Index: modules/system/system.install
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/drupal/drupal/modules/system/system.install,v
retrieving revision 1.52
diff -u -r1.52 system.install
--- modules/system/system.install	1 Dec 2006 17:00:21 -0000	1.52
+++ modules/system/system.install	2 Dec 2006 19:04:47 -0000
@@ -91,7 +91,19 @@
     $cron_last = variable_get('cron_last', NULL);
 
     if (is_numeric($cron_last)) {
-      $requirements['cron']['value'] = $t('Last run !time ago', array('!time' => format_interval(time() - $cron_last)));
+      $requirements['cron'] = array(
+        'value' => $t('Last run !time ago', array('!time' => format_interval(time() - $cron_last))),
+      );
+      
+      if (time() - $cron_last > 3600 * 24) {
+        // Cron hasn't run for more than 24 hours.
+        $requirements['cron']['description'] = $t('Cron has not run recently. Please check the help pages for <a href="@url">configuring cron jobs</a>.', array('@url' => 'http://drupal.org/cron'));
+        $requirements['cron']['severity'] = REQUIREMENT_WARNING;
+        if (time() - $cron_last > 3600 * 24 * 7) {
+          // Cron hasn't run for more than a week.
+          $requirements['cron']['severity'] = REQUIREMENT_ERROR;
+        }
+      }
     }
     else {
       $requirements['cron'] = array(