Matthew Shaxted (mattshax) · Nov 6, 2026 · Nov 6, 2026 · Nov 6, 2026 · Nov 6, 2026 · Nov 6, 2026
diff --git a/.github/workflows/linux-app.yml b/.github/workflows/linux-app.yml
@@ -5,17 +5,17 @@
 # converter's Linux binary) in activate-studio-linux-x86_64.tar.gz, with a
 # manifest and a SHA-256. See docs/LINUX-APP.md.
 #
-# GUFI and tesseract are built from source in a Rocky Linux 9 container
-# (glibc 2.34, the oldest target), so one payload runs on Ubuntu 22.04 and
-# later and on RHEL 9 and later; build_app.sh then checks that no file in
+# GUFI and tesseract are built from source in a Rocky Linux 8 container
+# (glibc 2.28, the oldest target), so one payload runs on RHEL 8 and later
+# and on Ubuntu 22.04 and later; build_app.sh then checks that no file in
 # the tree needs a newer glibc. The archive is unpacked in clean Ubuntu
-# 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04 and Rocky Linux 9 containers and run there as a plain
-# user: indexing, search, Query, search by meaning, OCR, document
+# 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, Rocky Linux 8 and 9 and AlmaLinux 8 and 9 containers
+# and run there as a plain user: indexing, search, Query, search by meaning, OCR, document
 # conversion and the update check.
 #
 # The window shell (desktop/wails, Wails v2) is built for both WebKitGTK
 # APIs, the 4.1 one on Ubuntu 22.04 (which runs on Ubuntu 24.04 too) and the
-# 4.0 one on Rocky Linux 9, and goes into the tree with the launcher and the
+# 4.0 one on Rocky Linux 8, and goes into the tree with the launcher and the
 # install scripts (desktop/linux). From that tree come the per-user archive
 # and the .deb (4.1 shell) and .rpm (4.0 shell), built with nfpm. Each
 # install type is then installed in a clean container of each target
@@ -54,11 +54,11 @@ concurrency:
 env:
   # Base images for the build and the tests. Tags, not digests: the point of
   # the test jobs is to run on what a person has today.
-  BUILD_IMAGE: rockylinux:9
+  BUILD_IMAGE: rockylinux:8
 
