diff --git a/contrib/devtools/bitcoind-exit-on-log.sh b/contrib/devtools/bitcoind-exit-on-log.sh
--- a/contrib/devtools/bitcoind-exit-on-log.sh
+++ b/contrib/devtools/bitcoind-exit-on-log.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
 
 set -euxo pipefail
 
+# Do not leave any dangling subprocesses when this script exits
+trap "kill 0" SIGINT
+
 TOPLEVEL=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)
 DEFAULT_BITCOIND="${TOPLEVEL}/build/src/bitcoind"
 DEFAULT_LOG_FILE=~/".bitcoin/debug.log"
@@ -74,7 +77,7 @@
   echo "Error: A grep pattern was not specified."
   echo ""
   help_message
-  exit 1
+  exit 2
 fi
 
 # Make sure the debug log exists so that tail does not fail
@@ -82,13 +85,27 @@
 
 # Launch bitcoind using custom parameters
 read -a BITCOIND_PARAMS <<< "${BITCOIND_PARAMS}"
+
+BITCOIND_PID_FILE=/tmp/bitcoind-exit-on-log.pid
+# Make sure the PID file doesn't already exist for some reason
+rm -f "${BITCOIND_PID_FILE}"
+BITCOIND_PARAMS+=("-pid=${BITCOIND_PID_FILE}")
+BITCOIND_PARAMS+=("-daemon")
+
 START_TIME=$(date +%s)
-if [ "${#BITCOIND_PARAMS[@]}" -gt 0 ]; then
-  "${BITCOIND}" "${BITCOIND_PARAMS[@]}" &
-else
-  "${BITCOIND}" &
-fi
-BITCOIND_PID=$!
+"${BITCOIND}" "${BITCOIND_PARAMS[@]}"
+
+# The PID file will not exist immediately, so wait for it
+PID_WAIT_COUNT=0
+while [ ! -e "${BITCOIND_PID_FILE}" ]; do
+  ((PID_WAIT_COUNT+=1))
+  if [ "${PID_WAIT_COUNT}" -gt 10 ]; then
+    echo "Timed out waiting for bitcoind PID file"
+    exit 10
+  fi
+  sleep 0.5
+done
+BITCOIND_PID=$(cat "${BITCOIND_PID_FILE}")
 
 # Wait for log checking to finish and kill the daemon
 (
@@ -119,15 +136,18 @@
 LOG_PID=$!
 
 # Wait for bitcoind to exit, whether it exited on its own or the log subshell finished
-wait ${BITCOIND_PID}
-BITCOIND_EXIT_CODE=$?
-
-if [ "${BITCOIND_EXIT_CODE}" -ne "0" ]; then
-  echo "bitcoind exited unexpectedly with code: ${BITCOIND_EXIT_CODE}"
-  exit ${BITCOIND_EXIT_CODE}
+set +x
+while [ -e "${BITCOIND_PID_FILE}" ]; do sleep 0.5; done
+set -x
+
+# If the log subshell is still running, then GREP_PATTERN was not found
+if [ -e /proc/${LOG_PID} ]; then
+  echo "bitcoind exited unexpectedly. See '${LOG_FILE}' for details."
+  exit 20
 fi
 
 # Get the exit code for the log subshell, which should have exited already
+# if GREP_PATTERN was found
 wait ${LOG_PID}
 LOG_EXIT_CODE=$?