diff --git a/python/pacemaker/_cts/test.py b/python/pacemaker/_cts/test.py
index d67abf7bca..710c86fa59 100644
--- a/python/pacemaker/_cts/test.py
+++ b/python/pacemaker/_cts/test.py
@@ -1,594 +1,603 @@
 """
 A module providing base classes.
 
 These classes are used for defining regression tests and groups of regression
 tests.  Everything exported here should be considered an abstract class that
 needs to be subclassed in order to do anything useful.  Various functions
 will raise NotImplementedError if not overridden by a subclass.
 """
 
 __copyright__ = "Copyright 2009-2024 the Pacemaker project contributors"
 __license__ = "GNU General Public License version 2 or later (GPLv2+)"
 
 __all__ = ["Test", "Tests"]
 
 import io
 import os
 import re
 import shlex
 import signal
 import subprocess
 import sys
 import time
 
 from pacemaker._cts.errors import ExitCodeError, OutputFoundError, OutputNotFoundError, XmlValidationError
 from pacemaker._cts.process import pipe_communicate
 from pacemaker.buildoptions import BuildOptions
 from pacemaker.exitstatus import ExitStatus
 
 
 def find_validator(rng_file):
     """
     Return the command line used to validate XML output.
 
     If no validator is found, return None.
     """
     if os.access("/usr/bin/xmllint", os.X_OK):
         if rng_file is None:
             return ["xmllint", "-"]
 
         return ["xmllint", "--relaxng", rng_file, "-"]
 
     return None
 
 
 def rng_directory():
     """Return the directory containing RNG schema files."""
     if "PCMK_schema_directory" in os.environ:
         return os.environ["PCMK_schema_directory"]
 
     if os.path.exists("%s/cts-fencing.in" % sys.path[0]):
         return "xml"
 
     return BuildOptions.SCHEMA_DIR
 
 
 class Pattern:
     """A class for checking log files for a given pattern."""
 
     def __init__(self, pat, negative=False, regex=False):
         """
         Create a new Pattern instance.
 
         Arguments:
         pat      -- The string to search for
         negative -- If True, pat must not be found in any input
         regex    -- If True, pat is a regex and not a substring
         """
         self._pat = pat
         self.negative = negative
         self.regex = regex
 
     def __str__(self):
         return self._pat
 
     def match(self, line):
         """Return True if this pattern is found in the given line."""
         if self.regex:
             return re.search(self._pat, line) is not None
 
         return self._pat in line
 
 
 class Test:
     """
     The base class for a single regression test.
 
     A single regression test may still run multiple commands as part of its
     execution.
     """
 
     def __init__(self, name, description, **kwargs):
         """
         Create a new Test instance.
 
         This method must be provided by all subclasses, which must call
         Test.__init__ first.
 
         Arguments:
         description -- A user-readable description of the test, helpful in
                        identifying what test is running or has failed.
         name        -- The name of the test.  Command line tools use this
                        attribute to allow running only tests with the exact
                        name, or tests whose name matches a given pattern.
                        This should be unique among all tests.
 
         Keyword arguments:
         force_wait  --
         logdir      -- The base directory under which to create a directory
                        to store output and temporary data.
         timeout     -- How long to wait for the test to complete.
         verbose     -- Whether to print additional information, including
                        verbose command output and daemon log files.
         """
         self.description = description
         self.executed = False
         self.name = name
 
         self.force_wait = kwargs.get("force_wait", False)
         self.logdir = kwargs.get("logdir", "/tmp")
         self.timeout = kwargs.get("timeout", 2)
         self.verbose = kwargs.get("verbose", False)
 
         self._cmds = []
         self._patterns = []
 
         self._daemon_location = None
         self._daemon_output = ""
         self._daemon_process = None
 
         self._result_exitcode = ExitStatus.OK
         self._result_txt = ""
 
     #
     # PROPERTIES
     #
 
     @property
     def exitcode(self):
         """
         Return the final exitcode of the Test.
 
