diff --git a/src/DocumentationGenerator.jl b/src/DocumentationGenerator.jl
index bfbb6806..a1aa7617 100644
--- a/src/DocumentationGenerator.jl
+++ b/src/DocumentationGenerator.jl
@@ -33,12 +33,27 @@ end
 
 function try_use_package(packagespec)
     pkg_sym = Symbol(packagespec.name)
-
-    pkg_module = try
-        @eval(Main, (using $pkg_sym; $pkg_sym))
-    catch err
-        @error("`using $(pkg_sym) did not succeed.`", exception=err)
-        nothing
+    local pkg_module
+
+    p, _ = run_with_timeout(```
+        $(Base.julia_cmd())
+        --project="$(Pkg.project().path)"
+        --color=no
+        --compiled-modules=no
+        -O0
+        -e "using $pkg_sym; exit(99)"
+        ```; name="loading package $pkg_sym")
+    wait(p)
+    if p.exitcode == 99
+        pkg_module = try
+            @eval(Main, (using $pkg_sym; $pkg_sym))
+        catch err
+            @error("`using $(pkg_sym) did not succeed.`", exception=err)
+            nothing
+        end
+    else
+        @error("`using $(pkg_sym) did not succeed.`")
+        return nothing
     end
 
     return pkg_module
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index c173df08..b3bbd0b6 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -252,6 +252,28 @@ end
             success = [true],
             doctype = ["documenter"],
             using_failed = [false]
+        ),
+        # loads, runs a game, then calls `exit()`:
+        (
+            name = "Tetris",
+            uuid = "d02b474b-c6a0-45b1-beee-9a2049fa00e6",
+            url = "https://github.com/mossr/Tetris.jl/",
+            versions = [v"1.0.0"],
+            installs = [true],
+            success = [true],
+            doctype = ["fallback_autodocs"],
+            using_failded = [true]
+            ),
+            # segfaults:
+            (
+                name = "Glibc_jll",
+            uuid = "452aa2e7-e185-58db-8ff9-d3c1fa4bc997",
+            url = "https://github.com/JuliaBinaryWrappers/Glibc_jll.jl",
+            versions = [v"2.29.0+0"],
+            installs = [true],
+            success = [true],
+            doctype = ["fallback_autodocs"],
+            using_failded = [true]
         )
     ]