Index: trunk/Nebulous/nebclient/tests/tap/INSTALL
===================================================================
--- trunk/Nebulous/nebclient/tests/tap/INSTALL	(revision 39926)
+++ 	(revision )
@@ -1,8 +1,0 @@
-Quick Installation
-
-    ./configure
-    make
-    make check
-    make install
-
-Run "configure --help" for additional options.
Index: trunk/Nebulous/nebclient/tests/tap/INSTALL.txt
===================================================================
--- trunk/Nebulous/nebclient/tests/tap/INSTALL.txt	(revision 41172)
+++ trunk/Nebulous/nebclient/tests/tap/INSTALL.txt	(revision 41172)
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+Quick Installation
+
+    ./configure
+    make
+    make check
+    make install
+
+Run "configure --help" for additional options.
Index: trunk/Nebulous/nebclient/tests/tests.c
===================================================================
--- trunk/Nebulous/nebclient/tests/tests.c	(revision 39926)
+++ trunk/Nebulous/nebclient/tests/tests.c	(revision 41172)
@@ -16,9 +16,31 @@
     if (foo) nebFree(foo)
 
+int show_instances (nebServer *server, char *key) {
+
+  nebObjectInstances *locations = NULL;
+
+  locations = nebFindInstances(server, key, NULL);
+
+  for (int i = 0; i < locations->n; i++) {
+    fprintf (stderr, "# loc %d : %s\n", i, locations->URI[i]);
+  }
+  nebObjectInstancesFree(locations);
+  return 1;
+}
+
+int count_instances (nebServer *server, char *key) {
+
+  nebObjectInstances *locations = NULL;
+  locations = nebFindInstances(server, key, NULL);
+  int Ninstances = locations ? locations->n : 0;
+  nebObjectInstancesFree(locations);
+  return Ninstances;
+}
+
 int main (int argc, char **argv) {
     nebServer       *server = NULL;
     char            *key = "foobarbaz";
 
-    plan_tests(31);
+    plan_tests(37);
 
     if (getenv("NEB_SERVER")) {
@@ -37,4 +59,13 @@
         filename = nebCreate(server, key, NULL, &URI);
         diag("filename is %s", filename);
+
+	if (!filename) {
+	  fprintf (stdout, "not ok: no files in test server, exiting\n");
+	  exit (2);
+	}
+
+	show_instances (server, key);
+	ok (count_instances (server, key) == 1, "correct instance count"); 
+
         neb_ok(server, filename, "create object");
         ok(URI, "URI not NULL");
@@ -53,8 +84,11 @@
         neb_ok(server, fh > -1, "create new object filehandle");
         ok(URI, "URI not NULL");
+	ok (count_instances (server, key) == 1, "correct instance count"); 
 
         tst_nebFree(URI);
         close(fh);
     }
+
+    show_instances (server, key);
 
     {
@@ -80,12 +114,21 @@
     }
 
-
     neb_ok(server, nebReplicate(server, key, NULL, NULL), "replicate object");
+    show_instances (server, key);
+    ok (count_instances (server, key) == 2, "correct instance count"); 
 
     neb_ok(server, nebOpen(server, key, NEB_WRITE) < 0, "write to object with multiple instances");
+    show_instances (server, key);
 
     neb_ok(server, nebCull(server, key), "cull object");
+    show_instances (server, key);
+    ok (count_instances (server, key) == 1, "correct instance count"); 
+
+    neb_ok(server, nebCull(server, key) == 0, "cannot cull object with one instance");
+    show_instances (server, key);
+    ok (count_instances (server, key) == 1, "correct instance count"); 
 
     neb_ok(server, nebStat(server, key), "stat object");
+    show_instances (server, key);
 
     neb_ok(server, nebLock(server, key, NEB_WRITE), "lock object write");