         If all commands pass, this property will be ExitStatus.OK.  Otherwise,
         this property will be the exitcode of the first command to fail.
         """
         return self._result_exitcode
 
     @exitcode.setter
     def exitcode(self, value):
         self._result_exitcode = value
 
     @property
     def logpath(self):
         """
         Return the path to the log for whatever daemon is being tested.
 
         Note that this requires all subclasses to set self._daemon_location
         before accessing this property or an exception will be raised.
         """
         return os.path.join(self.logdir, "%s.log" % self._daemon_location)
 
     #
     # PRIVATE METHODS
     #
 
     def _kill_daemons(self):
         """Kill any running daemons in preparation for executing the test."""
         raise NotImplementedError("_kill_daemons not provided by subclass")
 
     def _match_log_patterns(self):
         """
         Check test output for expected patterns.
 
         Set self.exitcode and self._result_txt as appropriate.  Not all subclass
         will need to do this.
         """
         if len(self._patterns) == 0:
             return
 
         n_failed_matches = 0
         n_negative_matches = 0
 
         output = self._daemon_output.split("\n")
 
         for pat in self._patterns:
             positive_match = False
 
             for line in output:
                 if pat.match(line):
                     if pat.negative:
                         n_negative_matches += 1
 
                         if self.verbose:
                             print("This pattern should not have matched = '%s" % pat)
 
                         break
 
                     positive_match = True
                     break
 
             if not pat.negative and not positive_match:
                 n_failed_matches += 1
                 print("Pattern Not Matched = '%s'" % pat)
 
         if n_failed_matches > 0 or n_negative_matches > 0:
             msg = "FAILURE - '%s' failed. %d patterns out of %d not matched. %d negative matches."
             self._result_txt = msg % (self.name, n_failed_matches, len(self._patterns), n_negative_matches)
             self.exitcode = ExitStatus.ERROR
 
     def _new_cmd(self, cmd, args, exitcode, **kwargs):
         """
         Add a command to be executed as part of this test.
 
         Arguments:
         cmd         -- The program to run.
         args        -- Commands line arguments to pass to cmd, as a string.
         exitcode    -- The expected exit code of cmd.  This can be used to
                        run a command that is expected to fail.
 
         Keyword arguments:
         stdout_match          -- If not None, a string that is expected to be
                                  present in the stdout of cmd.  This can be a
                                  regular expression.
         no_wait               -- Do not wait for cmd to complete.
         stdout_negative_match -- If not None, a string that is expected to be
                                  missing in the stdout of cmd.  This can be a
                                  regualr expression.
         kill                  -- A command to be run after cmd, typically in
                                  order to kill a failed process.  This should be
                                  the entire command line including arguments as
                                  a single string.
         validate              -- If True, the output of cmd will be passed to
                                  xmllint for validation.  If validation fails,
                                  XmlValidationError will be raised.
         check_rng             -- If True and validate is True, command output
                                  will additionally be checked against the
                                  api-result.rng file.
         check_stderr          -- If True, the stderr of cmd will be included in
                                  output.
         env                   -- If not None, variables to set in the environment
         """
+        if cmd is None:
+            raise ValueError("cmd cannot be None")
+
         self._cmds.append(
             {
                 "args": args,
                 "check_rng": kwargs.get("check_rng", True),
                 "check_stderr": kwargs.get("check_stderr", True),
                 "cmd": cmd,
                 "expected_exitcode": exitcode,
                 "kill": kwargs.get("kill", None),
                 "no_wait": kwargs.get("no_wait", False),
                 "stdout_match": kwargs.get("stdout_match", None),
                 "stdout_negative_match": kwargs.get("stdout_negative_match", None),
                 "validate": kwargs.get("validate", True),
                 "env": kwargs.get("env", None),
             }
         )
 
     def _start_daemons(self):
         """Start any necessary daemons in preparation for executing the test."""
         raise NotImplementedError("_start_daemons not provided by subclass")
 