 jobs:
   # GUFI (with sqlite-vec and sqlite-lembed) and tesseract, built in a
-  # Rocky 9 container. They do not depend on each other, so they build side
+  # Rocky 8 container. They do not depend on each other, so they build side
   # by side.
   native:
     strategy:
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ jobs:
         with:
           persist-credentials: false
           ref: ${{ inputs.release }}
-      - name: build ${{ matrix.component }} in Rocky Linux 9
+      - name: build ${{ matrix.component }} in Rocky Linux 8
         env:
           COMPONENT: ${{ matrix.component }}
         run: |
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ jobs:
           - variant: wk41
             image: ubuntu:22.04
           - variant: wk40
-            image: rockylinux:9
+            image: rockylinux:8
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     timeout-minutes: 30
     permissions:
@@ -225,15 +225,46 @@ jobs:
             extra_packages: ""
           - image: ubuntu:24.04
             extra_packages: ""
-          # Docker's official rockylinux:9 image is an old point release
-          # (9.3); the other two are current 9.x releases of the two
-          # rebuilds the Linux app targets.
+          # Docker's official rockylinux images are old point releases
+          # (8.9 and 9.3); the others are current releases of the two
+          # rebuilds the Linux app targets. The Rocky 8 images leave out
+          # findutils, which these checks use and the Studio does not.
+          - image: rockylinux:8
+            extra_packages: findutils
+          - image: rockylinux/rockylinux:8
+            extra_packages: findutils
+          - image: almalinux:8
+            extra_packages: ""
           - image: rockylinux:9
             extra_packages: ""
           - image: rockylinux/rockylinux:9
             extra_packages: ""
           - image: almalinux:9
             extra_packages: ""
+          # The rest of the Linux world the archive runs on. The minimal
+          # images leave out the tools these checks use.
+          - image: redhat/ubi8
+            extra_packages: findutils procps-ng util-linux shadow-utils
+          - image: redhat/ubi9
+            extra_packages: findutils procps-ng util-linux shadow-utils
+          - image: oraclelinux:8
+            extra_packages: findutils
+          - image: oraclelinux:9
+            extra_packages: findutils
+          - image: quay.io/centos/centos:stream9
+            extra_packages: findutils
+          - image: fedora:43
+            extra_packages: findutils procps-ng util-linux shadow-utils
+          - image: amazonlinux:2023
+            extra_packages: findutils procps-ng util-linux shadow-utils tar gzip
+          - image: ubuntu:20.04
+            extra_packages: ""
+          - image: debian:11
+            extra_packages: ""
+          - image: debian:12
+            extra_packages: ""
+          - image: debian:13
+            extra_packages: ""
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     timeout-minutes: 30
     permissions:
@@ -345,10 +376,18 @@ jobs:
           - {image: "ubuntu:22.04", kind: deb, webkit: "", shell: wk41}
           - {image: "ubuntu:24.04", kind: tarball, webkit: libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0, shell: wk41}
           - {image: "ubuntu:24.04", kind: deb, webkit: "", shell: wk41}
+          - {image: "rockylinux/rockylinux:8", kind: tarball, webkit: webkit2gtk3, shell: wk40}
+          - {image: "rockylinux/rockylinux:8", kind: rpm, webkit: "", shell: wk40}
+          - {image: "almalinux:8", kind: tarball, webkit: webkit2gtk3, shell: wk40}
+          - {image: "almalinux:8", kind: rpm, webkit: "", shell: wk40}
           - {image: "rockylinux/rockylinux:9", kind: tarball, webkit: webkit2gtk3, shell: wk40}
           - {image: "rockylinux/rockylinux:9", kind: rpm, webkit: "", shell: wk40}
           - {image: "almalinux:9", kind: tarball, webkit: webkit2gtk3, shell: wk40}
           - {image: "almalinux:9", kind: rpm, webkit: "", shell: wk40}
+          - {image: "oraclelinux:8", kind: tarball, webkit: webkit2gtk3, shell: wk40}
+          - {image: "oraclelinux:8", kind: rpm, webkit: "", shell: wk40}
+          - {image: "debian:12", kind: tarball, webkit: libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0, shell: wk41}
+          - {image: "debian:12", kind: deb, webkit: "", shell: wk41}
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     timeout-minutes: 40
     permissions:
@@ -465,7 +504,7 @@ jobs:
               --title "ACTIVATE Studio for Linux" --notes "The newest Linux app."
           fi
           gh release upload linux -R "$GITHUB_REPOSITORY" --clobber "${files[@]}"
-          gh release edit linux -R "$GITHUB_REPOSITORY" --notes "ACTIVATE Studio $TAG for Linux, x86_64, glibc 2.34 or later (Ubuntu 22.04, RHEL 9 and later).
+          gh release edit linux -R "$GITHUB_REPOSITORY" --notes "ACTIVATE Studio $TAG for Linux, x86_64, glibc 2.28 or later (RHEL 8, Ubuntu 22.04 and later).
 
           A copy installed in a user's home folder updates itself from the release for its version. A copy installed from a .deb or .rpm package is updated through apt or dnf.
 

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ A web workspace over a folder of documents. It indexes the folder, including the
 
 **On a Mac (Apple silicon, macOS 14 or later):** `curl -fsSL https://github.com/parallelworks/activate-studio/releases/download/macos/install.sh | bash` installs the ACTIVATE Studio app in `~/Applications`, which runs the Studio on your own folder with nothing else to install and no administrator rights, including on a managed Mac that does not allow LaunchAgents. The disk image on the [macOS release](https://github.com/parallelworks/activate-studio/releases/tag/macos) page does the same: double-click the app in it and choose Install. To remove it, choose **Uninstall ACTIVATE Studio…** in the app menu: it lists what it removes (the app, and by default its indexes, settings and logs) and never your documents. See [`docs/MACOS.md`](docs/MACOS.md).
 
