diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index cc639dc501..c73368ce7c 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -1374,10 +1374,6 @@ notes.rewrite.<command>::
 	automatically copies your notes from the original to the
 	rewritten commit.  Defaults to `true`, but see
 	"notes.rewriteRef" below.
-+
-This setting can be overridden with the `GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF`
-environment variable, which must be a colon separated list of refs or
-globs.
 
 notes.rewriteMode::
 	When copying notes during a rewrite (see the
@@ -1397,6 +1393,10 @@ notes.rewriteRef::
 +
 Does not have a default value; you must configure this variable to
 enable note rewriting.
++
+This setting can be overridden with the `GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF`
+environment variable, which must be a colon separated list of refs or
+globs.
 
 pack.window::
 	The size of the window used by linkgit:git-pack-objects[1] when no
diff --git a/t/t0000-basic.sh b/t/t0000-basic.sh
index f4ca4fc85c..3ec9cbef2c 100755
--- a/t/t0000-basic.sh
+++ b/t/t0000-basic.sh
@@ -73,6 +73,27 @@ then
 	exit 1
 fi
 
+clean=no
+test_expect_success 'tests clean up after themselves' '
+    test_when_finished clean=yes
+'
+
+cleaner=no
+test_expect_code 1 'tests clean up even after a failure' '
+    test_when_finished cleaner=yes &&
+    (exit 1)
+'
+
+if test $clean$cleaner != yesyes
+then
+	say "bug in test framework: cleanup commands do not work reliably"
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+test_expect_code 2 'failure to clean up causes the test to fail' '
+    test_when_finished "(exit 2)"
+'
+
 ################################################################
 # Basics of the basics
 
diff --git a/t/test-lib.sh b/t/test-lib.sh
index 12fb67f44f..9bfa14be7f 100644
--- a/t/test-lib.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib.sh
@@ -366,8 +366,9 @@ test_debug () {
 }
 
 test_run_ () {
-	test_cleanup='eval_ret=$?'
+	test_cleanup=:
 	eval >&3 2>&4 "$1"
+	eval_ret=$?
 	eval >&3 2>&4 "$test_cleanup"
 	return 0
 }
@@ -583,8 +584,8 @@ test_cmp() {
 # the test to pass.
 
 test_when_finished () {
-	test_cleanup="eval_ret=\$?; { $*
-		} && (exit \"\$eval_ret\"); $test_cleanup"
+	test_cleanup="{ $*
+		} && (exit \"\$eval_ret\"); eval_ret=\$?; $test_cleanup"
 }
 
 # Most tests can use the created repository, but some may need to create more.