diff --git a/backend/src/api.ts b/backend/src/api.ts
index 90537f3..8efe921 100644
--- a/backend/src/api.ts
+++ b/backend/src/api.ts
@@ -436,9 +436,10 @@ export class Session {
       this.log(`Tearing down session`);
       this.tearingDown = true;
       allSessions.delete(this);
-      await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 5000));
-      await this.run(this.privilegedTeardown());
-      await this.returnUID();
+      if (this.uidInfo) {
+        await this.run(this.privilegedTeardown());
+        await this.returnUID();
+      }
       this.ws.terminate();
     } catch (err) {
       this.log(`Error during teardown`);
diff --git a/backend/src/test-runner.ts b/backend/src/test-runner.ts
index 7c29111..972dbc7 100644
--- a/backend/src/test-runner.ts
+++ b/backend/src/test-runner.ts
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ class Test {
 
   run = async () => {
     let session = null;
+    let timeout = null;
     try {
       const that = this;
       this.ws = {
@@ -70,7 +71,7 @@ class Test {
       session = new api.Session(this.ws, this.lang, (msg: string) => {
         this.messages.push({ event: "serverLog", message: msg });
       });
-      setTimeout(() => {
+      timeout = setTimeout(() => {
         this.timedOut = true;
         this.handleUpdate();
       }, TIMEOUT_MS);
@@ -98,6 +99,9 @@ class Test {
       }
     } finally {
       this.ws = null;
+      if (timeout) {
+        clearTimeout(timeout);
+      }
       if (session) {
         await session.teardown();
       }
@@ -228,7 +232,7 @@ const testTypes: {
   repl: {
     pred: ({ repl }) => (repl ? true : false),
   },
-  runRepl: {
+  runrepl: {
     pred: ({ repl }) => (repl ? true : false),
   },
   scope: {
@@ -266,7 +270,6 @@ async function main() {
     try {
       await test.run();
       console.error("succeeded");
-      console.error(test.getLog());
     } catch (err) {
       console.error("failed:");
       console.error(test.getLog());
diff --git a/system/src/riju-system-privileged.c b/system/src/riju-system-privileged.c
index e9a774a..b6dfd6a 100644
--- a/system/src/riju-system-privileged.c
+++ b/system/src/riju-system-privileged.c
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ void die_with_usage()
       "  riju-system-privileged useradd UID\n"
       "  riju-system-privileged setup UID UUID\n"
       "  riju-system-privileged spawn UID UUID CMDLINE...\n"
-      "  riju-system-privileged teardown UUID");
+      "  riju-system-privileged teardown UID UUID");
 }
 
 int parseUID(char *str)
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ void teardown(int uid, char *uuid)
       users = buf;
   }
   if (users != NULL) {
-    if (asprintf(&cmdline, "pkill -SIGKILL --uid %s", users) < 0)
+    if (asprintf(&cmdline, "while pkill -9 --uid %1$s; do sleep 0.01; done", users) < 0)
       die("asprintf failed");
     status = system(cmdline);
     if (status != 0 && status != 256)