-**On Linux (x86_64, glibc 2.34 or newer):** a per-user install with no administrator rights (`activate-studio/install.sh` from the unpacked archive) or an administrator's `.deb` (Ubuntu, Debian) or `.rpm` (RHEL 9, Rocky, Alma) puts the same Studio in its own window, where WebKitGTK is installed, and in your browser where it is not. See [`docs/LINUX-APP.md`](docs/LINUX-APP.md). Test builds only for now.
+**On Linux (x86_64, glibc 2.28 or newer, so RHEL 8 and 9 and their rebuilds, Ubuntu 20.04 and later, Debian 11 and later):** a per-user install with no administrator rights (`activate-studio/install.sh` from the unpacked archive) or an administrator's `.deb` (Ubuntu, Debian) or `.rpm` (RHEL, Rocky, Alma) puts the same Studio in its own window, where WebKitGTK is installed, and in your browser where it is not. See [`docs/LINUX-APP.md`](docs/LINUX-APP.md).
 
 **On Windows:** the Studio runs in WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux) and opens in a Windows browser, or a browser can open a Studio that runs on a Linux machine. There is no native Windows build. See [`docs/WINDOWS.md`](docs/WINDOWS.md).
 

diff --git a/deploy/common/lib.sh b/deploy/common/lib.sh
@@ -23,6 +23,20 @@ fetch() {
   [ "$got" = "$sum" ] || die "$file has SHA-256 $got, expected $sum"
 }
 
+# el8_tools: on RHEL 8 and its rebuilds, a compiler and a Python new enough
+# for GUFI and tesseract, which GCC 8 and Python 3.6 are not, first on the
+# PATH. gcc-toolset's GCC links what it adds to the C++ runtime statically, so
+# the binaries still need only the system's libstdc++. Does nothing elsewhere.
+el8_tools() {
+  [ "$(rpm -E '%{?rhel}' 2>/dev/null)" = 8 ] || return 0
+  dnf install -y -q --setopt=install_weak_deps=False gcc-toolset-13-gcc-c++ gcc-toolset-13-binutils python3.11 >/dev/null
+  set +u
+  # shellcheck disable=SC1091  # a file of the package just installed
+  . /opt/rh/gcc-toolset-13/enable
+  set -u
+  ln -sf /usr/bin/python3.11 /usr/local/bin/python3
+}
+
 # gcc_licenses DIR PREFIX: the GPL 3 and the GCC Runtime Library Exception
 # into DIR, as PREFIX-COPYING3.txt and PREFIX-COPYING.RUNTIME.txt (needs
 # CACHE_DIR and the pins).

diff --git a/deploy/linux/build_app.sh b/deploy/linux/build_app.sh
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@
 # a standalone Python for the indexer (with pypdf, xlrd and olefile for
 # documents, and onnxruntime, tokenizers and numpy for the ONNX embedding
 # model), and the embedding models. Build GUFI and tesseract in a Rocky
-# Linux 9 container (glibc 2.34) so the tree runs on Ubuntu 22.04 and later
-# and on RHEL 9 and later: this script checks that no file in the tree
-# needs a newer glibc (elf_check.py).
+# Linux 8 container (glibc 2.28) so the tree runs on RHEL 8 and later and on
+# Ubuntu 22.04 and later: this script checks that no file in the tree needs
+# a newer glibc (elf_check.py).
 #
 # Usage: deploy/linux/build_app.sh
 #   OUT_DIR       where the outputs go (default deploy/linux/out)
@@ -51,11 +51,11 @@ TOP=activate-studio
 # What only this platform pins (the rest is deploy/common/pins.sh).
 NODE_SHA256=cb5c9ce9c80d7b8821e3a258543c71b939138cf17c74d5cc44bbe85d6dbc5ad8
 PY_SHA256=178d3d83b6e8e99285a65d3fce9c16b87952cc5efdb4d1a0e3ff3be18ff0fc9c
-# The oldest targets' libraries: RHEL 9's glibc, and the libstdc++ GCC 11
+# The oldest targets' libraries: RHEL 8's glibc, and the libstdc++ GCC 8
 # ships there.
-MAX_GLIBC=2.34
-MAX_GLIBCXX=3.4.29
-MAX_CXXABI=1.3.13
+MAX_GLIBC=2.28
+MAX_GLIBCXX=3.4.25
+MAX_CXXABI=1.3.11
 