     #
     # PUBLIC METHODS
     #
 
-    def add_cmd(self, cmd, args, validate=True, check_rng=True, check_stderr=True,
-                env=None):
+    def add_cmd(self, cmd=None, **kwargs):
         """Add a simple command to be executed as part of this test."""
-        self._new_cmd(cmd, args, ExitStatus.OK, validate=validate, check_rng=check_rng,
-                      check_stderr=check_stderr, env=env)
+        self._new_cmd(cmd, kwargs.pop("args", ""), ExitStatus.OK,
+                      validate=kwargs.get("validate", True),
+                      check_rng=kwargs.get("check_rng", True),
+                      check_stderr=kwargs.get("check_stderr", True),
+                      env=kwargs.get("env"))
 
-    def add_cmd_and_kill(self, cmd, args, kill_proc):
+    def add_cmd_and_kill(self, cmd=None, **kwargs):
         """Add a command and system command to be executed as part of this test."""
-        self._new_cmd(cmd, args, ExitStatus.OK, kill=kill_proc)
+        self._new_cmd(cmd, kwargs.pop("args", ""), ExitStatus.OK,
+                      kill=kwargs.get("kill"))
 
-    def add_cmd_check_stdout(self, cmd, args, match, no_match=None, env=None):
+    def add_cmd_check_stdout(self, cmd=None, **kwargs):
         """Add a simple command with expected output to be executed as part of this test."""
-        self._new_cmd(cmd, args, ExitStatus.OK, stdout_match=match,
-                      stdout_negative_match=no_match, env=env)
+        self._new_cmd(cmd, kwargs.pop("args", ""), ExitStatus.OK,
+                      stdout_match=kwargs.get("match"),
+                      stdout_negative_match=kwargs.get("no_match"),
+                      env=kwargs.get("env"))
 
-    def add_cmd_expected_fail(self, cmd, args, exitcode=ExitStatus.ERROR):
+    def add_cmd_expected_fail(self, cmd=None, **kwargs):
         """Add a command that is expected to fail to be executed as part of this test."""
-        self._new_cmd(cmd, args, exitcode)
+        self._new_cmd(cmd, kwargs.pop("args", ""), kwargs.get("exitcode", ExitStatus.ERROR))
 
-    def add_cmd_no_wait(self, cmd, args):
+    def add_cmd_no_wait(self, cmd=None, **kwargs):
         """Add a simple command to be executed (without waiting) as part of this test."""
-        self._new_cmd(cmd, args, ExitStatus.OK, no_wait=True)
+        self._new_cmd(cmd, kwargs.pop("args", ""), ExitStatus.OK,
+                      no_wait=kwargs.get("no_wait", True))
 
     def add_log_pattern(self, pattern, negative=False, regex=False):
         """Add a pattern that should appear in the test's logs."""
         self._patterns.append(Pattern(pattern, negative=negative, regex=regex))
 
     def _signal_dict(self):
         """Return a dictionary mapping signal numbers to their names."""
         # FIXME: When we support python >= 3.5, this function can be replaced with:
         #   signal.Signals(self.daemon_process.returncode).name
         return {
             getattr(signal, _signame): _signame
             for _signame in dir(signal)
             if _signame.startswith("SIG") and not _signame.startswith("SIG_")
         }
 
     def clean_environment(self):
         """Clean up the host after executing a test."""
         if self._daemon_process:
             if self._daemon_process.poll() is None:
                 self._daemon_process.terminate()
                 self._daemon_process.wait()
             else:
                 rc = self._daemon_process.returncode
                 signame = self._signal_dict().get(-rc, "RET=%s" % rc)
                 msg = "FAILURE - '%s' failed. %s abnormally exited during test (%s)."
 
                 self._result_txt = msg % (self.name, self._daemon_location, signame)
                 self.exitcode = ExitStatus.ERROR
 
         self._daemon_process = None
         self._daemon_output = ""
 
