diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/orphans.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/orphans.pm
index 3a0150d53..0f96b9397 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/orphans.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/orphans.pm
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ sub preprocess (@) { #{{{
 	my @orphans;
 	my $discussion=gettext("discussion");
 	foreach my $page (keys %pagesources) {
-		next if $linkedto{$page};
+		next if $linkedto{$page} || $page eq 'index';
 		next unless pagespec_match($page, $params{pages}, location => $params{page});
 		# If the page has a link to some other page, it's
 		# indirectly linked to a page via that page's backlinks.
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index e387af095..c5b46f367 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ ikiwiki (2.47) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
     hardcode a proper 'use lib' statement anyway. This fixes a gotcha,
     since PERL5LIB won't work once ikiwiki is running via a wrapper or as
     a cgi.
+  * orphans: As a special case, the toplevel index page is never considered
+    an orphaned page.
 
  -- Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>  Tue, 13 May 2008 12:30:18 -0400