diff --git a/actionpack/CHANGELOG b/actionpack/CHANGELOG
index c4cab1c037..2bc9e321e6 100644
--- a/actionpack/CHANGELOG
+++ b/actionpack/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 *SVN*
 
+* Allow exempt_from_layout :rhtml.  #6742, #7026 [dcmanges, Squeegy]
+
 * Recognize the .txt extension as Mime::TEXT [Rick]
 
 * Fix parsing of array[] CGI parameters so extra empty values aren't included.  #6252 [Nicholas Seckar, aiwilliams, brentrowland]
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/base.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/base.rb
index dd061ce143..8a3cb3eec3 100755
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/base.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/base.rb
@@ -1190,10 +1190,9 @@ module ActionController #:nodoc:
       end
 
       def template_exempt_from_layout?(template_name = default_template_name)
-        @@exempt_from_layout.any? { |ext| template_name =~ ext } or
-          @template.pick_template_extension(template_name) == :rjs
-      rescue
-        false
+        extension = @template.pick_template_extension(template_name) rescue nil
+        name_with_extension = !template_name.include?('.') && extension ? "#{template_name}.#{extension}" : template_name
+        extension == :rjs || @@exempt_from_layout.any? { |ext| name_with_extension =~ ext }
       end
 
       def assert_existence_of_template_file(template_name)
diff --git a/actionpack/test/controller/layout_test.rb b/actionpack/test/controller/layout_test.rb
index 93ef1560f6..9338bfa6f9 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/controller/layout_test.rb
+++ b/actionpack/test/controller/layout_test.rb
@@ -106,14 +106,13 @@ class ExemptFromLayoutTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert @controller.send(:template_exempt_from_layout?, 'test.rdoc')
   end
 
-  # TODO: http://dev.rubyonrails.org/ticket/6742
-  # The rhtml exemption is ignored.
   def test_rhtml_exempt_from_layout_status_should_prevent_layout_render
     ActionController::Base.exempt_from_layout :rhtml
     assert @controller.send(:template_exempt_from_layout?, 'test.rhtml')
 
     get :hello
     assert_equal 'hello.rhtml', @response.body
+    ActionController::Base.exempt_from_layout.delete(/\.rhtml$/)
   end
 end