         # the default for utf-8 encoding would error out if e.g. memory corruption
         # makes fenced output any kind of 8 bit value - while still interesting
         # for debugging and we'd still like the regression-test to go over the
         # full set of test-cases
         with open(self.logpath, 'rt', encoding="ISO-8859-1") as logfile:
             for line in logfile.readlines():
                 self._daemon_output += line
 
         if self.verbose:
             print("Daemon Output Start")
             print(self._daemon_output)
             print("Daemon Output End")
 
     def print_result(self, filler):
         """Print the result of the last test execution."""
         print("%s%s" % (filler, self._result_txt))
 
     def run(self):
         """Execute this test."""
         i = 1
 
         self.start_environment()
 
         if self.verbose:
             print("\n--- START TEST - %s" % self.name)
 
         self._result_txt = "SUCCESS - '%s'" % (self.name)
         self.exitcode = ExitStatus.OK
 
         for cmd in self._cmds:
             try:
                 self.run_cmd(cmd)
             except ExitCodeError as e:
                 print("Step %d FAILED - command returned %s, expected %d" % (i, e, cmd['expected_exitcode']))
                 self.set_error(i, cmd)
                 break
             except OutputNotFoundError as e:
                 print("Step %d FAILED - '%s' was not found in command output: %s" % (i, cmd['stdout_match'], e))
                 self.set_error(i, cmd)
                 break
             except OutputFoundError as e:
                 print("Step %d FAILED - '%s' was found in command output: %s" % (i, cmd['stdout_negative_match'], e))
                 self.set_error(i, cmd)
                 break
             except XmlValidationError as e:
                 print("Step %d FAILED - xmllint failed: %s" % (i, e))
                 self.set_error(i, cmd)
                 break
 
             if self.verbose:
                 print("Step %d SUCCESS" % (i))
 
             i += 1
 
         self.clean_environment()
 
         if self.exitcode == ExitStatus.OK:
             self._match_log_patterns()
 
         print(self._result_txt)
         if self.verbose:
             print("--- END TEST - %s\n" % self.name)
 
         self.executed = True
 
     def run_cmd(self, args):
         """Execute a command as part of this test."""
         cmd = shlex.split(args['args'])
         cmd.insert(0, args['cmd'])
 
         if self.verbose:
             print("\n\nRunning: %s" % " ".join(cmd))
 
         # FIXME: Using "with" here breaks fencing merge tests.
         # pylint: disable=consider-using-with
         if args['env']:
             new_env = os.environ.copy()
             new_env.update(args['env'])
             test = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
                                     env=new_env)
         else:
             test = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
 
         if args['kill']:
             if self.verbose:
                 print("Also running: %s" % args['kill'])
 
             # Typically, the kill argument is used to detect some sort of
             # failure. Without yielding for a few seconds here, the process
             # launched earlier that is listening for the failure may not have
             # time to connect to pacemaker-execd.
             time.sleep(2)
             subprocess.Popen(shlex.split(args['kill']))
 
         if not args['no_wait']:
             test.wait()
         else:
             return ExitStatus.OK
 
         output = pipe_communicate(test, check_stderr=args['check_stderr'])
 
         if self.verbose:
             print(output)
 
         if test.returncode != args['expected_exitcode']:
             raise ExitCodeError(test.returncode)
 
         if args['stdout_match'] is not None and \
            re.search(args['stdout_match'], output) is None:
             raise OutputNotFoundError(output)
 
         if args['stdout_negative_match'] is not None and \
            re.search(args['stdout_negative_match'], output) is not None:
             raise OutputFoundError(output)
 
         if args['validate']:
             if args['check_rng']:
                 rng_file = "%s/api/api-result.rng" % rng_directory()
             else:
                 rng_file = None
 
             cmd = find_validator(rng_file)
             if not cmd:
                 raise XmlValidationError("Could not find validator for %s" % rng_file)
 
             if self.verbose:
                 print("\nRunning: %s" % " ".join(cmd))
 
             with subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE) as validator:
                 output = pipe_communicate(validator, check_stderr=True, stdin=output)
 
                 if self.verbose:
                     print(output)
 
                 if validator.returncode != 0:
                     raise XmlValidationError(output)
 