 [ "$(uname -s)" = Linux ] && [ "$(uname -m)" = x86_64 ] || die "builds on Linux x86_64"
 for tool in python3 curl tar git pnpm patchelf; do

diff --git a/deploy/linux/build_gufi.sh b/deploy/linux/build_gufi.sh
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@
 # elf_check.py: it needs no glibc newer than --max-glibc, and every library
 # it loads is in the tree or one every desktop has.
 #
-# Build it in the oldest glibc the app supports, a Rocky Linux 9 container
-# (glibc 2.34), so one tree runs on Ubuntu 22.04 and later and on RHEL 9 and
+# Build it in the oldest glibc the app supports, a Rocky Linux 8 container
+# (glibc 2.28), so one tree runs on RHEL 8 and later and on Ubuntu 22.04 and
 # later. The build installs its tools with dnf when it finds one and runs as
 # root (SKIP_DEPS=1 to skip that).
 #
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ if [ "${SKIP_DEPS:-}" != 1 ] && [ "$(id -u)" = 0 ] && command -v dnf >/dev/null
     util-linux attr libattr-devel diffutils patch gawk which file findutils \
     autoconf automake libtool binutils zlib-devel libgomp libatomic epel-release >/dev/null
   dnf install -y -q patchelf >/dev/null
+  el8_tools
 fi
 for tool in gcc g++ cmake make git curl tar patchelf python3 column setfattr readelf; do
   command -v "$tool" >/dev/null 2>&1 || die "$tool is required"

diff --git a/deploy/linux/build_ocr.sh b/deploy/linux/build_ocr.sh
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 # tesseract finds its data through TESSDATA_PREFIX, which studio-run.sh sets
 # to share/tessdata here.
 #
-# Build it in the oldest glibc the app supports, a Rocky Linux 9 container
+# Build it in the oldest glibc the app supports, a Rocky Linux 8 container
 # (see build_gufi.sh), which installs the tools with dnf when run as root
 # (SKIP_DEPS=1 to skip that).
 #
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ if [ "${SKIP_DEPS:-}" != 1 ] && [ "$(id -u)" = 0 ] && command -v dnf >/dev/null
   echo "Build tools from dnf..."
   dnf install -y -q --setopt=install_weak_deps=False \
     gcc gcc-c++ make cmake ca-certificates tar xz python3 pkgconf-pkg-config zlib-devel file binutils >/dev/null
+  el8_tools
 fi
 for tool in gcc g++ cmake make curl tar python3 readelf; do
   command -v "$tool" >/dev/null 2>&1 || die "$tool is required"

diff --git a/deploy/linux/check_app.sh b/deploy/linux/check_app.sh
@@ -40,9 +40,9 @@ done
 G="$APP/gufi"
 O="$APP/ocr"
 PY="$APP/python/bin/python3"
-MAX_GLIBC="${MAX_GLIBC:-2.34}"
-MAX_GLIBCXX="${MAX_GLIBCXX:-3.4.29}"
-MAX_CXXABI="${MAX_CXXABI:-1.3.13}"
+MAX_GLIBC="${MAX_GLIBC:-2.28}"
+MAX_GLIBCXX="${MAX_GLIBCXX:-3.4.25}"
+MAX_CXXABI="${MAX_CXXABI:-1.3.11}"
 failures=0
 ok() { echo "  ok    $1"; }
 bad() { echo "  FAIL  $1"; failures=$((failures + 1)); }
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ PY
   # The window shells and installer (desktop/linux), when the tree has them:
   # a shell links to the computer's own GTK and WebKitGTK, so only its CPU and
   # the newest glibc it needs are checked (a 4.1 shell is built on Ubuntu
-  # 22.04, so glibc 2.35; the 4.0 shell on RHEL 9, glibc 2.34).
+  # 22.04, so glibc 2.35; the 4.0 shell on RHEL 8, glibc 2.28).
   if [ -d "$APP/bin" ]; then
     echo "Desktop"
     for f in bin/activate-studio bin/activate-studio-wk41 bin/activate-studio-wk40 install.sh uninstall.sh \

diff --git a/deploy/linux/elf_check.py b/deploy/linux/elf_check.py
@@ -11,12 +11,12 @@
   - no RUNPATH or RPATH names a directory outside --root, where the build
     machine's own copy would be found on that machine and nowhere else;
   - the newest glibc symbol version it needs is at most --max-glibc (the
-    oldest target's, 2.34 for RHEL 9), and likewise --max-glibcxx and
+    oldest target's, 2.28 for RHEL 8), and likewise --max-glibcxx and
     --max-cxxabi for libstdc++'s versions.
 It prints the newest versions across all files, and exits 1 on a problem.
 
