diff --git a/t/build_timeout.t b/t/build_timeout.t
index 4e4c16a..09cc392 100644
--- a/t/build_timeout.t
+++ b/t/build_timeout.t
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ is($bad->{ec}, 3, 'a failing command keeps its exit status');
 my $hang = drive(name => 'hang', cmd => 'exec sleep 600 >/dev/null 2>&1',
                  timeout => 4, sample => 2, deadline => 90);
 ok($hang->{finished}, 'a hanging command does NOT hang the caller')
-    or BAIL_OUT('run_bounded never returned: the bound is missing, so a hung build has no failure');
+    or die('run_bounded never returned: the bound is missing, so a hung build has no failure');
 is($hang->{timed_out}, 1, 'the hang is reported as a timeout');
 is($hang->{ec}, 124, 'the timeout exit status is 124, as timeout(1) uses');
 cmp_ok($hang->{wall}, '<', 60, 'it fails soon after the budget, not later');
diff --git a/t/common-repo-gate.t b/t/common-repo-gate.t
index eb1fcac..4543d68 100644
--- a/t/common-repo-gate.t
+++ b/t/common-repo-gate.t
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ if (command_exists('tar')) {
 }
 if (@missing_requirements) {
     my $message = 'requires ' . join(', ', @missing_requirements);
-    BAIL_OUT($message) if $ENV{XCAT_GENESIS_CI};
+    die($message) if $ENV{XCAT_GENESIS_CI};
     plan skip_all => $message;
 }
 
diff --git a/t/genesis_native_deb.t b/t/genesis_native_deb.t
index 2f4a3d5..b857995 100644
--- a/t/genesis_native_deb.t
+++ b/t/genesis_native_deb.t
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@
 # suite publishes three images per suite and lets apt pick the newest, which is the image of
 # another release.
 #
-# sbuild-all.pl also keeps an rpm->deb fallback: the EL image converted with rpm2cpio. That is how
-# an Ubuntu management node came to install an image built from an EL kernel, and it is removed.
+# sbuild-all.pl also kept an rpm->deb fallback, the EL image converted with rpm2cpio, which gave
+# an Ubuntu node an image built from an EL kernel. It is removed.
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 
diff --git a/t/genesis_openembedded_consumer.t b/t/genesis_openembedded_consumer.t
index 11cad2d..3ff88c3 100644
--- a/t/genesis_openembedded_consumer.t
+++ b/t/genesis_openembedded_consumer.t
@@ -51,9 +51,9 @@ my @APT_SUITES = qw(focal jammy noble resolute);
 test_activation_helper();
 
 if ($ENV{XCAT_GENESIS_CI}) {
-    BAIL_OUT('CI requires Linux root') unless $^O eq 'linux' && $> == 0;
+    die('CI requires Linux root') unless $^O eq 'linux' && $> == 0;
     for my $command (qw(apt-ftparchive bash createrepo_c dpkg-deb gpg rpm rpmbuild)) {
-        BAIL_OUT("CI requires $command") unless command_exists($command);
+        die("CI requires $command") unless command_exists($command);
     }
 }
 
@@ -329,7 +329,7 @@ sub run_apt_consumer {
 sub write_apt_manifest {
     my ($path, $mutate) = @_;
     my %shipped = read_manifest("$repo_root/debs-manifest.conf");
-    BAIL_OUT('debs-manifest.conf has no [shared] section')
+    die('debs-manifest.conf has no [shared] section')
       unless exists $shipped{shared};
     my %shared = %{ $shipped{shared} };
     $mutate->(\%shared) if $mutate;
@@ -1083,7 +1083,7 @@ sub test_activation_helper {
     unlike($activation, qr/XCAT_GENESIS_ROOT/,
         'the root package helper has no environment-controlled execution root');
     $activation =~ s/\ngenesis_activation_main "\$\@"\s*\z/\n/
-      or BAIL_OUT('the activation helper has no reusable main boundary');
+      or die('the activation helper has no reusable main boundary');
 
     my $driver = "$tmp/activation-driver";
     my $log = "$tmp/activation.log";
diff --git a/t/genesis_openembedded_release.t b/t/genesis_openembedded_release.t
index 5a35d15..9cd5c0a 100644
--- a/t/genesis_openembedded_release.t
+++ b/t/genesis_openembedded_release.t
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ my $epoch = 1787293573;
 
 if ($ENV{XCAT_GENESIS_CI}) {
     for my $command (qw(git dpkg-deb rpm rpmbuild tar)) {
-        BAIL_OUT("CI requires $command") unless command_exists($command);
+        die("CI requires $command") unless command_exists($command);
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/t/sbuild-all.t b/t/sbuild-all.t
index c5e4558..c6c800c 100644
--- a/t/sbuild-all.t
+++ b/t/sbuild-all.t
@@ -736,7 +736,7 @@ STUB
     };
 
     my ($scan) = $src =~ /\n(    my %u = \(\$arch => 1\);\n    if \(\$mode eq 'publish'\) \{\n.*?\n        \}\n)/ms;
-    BAIL_OUT('could not extract the staged-arch scan from sbuild-all.pl') unless defined $scan;
+    die('could not extract the staged-arch scan from sbuild-all.pl') unless defined $scan;
 
     my $staging = tempdir( CLEANUP => 1 );
     make_path("$staging/noble/$_") for qw(amd64 ppc64el riscv64 s390x);
@@ -770,7 +770,7 @@ STUB
     };
 
     my ($sub) = $src =~ /\n(sub genesis_in_manifest \{\n.*?\n\})\n/ms;
-    BAIL_OUT('could not extract genesis_in_manifest from sbuild-all.pl') unless defined $sub;
+    die('could not extract genesis_in_manifest from sbuild-all.pl') unless defined $sub;
 
     our %MANIFEST = (
         'noble-amd64'   => { 'xcat-genesis-base' => '2.*', 'ipmitool-xcat' => '1.8.18-4' },
@@ -804,10 +804,10 @@ STUB
     };
 
     my ($sub) = $src =~ /\n(sub ensure_foreign_arch_support \{\n.*?\n\})\n/ms;
-    BAIL_OUT('could not extract ensure_foreign_arch_support from sbuild-all.pl') unless defined $sub;
+    die('could not extract ensure_foreign_arch_support from sbuild-all.pl') unless defined $sub;
 
     my ($map) = $src =~ /\n(my %BINFMT_HANDLER = \(.*?\);)\n/ms;
-    BAIL_OUT('could not extract the binfmt handler map') unless defined $map;
+    die('could not extract the binfmt handler map') unless defined $map;
 
     my $fake = tempdir( CLEANUP => 1 );
     ( my $driver = "$map\n$sub" ) =~ s{/proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc}{$fake}g;