diff --git a/cts/support/Makefile.am b/cts/support/Makefile.am
index 207de05511..bfce1bd495 100644
--- a/cts/support/Makefile.am
+++ b/cts/support/Makefile.am
@@ -1,28 +1,28 @@
 #
 # Copyright 2021 the Pacemaker project contributors
 #
 # The version control history for this file may have further details.
 #
 # This source code is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2
 # or later (GPLv2+) WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY.
 #
 
 include $(top_srcdir)/mk/python.mk
 
 MAINTAINERCLEANFILES    = Makefile.in
 
 # Commands intended to be run only via other commands
 halibdir		= $(CRM_DAEMON_DIR)
 dist_halib_SCRIPTS	= cts-support
 
 ctsdir		=	$(datadir)/$(PACKAGE)/tests/cts
 cts_DATA	=	pacemaker-cts-dummyd@.service
 dist_cts_DATA	=	cts.conf
 if BUILD_UPSTART
 dist_cts_DATA	+=	pacemaker-cts-dummyd.conf
 endif
 cts_SCRIPTS	= fence_dummy		\
 		  LSBDummy		\
 		  pacemaker-cts-dummyd
 
-PYCHECKFILES ?= cts-support
+PYCHECKFILES ?= cts-support pacemaker-cts-dummyd
diff --git a/cts/support/pacemaker-cts-dummyd.in b/cts/support/pacemaker-cts-dummyd.in
index 453a644673..53512484fd 100644
--- a/cts/support/pacemaker-cts-dummyd.in
+++ b/cts/support/pacemaker-cts-dummyd.in
@@ -1,55 +1,62 @@
 #!@PYTHON@
-""" Slow-starting idle daemon that notifies systemd when it starts
-"""
+"""Slow-starting idle daemon that notifies systemd when it starts."""
 
-__copyright__ = "Copyright 2014-2020 the Pacemaker project contributors"
+# pylint doesn't like the module name "pacemaker-cts-dummyd" which is an invalid complaint
+# for this file but probably something we want to continue warning about elsewhere
+# pylint: disable=invalid-name
+
+__copyright__ = "Copyright 2014-2024 the Pacemaker project contributors"
 __license__ = "GNU General Public License version 2 or later (GPLv2+) WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY"
 
-import sys
-import time
+from functools import partial
 import signal
 import subprocess
+import sys
+import time
+
 have_systemd_daemon = True
 try:
     import systemd.daemon
 except ImportError:
     have_systemd_daemon = False
 
-delay = None
 
 def parse_args():
-    global delay
+    """Return the delay given on the command line, if any."""
+    delay = None
 
     # Lone argument is a number of seconds to delay start and stop
     if len(sys.argv) > 0:
         try:
             delay = float(sys.argv[1])
         except ValueError:
             delay = None
 
+    return delay
 
-def twiddle():
-    global delay
 
+def twiddle(delay):
+    """Sleep the given number of seconds."""
     if delay is not None:
         time.sleep(delay)
 
 
-def bye(signum, frame):
-    twiddle()
+def bye(_signum, _frame, delay=None):
+    """SIGTERM signal handler."""
+    twiddle(delay)
     sys.exit(0)
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
+    d = parse_args()
+    signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, partial(bye, delay=d))
+    twiddle(d)
 
-    parse_args()
-    signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, bye)
-    twiddle()
     if have_systemd_daemon:
         systemd.daemon.notify("READY=1")
     else:
         subprocess.call(["systemd-notify", "READY=1"])
 
     # This isn't a "proper" daemon, but that would be overkill for testing purposes
     while True:
         time.sleep(600.0)