pkill -f or pgrep -f run over SSH matches its own command line

Symptoms

ssh host 'pkill -f follow.py; restart-the-game' ends at once and the rest never runs. Or ssh host 'pgrep -f "python3 follow.py" && echo running' says "running" after the script ended.

Cause

SSH runs the command through bash -c 'the whole line'. That shell's own command line holds the pattern, so -f matches it: pkill kills the shell running the line, pgrep finds it (observed, 2026-10-23).

What to do

Make the pattern not match itself, for example pkill -f "[f]ollow.py", or put the command in a script file in the VM and call the script. In a VM several sessions share, kill only your own processes by name and display (pkill -f "Xvfb :1", not pkill Xvfb): a bare pkill Xvfb in POD's inside.sh stop also stopped another session's display on :2.