== hello ====*
         world
     """)
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("exp_color, exp_line, stats_arg", [
+    # The method under test only cares about the length of each
+    # dict value, not the actual contents, so tuples of anything
+    # suffice
+
+    # Important statuses -- the highest priority of these always wins
+    ("red", "1 failed", {"failed": (1,)}),
+    ("red", "1 failed, 1 passed", {"failed": (1,), "passed": (1,)}),
+
+    ("red", "1 error", {"error": (1,)}),
+    ("red", "1 passed, 1 error", {"error": (1,), "passed": (1,)}),
+
+    # (a status that's not known to the code)
+    ("yellow", "1 weird", {"weird": (1,)}),
+    ("yellow", "1 passed, 1 weird", {"weird": (1,), "passed": (1,)}),
+
+    ("yellow", "1 warnings", {"warnings": (1,)}),
+    ("yellow", "1 passed, 1 warnings", {"warnings": (1,), "passed": (1,)}),
+
+    ("green", "5 passed", {"passed": (1,2,3,4,5)}),
+
+
+    # "Boring" statuses.  These have no effect on the color of the summary
+    # line.  Thus, if *every* test has a boring status, the summary line stays
+    # at its default color, i.e. yellow, to warn the user that the test run
+    # produced no useful information
+    ("yellow", "1 skipped", {"skipped": (1,)}),
+    ("green", "1 passed, 1 skipped", {"skipped": (1,), "passed": (1,)}),
+
+    ("yellow", "1 deselected", {"deselected": (1,)}),
+    ("green", "1 passed, 1 deselected", {"deselected": (1,), "passed": (1,)}),
+
+    ("yellow", "1 xfailed", {"xfailed": (1,)}),
+    ("green", "1 passed, 1 xfailed", {"xfailed": (1,), "passed": (1,)}),
+
+    ("yellow", "1 xpassed", {"xpassed": (1,)}),
+    ("green", "1 passed, 1 xpassed", {"xpassed": (1,), "passed": (1,)}),
+
+    # Likewise if no tests were found at all
+    ("yellow", "", {}),
+
+    # Test the empty-key special case
+    ("yellow", "", {"": (1,)}),
+    ("green", "1 passed", {"": (1,), "passed": (1,)}),
+
+
+    # A couple more complex combinations
+    ("red", "1 failed, 2 passed, 3 xfailed",
+        {"passed": (1,2), "failed": (1,), "xfailed": (1,2,3)}),
+
+    ("green", "1 passed, 2 skipped, 3 deselected, 2 xfailed",
+        {"passed": (1,),
+        "skipped": (1,2),
+        "deselected": (1,2,3),
+        "xfailed": (1,2)}),
+])
+def test_summary_stats(exp_line, exp_color, stats_arg):
+    print("Based on stats: %s" % stats_arg)
+    print("Expect summary: \"%s\"; with color \"%s\"" % (exp_line, exp_color))
+    (line, color) = build_summary_stats_line(stats_arg)
+    print("Actually got:   \"%s\"; with color \"%s\"" % (line, color))
+    assert line == exp_line
+    assert color == exp_color
+