fix

test/sequential/test-watch-mode.mjs

@@ -183,16 +183,18 @@ describe('watch mode', { concurrency: false, timeout: 60_0000 }, () => {
       isReady: (data) => data.startsWith('running'),
     });
 
+    assert.strictEqual(stderr, '');
+    const expected = ['running', `Restarting ${inspect(file)}`, 'Waiting for graceful termination...',
+                      'exiting gracefully', `Gracefully restarted ${inspect(file)}`, 'running'].join('\n');
+
     // This message appearing is very flaky depending on a race between the
     // inner process and the outer process. it is acceptable for the message not to appear
     // as long as the SIGTERM handler is respected.
     if (stdout.includes('Waiting for graceful termination...')) {
-      assert.strictEqual(stdout, ['running', `Restarting ${inspect(file)}`, 'Waiting for graceful termination...',
-                                  'exiting gracefully', `Gracefully restarted ${inspect(file)}`, 'running', 'exiting gracefully', ''].join('\n'));
+      assert(stdout.startsWith(expected));
     } else {
-      assert.strictEqual(stdout, ['running', `Restarting ${inspect(file)}`, 'exiting gracefully', 'running', ''].join('\n'));
+      assert(stdout.startsWith(removeGraceMessage(expected)));
     }
-    assert.strictEqual(stderr, '');
   });
 
   it('should pass arguments to file', async () => {