-Usage: elf_check.py --root DIR [--max-glibc 2.34] [--max-glibcxx 3.4.29]
-                    [--max-cxxabi 1.3.13] [--list] FILE|DIR...
+Usage: elf_check.py --root DIR [--max-glibc 2.28] [--max-glibcxx 3.4.25]
+                    [--max-cxxabi 1.3.11] [--list] FILE|DIR...
 A directory is searched for ELF files (symbolic links are not followed).
 """
 import argparse

diff --git a/deploy/linux/test_in_container.sh b/deploy/linux/test_in_container.sh
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ fi
 echo
 echo "Dependencies"
 echo "  the system libraries the payload's ELF files need, and the package that provides each here:"
+# Some images (Oracle Linux) ship without the linker cache.
+[ -e /etc/ld.so.cache ] || ldconfig 2>/dev/null || true
 for lib in $(sed -n 's/^ *"\(lib[^"]*\|ld-linux[^"]*\)",\{0,1\}$/\1/p' "$APP/manifest.json"); do
   path="$(ldconfig -p | awk -v l="$lib" '$1 == l {print $NF; exit}')"
   if [ -z "$path" ]; then echo "  $lib: NOT FOUND"; continue; fi

diff --git a/desktop/linux/build_packages.sh b/desktop/linux/build_packages.sh
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 # and nothing outside it but the link, the entry and the icons.
 #
 #   .deb  the WebKitGTK 4.1 shell (Ubuntu 22.04 and later, Debian 12 and later)
-#   .rpm  the WebKitGTK 4.0 shell (RHEL 9 and its rebuilds)
+#   .rpm  the WebKitGTK 4.0 shell (RHEL 8 and 9 and their rebuilds)
 #
 # Usage: build_packages.sh ARCHIVE OUT_DIR
 # Env:   NFPM (the nfpm binary, default: nfpm on PATH)
@@ -67,8 +67,8 @@ build() {
   done
   local lib_deps
   if [ "$fmt" = deb ]; then
-    # libc6 2.35: the 4.1 shell is built on Ubuntu 22.04. The rest of the
-    # tree needs 2.34 (libstdc++ 11 is GCC 11's, as on RHEL 9).
+    # libc6 2.35 and libstdc++ 11: the 4.1 shell is built on Ubuntu 22.04.
+    # The rest of the tree needs less (glibc 2.28, as on RHEL 8).
     lib_deps="    depends:
       - libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0
       - libgtk-3-0t64 | libgtk-3-0
@@ -83,8 +83,8 @@ build() {
     lib_deps="    depends:
       - webkit2gtk3
       - gtk3
-      - libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.34)(64bit)
-      - libstdc++.so.6(GLIBCXX_3.4.29)(64bit)
+      - libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.28)(64bit)
+      - libstdc++.so.6(GLIBCXX_3.4.25)(64bit)
       - libgcc_s.so.1()(64bit)
       - libz.so.1()(64bit)
     recommends:

diff --git a/desktop/linux/build_shell.sh b/desktop/linux/build_shell.sh
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@
 #
 #   wk41  WebKitGTK 4.1 (libsoup 3): Ubuntu 22.04 and later, Debian 12 and
 #         later, Fedora. Built on Ubuntu 22.04 (glibc 2.35).
-#   wk40  WebKitGTK 4.0 (libsoup 2): RHEL 9 and its rebuilds, Debian 11.
-#         Built on Rocky Linux 9 (glibc 2.34).
+#   wk40  WebKitGTK 4.0 (libsoup 2): RHEL 8 and 9 and their rebuilds,
+#         Debian 11. Built on Rocky Linux 8 (glibc 2.28).
 #
 # Usage: build_shell.sh wk41|wk40
 # Env:   SRC (the repository, default: this script's), OUT_DIR (default /out),
@@ -36,7 +36,9 @@ if command -v apt-get >/dev/null 2>&1; then
   apt-get install -y -qq --no-install-recommends ca-certificates curl gcc pkg-config libgtk-3-dev "$dev" >/dev/null
 else
   dnf -y -q install epel-release dnf-plugins-core >/dev/null
-  dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb
+  # The repository with the development packages: crb from RHEL 9 on,
+  # powertools on RHEL 8.
+  dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb 2>/dev/null || dnf config-manager --set-enabled powertools
   dnf -y -q install gcc pkgconf-pkg-config tar gzip webkit2gtk3-devel gtk3-devel >/dev/null
 fi
 