         return ExitStatus.OK
 
     def set_error(self, step, cmd):
         """Record failure of this test."""
         msg = "FAILURE - '%s' failed at step %d. Command: %s %s"
         self._result_txt = msg % (self.name, step, cmd['cmd'], cmd['args'])
         self.exitcode = ExitStatus.ERROR
 
     def start_environment(self):
         """Prepare the host for executing a test."""
         if os.path.exists(self.logpath):
             os.remove(self.logpath)
 
         self._kill_daemons()
         self._start_daemons()
 
         logfile = None
 
         init_time = time.time()
         update_time = init_time
 
         while True:
             # FIXME: Eventually use 'with' here, which seems complicated given
             # everything happens in a loop.
             # pylint: disable=consider-using-with
             time.sleep(0.1)
 
             if not self.force_wait and logfile is None \
                and os.path.exists(self.logpath):
                 logfile = io.open(self.logpath, 'rt', encoding="ISO-8859-1")
 
             if not self.force_wait and logfile is not None:
                 for line in logfile.readlines():
                     if "successfully started" in line:
                         return
 
             now = time.time()
 
             if self.timeout > 0 and (now - init_time) >= self.timeout:
                 if not self.force_wait:
                     print("\tDaemon %s doesn't seem to have been initialized within %fs."
                           "\n\tConsider specifying a longer '--timeout' value."
                           % (self._daemon_location, self.timeout))
                 return
 
             if self.verbose and (now - update_time) >= 5:
                 print("Waiting for %s to be initialized: %fs ..."
                       % (self._daemon_location, now - init_time))
                 update_time = now
 
 
 class Tests:
     """The base class for a collection of regression tests."""
 
     def __init__(self, **kwargs):
         """
         Create a new Tests instance.
 
         This method must be provided by all subclasses, which must call
         Tests.__init__ first.
 
         Keywork arguments:
 
         force_wait  --
         logdir      -- The base directory under which to create a directory
                        to store output and temporary data.
         timeout     -- How long to wait for the test to complete.
         verbose     -- Whether to print additional information, including
                        verbose command output and daemon log files.
         """
         self.force_wait = kwargs.get("force_wait", False)
         self.logdir = kwargs.get("logdir", "/tmp")
         self.timeout = kwargs.get("timeout", 2)
         self.verbose = kwargs.get("verbose", False)
 
         self._tests = []
 
     def exit(self):
         """Exit (with error status code if any test failed)."""
         for test in self._tests:
             if not test.executed:
                 continue
 
             if test.exitcode != ExitStatus.OK:
                 sys.exit(ExitStatus.ERROR)
 
         sys.exit(ExitStatus.OK)
 
     def print_list(self):
         """List all registered tests."""
         print("\n==== %d TESTS FOUND ====" % len(self._tests))
         print("%35s - %s" % ("TEST NAME", "TEST DESCRIPTION"))
         print("%35s - %s" % ("--------------------", "--------------------"))
 
         for test in self._tests:
             print("%35s - %s" % (test.name, test.description))
 
         print("==== END OF LIST ====\n")
 
     def print_results(self):
         """Print summary of results of executed tests."""
         failures = 0
         success = 0
 
         print("\n\n======= FINAL RESULTS ==========")
         print("\n--- FAILURE RESULTS:")
 
         for test in self._tests:
             if not test.executed:
                 continue
 
             if test.exitcode != ExitStatus.OK:
                 failures += 1
                 test.print_result("    ")
             else:
                 success += 1
 
         if failures == 0:
             print("    None")
 
         print("\n--- TOTALS\n    Pass:%d\n    Fail:%d\n" % (success, failures))
 
     def run_single(self, name):
         """Run a single named test."""
         for test in self._tests:
             if test.name == name:
                 test.run()
                 break
 
     def run_tests(self):
         """Run all tests."""
         for test in self._tests:
             test.run()
 
     def run_tests_matching(self, pattern):
         """Run all tests whose name matches a pattern."""
         for test in self._tests:
             if test.name.count(pattern) != 0:
                 test.run()