diff --git a/modules/zfs/cmd/zfs-tools/bus.go b/modules/zfs/cmd/zfs-tools/bus.go
index 5aabd9049..7d0654061 100644
--- a/modules/zfs/cmd/zfs-tools/bus.go
+++ b/modules/zfs/cmd/zfs-tools/bus.go
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ func (b busStates) Get(state, key string) (json.RawMessage, bool, error) {
 }
 
 // JoinBus gives a root process the module's events and states through the keeper's socket (A-37): the process holds no
-// bus account of its own. Without the socket the machine keeps none, and what it changes is said as a warning (§18:
+// bus account of its own. Without the socket variable the machine keeps none, and what it changes is said as a warning (§18:
 // with the bus down the apply converges from the config file it last got). It answers how to leave the bus.
 func (m *Machine) JoinBus() func() {
 	sock := strings.TrimSpace(os.Getenv(KeeperSocketEnv))
@@ -44,12 +44,9 @@ func (m *Machine) JoinBus() func() {
 		m.Warnings = append(m.Warnings, KeeperSocketEnv+" is not set, so the keeper is not reached and the bus is taken as down")
 		return func() {}
 	}
+	// Every call reaches the socket anew, so a keeper that comes up after this process is used from then on; one that
+	// is down at a call answers that call with an error, never the bus taken as down for the process's life.
 	c := keeperClient{sock}
-	// The keeper answering is what the bus being up means: one call says it before the process relies on it.
-	if _, err := c.Keys(StateSchedule); err != nil {
-		m.Warnings = append(m.Warnings, err.Error()+": the bus is taken as down")
-		return func() {}
-	}
 	m.Emit = c.emit
 	m.States = c
 	m.Findings = meshconditionsclient.FindingWriter{State: findingState{c}}
diff --git a/modules/zfs/cmd/zfs-tools/keeper_test.go b/modules/zfs/cmd/zfs-tools/keeper_test.go
index 9c5cbb2cd..fda12c202 100644
--- a/modules/zfs/cmd/zfs-tools/keeper_test.go
+++ b/modules/zfs/cmd/zfs-tools/keeper_test.go
@@ -106,14 +106,36 @@ func TestOnlyRootOpensTheKeepersSocketAndANeedlessKeeperIsTheBusDown(t *testing.
 	if _, left := st["schedule/x"]; left {
 		t.Errorf("a refused peer's call was read")
 	}
-	// No keeper: the machine keeps no bus and says so.
-	t.Setenv(KeeperSocketEnv, filepath.Join(dir, "none.sock"))
+	// No socket variable: the machine keeps no bus and says so.
+	t.Setenv(KeeperSocketEnv, "")
 	m := newFake(t).machine()
 	m.Emit = nil
 	m.JoinBus()
 	if m.Emit != nil || m.States != nil || len(m.Warnings) != 1 || !strings.Contains(m.Warnings[0], "bus is taken as down") {
 		t.Errorf("no keeper: %+v", m.Warnings)
 	}
+	// A keeper not yet up: the process joins, its calls fail, and the same process uses the keeper once it is up.
+	late := filepath.Join(dir, "late.sock")
+	t.Setenv(KeeperSocketEnv, late)
+	ml := newFake(t).machine()
+	ml.JoinBus()
+	if ml.States == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("a keeper not up yet must not take the bus as down: %+v", ml.Warnings)
+	}
+	if _, err := ml.States.Keys(StateSchedule); err == nil {
+		t.Errorf("no keeper up, yet a call answered")
+	}
+	ll, err := Listen(late)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	lctx, lcancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
+	defer lcancel()
+	go (&Keeper{Emit: func(string, any) error { return nil }, States: memStates{}, PeerOf: func(net.Conn) (int, error) { return 0, nil },
+		Call: func(string, any) (json.RawMessage, error) { return nil, nil }}).Serve(lctx, ll)
+	if _, err := ml.States.Keys(StateSchedule); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("a keeper that came up later is not used: %v", err)
+	}
 	t.Setenv(KeeperSocketEnv, sock)
 	uid = 0
 	m2 := newFake(t).machine()