diff --git a/desktop/linux/install.sh b/desktop/linux/install.sh
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 #   install.sh --move     move it instead of copying (no second copy on the disk)
 #
 # Needs WebKitGTK for the Studio's own window (libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0 on Ubuntu 22.04 and
-# later, webkit2gtk3 on RHEL 9 and its rebuilds, libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37 on Debian 11); without it the
+# later, webkit2gtk3 on RHEL 8 and 9 and their rebuilds, libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37 on Debian 11); without it the
 # Studio opens in the default browser. A system package manager installs that;
 # this script installs nothing outside your home folder.
 #
@@ -102,9 +102,11 @@ exec_path="$BIN_DIR/activate-studio"
 case "$exec_path" in *" "*) exec_path="\"$exec_path\"" ;; esac
 sed "s|@BIN@|$exec_path|g" "$TREE/share/applications/activate-studio.desktop" >"$APPS_DIR/activate-studio.desktop"
 if [ -d "$TREE/share/icons/hicolor" ]; then
-  (cd "$TREE/share/icons/hicolor" && find . -name activate-studio.png) | while IFS= read -r f; do
-    mkdir -p "$ICON_DIR/$(dirname "$f")"
-    cp "$TREE/share/icons/hicolor/$f" "$ICON_DIR/$f"
+  for f in "$TREE"/share/icons/hicolor/*/apps/activate-studio.png; do
+    [ -e "$f" ] || continue
+    rel="${f#"$TREE"/share/icons/hicolor/}"
+    mkdir -p "$ICON_DIR/$(dirname "$rel")"
+    cp "$f" "$ICON_DIR/$rel"
   done
 fi
 update-desktop-database "$APPS_DIR" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true

diff --git a/desktop/linux/test_install.sh b/desktop/linux/test_install.sh
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ if [ $PM = deb ]; then
   pm_install xvfb dbus-x11 procps imagemagick fonts-dejavu-core desktop-file-utils ca-certificates
 else
   dnf install -y -q epel-release >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
-  pm_install xorg-x11-server-Xvfb dbus-x11 dbus-daemon procps-ng ImageMagick dejavu-sans-fonts desktop-file-utils glibc-langpack-en
+  pm_install xorg-x11-server-Xvfb dbus-x11 dbus-daemon procps-ng findutils ImageMagick dejavu-sans-fonts desktop-file-utils glibc-langpack-en
 fi
 ok "Xvfb, a session bus, ImageMagick and desktop-file-utils installed"
 
@@ -287,7 +287,8 @@ if [ "$KIND" = tarball ]; then
     as tester mv "$H/.local/lib/.activate-studio.new" "$R"
     NEWHASH="$(sha256sum "$R/bin/activate-studio-${EXPECT_SHELL:-wk41}" | cut -d' ' -f1)"
     touch "$T/up1/reopen"; chmod 666 "$T/up1/reopen"
-    if wait_for 120 sh -c "[ -s '$T/up1/ready' ] && [ \"\$(head -n 1 '$T/up1/ready')\" != '$OLDPID' ]"; then
+    # The new window removes the file as it starts, so read it once.
+    if wait_for 120 sh -c "p=\"\$(head -n 1 '$T/up1/ready' 2>/dev/null)\"; [ -n \"\$p\" ] && [ \"\$p\" != '$OLDPID' ]"; then
       NEWPID="$(head -n 1 "$T/up1/ready")"
       ok "the window reopened as a new process once the Studio drew again"
       check "the old window is gone" test ! -e "/proc/$OLDPID"