diff --git a/revoke-test/tests/system_tests.rs b/revoke-test/tests/system_tests.rs
index 664f3a9a..86d3152c 100644
--- a/revoke-test/tests/system_tests.rs
+++ b/revoke-test/tests/system_tests.rs
@@ -33,12 +33,19 @@ fn real_world_system_tests() {
     .unwrap();
     fs::write(TEST_CONFIG_PATH, TEST_CONFIG).unwrap();
 
-    upki()
+    let fetch = upki()
         .arg("--config-file")
         .arg(TEST_CONFIG_PATH)
         .arg("fetch")
         .output()
         .expect("cannot execute 'upki fetch'");
+    assert!(
+        fetch.status.success(),
+        "'upki fetch' failed ({})\nstdout:\n{}\nstderr:\n{}",
+        fetch.status,
+        String::from_utf8_lossy(&fetch.stdout),
+        String::from_utf8_lossy(&fetch.stderr),
+    );
 
     let tests = serde_json::from_reader::<_, RevocationTestSites<'static>>(
         File::open("../revoke-test/test-sites.json")
@@ -82,8 +89,11 @@ fn real_world_system_tests() {
         #[cfg(not(windows))]
         let ((((site, high), rustls), ffi), openssl) = cases;
 
+        // When rustls reports the cert as expired it short-circuits before doing any revocation
+        // check, so its verdict says nothing about revocation status. The high-level API does no
+        // expiry check, so the two are not comparable in that case; skip the comparison.
         assert!(
-            high == rustls || *high == rustls.expired_as_revoked(),
+            high == rustls || *rustls == TestResult::Expired,
             "site {site:?} revocation result disagrees between high-level API ({high:?})  and rustls verifier ({rustls:?})"
         );
         assert!(
@@ -271,18 +281,6 @@ enum TestResult {
     Expired,
 }
 
-impl TestResult {
-    fn expired_as_revoked(&self) -> Self {
-        // The high-level CLI doesn't do expiry checks, while the rustls verifier does.
-        // So we treat expiry as a class of revocation for the purpose of checking
-        // that the APIs agree.
-        match self {
-            Self::Expired => Self::CorrectlyRevoked,
-            other => *other,
-        }
-    }
-}
-
 const TEST_CONFIG_PATH: &str = "tmp/system-test/config.toml";
 const TEST_CONFIG: &str = "cache-dir=\"tmp/system-test\"\n\
     [revocation]\n\