diff --git a/server/service b/server/service
index 7a48358..6b35706 100755
--- a/server/service
+++ b/server/service
@@ -87,19 +87,27 @@ installed() {
     esac
 }
 
-# Whether the service fell over, as opposed to being stopped on purpose.
+# What OpenRC's `status` exit code means. Measured on OpenRC 0.63.3 in a
+# guest built for the purpose, not read from documentation:
 #
-# OpenRC prints `crashed` *and* exits non-zero for this, so the word is
-# read rather than the exit code -- leaning on the code would report
-# "couldn't check", which is a different and less useful thing to say.
-# The `running` check above stays on its exit code, which already worked
-# and does not depend on wording.
-crashed() {
-    case "$MANAGER" in
-        systemd) systemctl --user --quiet is-failed "$NAME" ;;
-        openrc) rc-service --user "$NAME" status 2>/dev/null | grep -qw crashed ;;
-    esac
-}
+#     0   started      3   stopped      32   crashed
+#     1   could not find out
+#
+# 1 covers every way the question cannot be answered -- an unknown
+# service, XDG_RUNTIME_DIR unset, or a user softlevel that was never
+# initialised ("openrc did not boot this system"). Distinguishing it is
+# the whole reason to read the code rather than the text.
+#
+# And the text must not be read. OpenRC prints `* status: crashed` to
+# **stderr**, so the obvious `status 2>/dev/null | grep -qw crashed`
+# throws away precisely the word it is searching for, finds nothing, and
+# falls through to `stopped` -- reporting a service that fell over as one
+# somebody chose to stop. That was this script's bug until it was
+# measured, and the same shape is worth checking wherever a status is
+# parsed rather than counted.
+OPENRC_STARTED=0
+OPENRC_STOPPED=3
+OPENRC_CRASHED=32
 
 require_binary() {
     [ -x "$BINARY" ] && return 0
@@ -212,19 +220,46 @@ case "${1:-}" in
     status)
         if ! installed; then
             echo not-installed
-        elif case "$MANAGER" in
-            systemd) systemctl --user --quiet is-active "$NAME" ;;
-            openrc) rc-service --user "$NAME" status >/dev/null 2>&1 ;;
-        esac then
-            echo running
-        elif crashed; then
-            # Before `stopped`, because a crashed service satisfies
-            # neither of the other two and would otherwise be reported as
-            # a state somebody chose.
-            echo failed
-        else
-            echo stopped
+            exit 0
         fi
+        case "$MANAGER" in
+            systemd)
+                if systemctl --user --quiet is-active "$NAME"; then
+                    echo running
+                # Before `stopped`, because a service that fell over
+                # satisfies neither of the other two and would otherwise
+                # be reported as a state somebody chose.
+                elif systemctl --user --quiet is-failed "$NAME"; then
+                    echo failed
+                else
+                    echo stopped
+                fi
+                ;;
+            openrc)
+                # `|| code=$?` rather than a bare call: `set -e` is on, and
+                # every answer except "running" is a non-zero exit, so a
+                # plain invocation kills the script before it can say what
+                # the code meant.
+                code=0
+                rc-service --user "$NAME" status >/dev/null 2>&1 || code=$?
+                case $code in
+                    "$OPENRC_STARTED") echo running ;;
+                    "$OPENRC_CRASHED") echo failed ;;
+                    "$OPENRC_STOPPED") echo stopped ;;
+                    # Anything else is "could not find out", which is a
+                    # real state and not one of the other three. Saying so
+                    # costs a non-zero exit and buys the caller the truth;
+                    # guessing `stopped` here is what the contract's
+                    # `failed` state exists to stop.
+                    *)
+                        echo "could not ask OpenRC about $NAME -- is" \
+                            "XDG_RUNTIME_DIR set and the user softlevel" \
+                            "initialised?" >&2
+                        exit 1
+                        ;;
+                esac
+                ;;
+        esac
         ;;
     *)
         echo "usage: $0 install|uninstall|start|stop|restart|status|logs" >&2