diff --git a/legacy/ecore/src/lib/ecore/ecore_idle_exiter.c b/legacy/ecore/src/lib/ecore/ecore_idle_exiter.c
index 2c5cafeb43..1d5c6ce04d 100644
--- a/legacy/ecore/src/lib/ecore/ecore_idle_exiter.c
+++ b/legacy/ecore/src/lib/ecore/ecore_idle_exiter.c
@@ -16,13 +16,15 @@ struct _Ecore_Idle_Exiter
 {
    EINA_INLIST;
    ECORE_MAGIC;
-   int          delete_me : 1;
    int        (*func) (void *data);
    void        *data;
+   int          references;
+   Eina_Bool    delete_me : 1;
 };
 
 
 static Ecore_Idle_Exiter *idle_exiters = NULL;
+static Ecore_Idle_Exiter *idle_exiter_current = NULL;
 static int                idle_exiters_delete_me = 0;
 
 /**
@@ -79,36 +81,62 @@ _ecore_idle_exiter_shutdown(void)
 	free(ie);
      }
    idle_exiters_delete_me = 0;
+   idle_exiter_current = NULL;
 }
 
 void
 _ecore_idle_exiter_call(void)
 {
-   Ecore_Idle_Exiter *ie;
-
-   EINA_INLIST_FOREACH(idle_exiters, ie)
+   if (!idle_exiter_current)
      {
+	/* regular main loop, start from head */
+	idle_exiter_current = idle_exiters;
+     }
+   else
+     {
+	/* recursive main loop, continue from where we were */
+	idle_exiter_current =
+	  (Ecore_Idle_Exiter *)EINA_INLIST_GET(idle_exiter_current)->next;
+     }
+
+   while (idle_exiter_current)
+     {
+	Ecore_Idle_Exiter *ie = (Ecore_Idle_Exiter *)idle_exiter_current;
 	if (!ie->delete_me)
 	  {
+	     ie->references++;
 	     if (!ie->func(ie->data)) ecore_idle_exiter_del(ie);
+	     ie->references--;
 	  }
+	if (idle_exiter_current) /* may have changed in recursive main loops */
+	  idle_exiter_current =
+	    (Ecore_Idle_Exiter *)EINA_INLIST_GET(idle_exiter_current)->next;
      }
    if (idle_exiters_delete_me)
      {
 	Ecore_Idle_Exiter *l;
+	int deleted_idler_exiters_in_use = 0;
+
 	for (l = idle_exiters; l;)
 	  {
-	     ie = l;
+	     Ecore_Idle_Exiter *ie = l;
 
 	     l = (Ecore_Idle_Exiter *) EINA_INLIST_GET(l)->next;
 	     if (ie->delete_me)
 	       {
+		  if (ie->references)
+		    {
+		       deleted_idler_exiters_in_use++;
+		       continue;
+		    }
+
 		  idle_exiters = (Ecore_Idle_Exiter *) eina_inlist_remove(EINA_INLIST_GET(idle_exiters), EINA_INLIST_GET(ie));
 		  ECORE_MAGIC_SET(ie, ECORE_MAGIC_NONE);
 		  free(ie);
 	       }
 	  }
-	idle_exiters_delete_me = 0;
+	if (!deleted_idler_exiters_in_use)
+	  idle_exiters_delete_me = 0;
      }
 }