diff --git a/test/boothtestenv.py b/test/boothtestenv.py
index e524136..2f3abc6 100755
--- a/test/boothtestenv.py
+++ b/test/boothtestenv.py
@@ -1,62 +1,72 @@
 #!/usr/bin/python
 
 import os
+import subprocess
 import time
 import tempfile
 import unittest
 
 from assertions  import BoothAssertions
 from boothrunner import BoothRunner
 
 class BoothTestEnvironment(unittest.TestCase, BoothAssertions):
     test_src_path       = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
     dist_path           = os.path.join(test_src_path, '..'    )
     src_path            = os.path.join(dist_path,     'src'   )
     boothd_path         = os.path.join(src_path,      'boothd')
     conf_path           = os.path.join(dist_path,     'conf'  )
     example_config_path = os.path.join(conf_path, 'booth.conf.example')
 
     def setUp(self):
         if not self._testMethodName.startswith('test_'):
             raise RuntimeError, "unexpected test method name: " + self._testMethodName
         self.test_name = self._testMethodName[5:]
         self.test_path = os.path.join(self.test_run_path, self.test_name)
         os.makedirs(self.test_path)
+        self.ensure_boothd_not_running()
+
+    def ensure_boothd_not_running(self):
+        # Need to redirect STDERR in case we're not root, in which
+        # case netstat's -p option causes a warning.  However we only
+        # want to kill boothd processes which we own; -p will list the
+        # pid for those and only those, which is exactly what we want
+        # here.
+        subprocess.call("netstat -tpln 2>&1 | perl -lne 'm,LISTEN\s+(\d+)/boothd, and kill 15, $1'", shell=True)
 
     def get_tempfile(self, identity):
         tf = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(
             prefix='%s.%d.' % (identity, time.time()),
             dir=self.test_path,
             delete=False
         )
         return tf.name
 
     def init_log(self):
         self.log_file = self.get_tempfile('log')
         os.putenv('HA_debugfile', self.log_file) # See cluster-glue/lib/clplumbing/cl_log.c
 
     def read_log(self):
         if not os.path.exists(self.log_file):
             return ''
 
         l = open(self.log_file)
         msgs = ''.join(l.readlines())
         l.close()
         return msgs
 
     def check_return_code(self, pid, return_code, expected_exitcode):
         if return_code is None:
             print "pid %d still running" % pid
             if expected_exitcode is not None:
                 self.fail("expected exit code %d, not long-running process" % expected_exitcode)
         else:
             print "pid %d exited with code %d" % (pid, return_code)
             msg = "should exit with code %s" % expected_exitcode
             msg += "\nlog follows (see %s)" % self.log_file
             msg += "\n-----------\n%s" % self.read_log()
             self.assertEqual(return_code, expected_exitcode, msg)
 
     def _test_buffer_overflow(self, expected_error, **args):
         (pid, ret, stdout, stderr, runner) = \
             self.run_booth(expected_exitcode=1, **args)
         self.assertRegexpMatches(stderr, expected_error)