diff --git a/tools/ludic-cli/test.ludic b/tools/ludic-cli/test.ludic
index b2fa4008..75ebc0bf 100644
--- a/tools/ludic-cli/test.ludic
+++ b/tools/ludic-cli/test.ludic
@@ -811,7 +811,7 @@ function cmd_dev_test() -> int {
 
   # and the Vulkan one: vk_api.ludic + vk_thunks.ll regenerated from the registry's vk.xml,
   # which comes with the Vulkan SDK - so this guard runs wherever the SDK is installed
-  if shq("ls $VULKAN_SDK/share/vulkan/registry/vk.xml $HOME/VulkanSDK/*/macOS/share/vulkan/registry/vk.xml >/dev/null 2>&1") {
+  if shq("ls $VULKAN_SDK/share/vulkan/registry/vk.xml $HOME/VulkanSDK/*/macOS/share/vulkan/registry/vk.xml 2>/dev/null | grep -q vk.xml") {
     if shq(`bin/ludic-dev vkgen --check > {tmp_dir()}/vkgen.out 2>&1`) {
       ok("ludic-dev vkgen regenerates vk_api.ludic + vk_thunks.ll byte-identically")
     } else { bad2("ludic-dev vkgen --check", capture_line(`tail -1 {tmp_dir()}/vkgen.out`)) }