`if` effectively neuters `set -e`: ``` $ bash -c 'set -ex; f() { false; echo 123; }; if f; then echo 456; fi' + f + false + echo 123 123 + echo 456 456 ``` so the test keeps on running. Instead, we can rely on `exit` (which is not going to break as easily) + a subshell to make sure we actually catch error codes. (This might also cause other forms of test "failure" to not get detected, as well.)