diff --git a/t/t7527-builtin-fsmonitor.sh b/t/t7527-builtin-fsmonitor.sh
index 56c0dfffea6..19a243588e2 100755
--- a/t/t7527-builtin-fsmonitor.sh
+++ b/t/t7527-builtin-fsmonitor.sh
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ fi
 stop_daemon_delete_repo () {
 	r=$1 &&
 	test_might_fail git -C $r fsmonitor--daemon stop &&
-	rm -rf $1
+	rm -rf $r
 }
 
 start_daemon () {
@@ -72,6 +72,32 @@ start_daemon () {
 	)
 }
 
+IMPLICIT_TIMEOUT=5
+
+wait_for_update () {
+	func=$1 &&
+	file=$2 &&
+	sz=$(wc -c < "$file") &&
+	last=0 &&
+	$func &&
+	k=0 &&
+	while test "$k" -lt $IMPLICIT_TIMEOUT
+	do
+		nsz=$(wc -c < "$file")
+		if test "$nsz" -gt "$sz"
+		then
+			if test "$last" -eq "$nsz"
+			then
+				return 0
+			fi
+			last=$nsz
+		fi
+		sleep 1
+		k=$(( $k + 1 ))
+	done &&
+	return 0
+}
+
 # Is a Trace2 data event present with the given catetory and key?
 # We do not care what the value is.
 #
@@ -137,7 +163,6 @@ test_expect_success 'implicit daemon start' '
 # machines (where it might take a moment to wake and reschedule the
 # daemon process) to avoid false alarms during test runs.)
 #
-IMPLICIT_TIMEOUT=5
 
 verify_implicit_shutdown () {
 	r=$1 &&
@@ -373,6 +398,10 @@ create_files () {
 	echo 3 >dir2/new
 }
 
+rename_directory () {
+	mv dirtorename dirrenamed
+}
+
 rename_files () {
 	mv rename renamed &&
 	mv dir1/rename dir1/renamed &&
@@ -427,7 +456,7 @@ test_expect_success 'edit some files' '
 
 	start_daemon --tf "$PWD/.git/trace" &&
 
-	edit_files &&
+	wait_for_update edit_files "$PWD/.git/trace" &&
 
 	test-tool fsmonitor-client query --token 0 &&
 
@@ -442,7 +471,7 @@ test_expect_success 'create some files' '
 
 	start_daemon --tf "$PWD/.git/trace" &&
 
-	create_files &&
+	wait_for_update create_files "$PWD/.git/trace" &&
 
 	test-tool fsmonitor-client query --token 0 &&
 
@@ -456,7 +485,7 @@ test_expect_success 'delete some files' '
 
 	start_daemon --tf "$PWD/.git/trace" &&
 
-	delete_files &&
+	wait_for_update delete_files "$PWD/.git/trace" &&
 
 	test-tool fsmonitor-client query --token 0 &&
 
@@ -470,7 +499,7 @@ test_expect_success 'rename some files' '
 
 	start_daemon --tf "$PWD/.git/trace" &&
 
-	rename_files &&
+	wait_for_update rename_files "$PWD/.git/trace" &&
 
 	test-tool fsmonitor-client query --token 0 &&
 
@@ -487,7 +516,7 @@ test_expect_success 'rename directory' '
 
 	start_daemon --tf "$PWD/.git/trace" &&
 
-	mv dirtorename dirrenamed &&
+	wait_for_update rename_directory "$PWD/.git/trace" &&
 
 	test-tool fsmonitor-client query --token 0 &&
 
@@ -500,7 +529,7 @@ test_expect_success 'file changes to directory' '
 
 	start_daemon --tf "$PWD/.git/trace" &&
 
-	file_to_directory &&
+	wait_for_update file_to_directory "$PWD/.git/trace" &&
 
 	test-tool fsmonitor-client query --token 0 &&
 
@@ -513,7 +542,7 @@ test_expect_success 'directory changes to a file' '
 
 	start_daemon --tf "$PWD/.git/trace" &&
 
-	directory_to_file &&
+	wait_for_update directory_to_file "$PWD/.git/trace" &&
 
 	test-tool fsmonitor-client query --token 0 &&
 
@@ -561,7 +590,7 @@ test_expect_success 'flush cached data' '
 	test-tool -C test_flush fsmonitor-client query --token "builtin:test_00000002:0" >actual_2 &&
 	nul_to_q <actual_2 >actual_q2 &&
 
-	grep "^builtin:test_00000002:0Q$" actual_q2 &&
+	grep "^builtin:test_00000002:[0-1]Q$" actual_q2 &&
 
 	>test_flush/file_3 &&
 
@@ -732,7 +761,8 @@ u_values="$u1 $u2"
 for u in $u_values
 do
 	test_expect_success "unicode in repo root path: $u" '
-		test_when_finished "stop_daemon_delete_repo $u" &&
+		test_when_finished \
+		"stop_daemon_delete_repo `echo "$u" | sed 's:x:\\\\\\\\\\\\\\x:g'`" &&
 
 		git init "$u" &&
 		echo 1 >"$u"/file1 &&
@@ -814,8 +844,7 @@ my_match_and_clean () {
 }
 
 test_expect_success 'submodule always visited' '
-	test_when_finished "git -C super fsmonitor--daemon stop; \
-			    rm -rf super; \
+	test_when_finished "rm -rf super; \
 			    rm -rf sub" &&
 
 	create_super super &&
@@ -883,7 +912,8 @@ have_t2_error_event () {
 }
 
 test_expect_success "stray submodule super-prefix warning" '
-	test_when_finished "rm -rf super; \
+	test_when_finished "git -C super/dir_1/dir_2/sub fsmonitor--daemon stop; \
+			    rm -rf super; \
 			    rm -rf sub;   \
 			    rm super-sub.trace" &&
 
