diff --git a/misc/fairlock/fairlock.c b/misc/fairlock/fairlock.c
index 5ea946325..898e59f45 100644
--- a/misc/fairlock/fairlock.c
+++ b/misc/fairlock/fairlock.c
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include <sys/un.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <syslog.h>
+#include <signal.h>
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
      struct sockaddr_un addr;
@@ -32,6 +33,11 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
         fprintf(stderr, "listen(64) failed on socket %s: %s", argv[1], strerror(errno));
         exit(1);
     }
+    /* We write 5 bytes to the connection when we get it from the client, but we do not
+     * care if the client ever reads this. If they don't, we will get a SIGPIPE when we
+     * close the socket, which we will ignore. */
+    signal(SIGPIPE, SIG_IGN);
+
     openlog("fairlock", LOG_CONS | LOG_PID | LOG_NDELAY, LOG_LOCAL2);
 
     /* Now we have a socket, enter an endless loop of:
@@ -51,9 +57,15 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
     while (1) {
         while ((fd = accept(sock, NULL, NULL)) > -1) {
             char buffer[128];
+            ssize_t br;
 
             syslog(LOG_INFO, "%s acquired\n", argv[1]);
-            while (read(fd, buffer, sizeof(buffer)) > 0) {
+            /* We do not care about the return code of this write() and will ignore any
+             * SIGPIPE it might generate. The buffer is big enough that this will complete
+             * even though the socket is blocking */
+            write(fd, "LOCK", 5);
+            while ((br = read(fd, buffer, sizeof(buffer)-1)) > 0) {
+                buffer[br]='\0';
                 buffer[127]='\0';
                 syslog(LOG_INFO, "%s sent '%s'\n", argv[1], buffer);
             }
diff --git a/misc/fairlock/fairlock.py b/misc/fairlock/fairlock.py
index 9217c6971..ec9c626cf 100644
--- a/misc/fairlock/fairlock.py
+++ b/misc/fairlock/fairlock.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ def __init__(self, name):
         self.name = name
         self.sockname = os.path.join(SOCKDIR, name)
         self.connected = False
+        self.sock = None
 
     def _ensure_service(self):
         service=f"fairlock@{self.name}.service"
@@ -52,11 +53,16 @@ def __enter__(self):
             raise FairlockDeadlock(f"Deadlock on Fairlock resource '{self.name}'")
 
         self.sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
+        self.sock.setblocking(True)
         try:
-            self.sock.connect(self.sockname)
+            ret = self.sock.connect(self.sockname)
+            # Merely being connected is not enough. Read a small blob of data.
+            read = self.sock.recv(10)
         except (FileNotFoundError, ConnectionRefusedError):
             self._ensure_service()
-            self.sock.connect(self.sockname)
+            ret = self.sock.connect(self.sockname)
+            # Merely being connected is not enough. Read a small blob of data.
+            read = self.sock.recv(10)
 
         self.sock.send(f'{os.getpid()} - {time.monotonic()}'.encode())
         self.connected = True
@@ -64,6 +70,7 @@ def __enter__(self):
 
     def __exit__(self, type, value, traceback):
         self.sock.close()
+        self.sock = None
         self.connected = False
         return False
 
diff --git a/mk/sm.spec.in b/mk/sm.spec.in
index faee7bf1e..3203ee110 100755
--- a/mk/sm.spec.in
+++ b/mk/sm.spec.in
@@ -237,5 +237,14 @@ Manager and some other packages
 %{_unitdir}/fairlock@.service
 %{_libexecdir}/fairlock
 
+%posttrans fairlock
+## On upgrade, shut down existing lock services so new ones will
+## be started. There should be no locks held during upgrade operations
+## so this is safe.
+if [ $1 -gt 1 ];
+then
+    systemctl stop $(systemctl list-units fairlock@* --all --no-legend | cut -d' ' -f1)
+fi
+
 %changelog