diff --git a/test/shell/t1.sh b/test/shell/t1.sh
index bffe2e72..4adfe46a 100755
--- a/test/shell/t1.sh
+++ b/test/shell/t1.sh
@@ -11,3 +11,6 @@ set -o nounset
 set -o pipefail
 
 timeout --kill-after=3s 1s ./mgmt --help # hello world!
+pid=$!
+wait $pid	# get exit status
+exit $?
diff --git a/test/shell/t2.sh b/test/shell/t2.sh
index a17c6f41..56ce776f 100755
--- a/test/shell/t2.sh
+++ b/test/shell/t2.sh
@@ -8,10 +8,13 @@ fi
 
 # run till completion
 timeout --kill-after=15s 10s ./mgmt run --file t2.yaml --converged-timeout=5 --no-watch &
-
-. wait.sh	# wait for mgmt
+pid=$!
+wait $pid	# get exit status
+e=$?
 
 test -e /tmp/mgmt/f1
 test -e /tmp/mgmt/f2
 test -e /tmp/mgmt/f3
 test ! -e /tmp/mgmt/f4
+
+exit $e
diff --git a/test/shell/t3.sh b/test/shell/t3.sh
index d71ea270..13790ec2 100755
--- a/test/shell/t3.sh
+++ b/test/shell/t3.sh
@@ -11,10 +11,18 @@ mkdir -p "${MGMT_TMPDIR}"mgmt{A..C}
 
 # run till completion
 timeout --kill-after=15s 10s ./mgmt run --file t3-a.yaml --converged-timeout=5 --no-watch &
+pid1=$!
 timeout --kill-after=15s 10s ./mgmt run --file t3-b.yaml --converged-timeout=5 --no-watch &
+pid2=$!
 timeout --kill-after=15s 10s ./mgmt run --file t3-c.yaml --converged-timeout=5 --no-watch &
+pid3=$!
 
-. wait.sh	# wait for mgmt
+wait $pid1	# get exit status
+e1=$?
+wait $pid2	# get exit status
+e2=$?
+wait $pid3	# get exit status
+e3=$?
 
 # A: collected
 test -e "${MGMT_TMPDIR}"mgmtA/f3b
@@ -69,3 +77,5 @@ test ! -e "${MGMT_TMPDIR}"mgmtC/f1a
 test ! -e "${MGMT_TMPDIR}"mgmtC/f2a
 test ! -e "${MGMT_TMPDIR}"mgmtC/f1b
 test ! -e "${MGMT_TMPDIR}"mgmtC/f2b
+
+exit $(($e1+$e2+$e3))
diff --git a/test/shell/t4.sh b/test/shell/t4.sh
index 34231c24..e334004d 100755
--- a/test/shell/t4.sh
+++ b/test/shell/t4.sh
@@ -2,5 +2,6 @@
 
 # should take slightly more than 25s, but fail if we take 35s)
 timeout --kill-after=35s 30s ./mgmt run --file t4.yaml --converged-timeout=5 --no-watch &
-
-. wait.sh	# wait for mgmt
+pid=$!
+wait $pid	# get exit status
+exit $?
diff --git a/test/shell/t5.sh b/test/shell/t5.sh
index a3a8d656..9527b723 100755
--- a/test/shell/t5.sh
+++ b/test/shell/t5.sh
@@ -2,5 +2,6 @@
 
 # should take slightly more than 35s, but fail if we take 45s)
 timeout --kill-after=45s 40s ./mgmt run --file t5.yaml --converged-timeout=5 --no-watch &
-
-. wait.sh	# wait for mgmt
+pid=$!
+wait $pid	# get exit status
+exit $?
diff --git a/test/shell/t6.sh b/test/shell/t6.sh
index 64e7674c..40222f0e 100755
--- a/test/shell/t6.sh
+++ b/test/shell/t6.sh
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ fi
 
 # run till completion
 timeout --kill-after=20s 15s ./mgmt run --file t6.yaml --no-watch &
+pid=$!
 sleep 1s	# let it converge
 test -e /tmp/mgmt/f1
 test -e /tmp/mgmt/f2
@@ -28,4 +29,5 @@ test -e /tmp/mgmt/f2
 
 killall -SIGINT mgmt	# send ^C to exit mgmt
 
-. wait.sh	# wait for mgmt
+wait $pid	# get exit status
+exit $?
diff --git a/test/shell/wait.sh b/test/shell/wait.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index 86aab21d..00000000
--- a/test/shell/wait.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-# NOTE: boiler plate to wait on mgmt; source with: . wait.sh; should NOT be +x
-while test "`jobs -p`" != ""
-do
-	for j in `jobs -p`
-	do
-		wait $j || continue	# wait for mgmt job $j
-	done
-done