diff --git a/t/test-lib.sh b/t/test-lib.sh
index c096778..02a03d5 100644
--- a/t/test-lib.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib.sh

@@ -524,6 +524,21 @@ test_eval_ () {
 test_run_ () {
 	test_cleanup=:
 	expecting_failure=$2
+
+	if test -n "$GIT_TEST_CHAIN_LINT"; then
+		# 117 is unlikely to match the exit code of
+		# another part of the chain
+		test_eval_ "(exit 117) && $1"
+		if test "$?" != 117; then
+			# all bets are off for continuing with other tests;
+			# we expected none of the rest of the test commands to
+			# run, but at least some did. Who knows what weird
+			# state we're in? Just bail, and the user can diagnose
+			# by running in --verbose mode
+			error "bug in the test script: broken &&-chain"
+		fi
+	fi
+
 	setup_malloc_check
 	test_eval_ "$1"
 	eval_ret=$?

This turns up an appalling number of failures, but AFAICT they are all
"real" in the sense that the &&-chains are broken. In some cases these
are real, but in others the tests are of an older style where they did
not expect some early commands to fail (and we would catch their bogus
output if they did). E.g., in the patch below, I think the first one is
a real potential bug, and the other two are mostly noise. I do not mind
setting a rule and fixing all of them, though.

I seem to recall people looked at doing this sort of lint a while ago,
but we never ended up committing anything. I wonder if it was because of
all of these "false positives".