diff --git a/openfut-blaze-host/sidecar.sh b/openfut-blaze-host/sidecar.sh
index 1c47e96..bdfbf03 100755
--- a/openfut-blaze-host/sidecar.sh
+++ b/openfut-blaze-host/sidecar.sh
@@ -79,7 +79,14 @@ list_sidecars() {
   for d in /proc/[0-9]*; do
     pid="${d#/proc/}"
     [[ "$pid" == "$self" ]] && continue
-    exe="$(readlink -f "$d/exe" 2>/dev/null)" || continue
+    # readlink, NOT readlink -f: once the binary is rebuilt the link reads
+    # "<path> (deleted)", and -f resolves that to something that matches
+    # nothing. The orphan check would then be blind to exactly the long-lived
+    # processes it exists to find — verified: two orphans (a stale-cert
+    # redirector and a Blaze sidecar) were both invisible to this until the
+    # suffix was stripped.
+    exe="$(readlink "$d/exe" 2>/dev/null)" || continue
+    exe="${exe% (deleted)}"
     [[ "${exe##*/}" == "openfut-blaze-host" ]] && echo "$pid"
   done
   return 0
diff --git a/openfut-redirector-host/redirector.sh b/openfut-redirector-host/redirector.sh
index ee13ddd..3741b80 100755
--- a/openfut-redirector-host/redirector.sh
+++ b/openfut-redirector-host/redirector.sh
@@ -35,7 +35,14 @@ list_procs() {
   local self=$$ pid exe
   for d in /proc/[0-9]*; do
     pid="${d#/proc/}"; [[ "$pid" == "$self" ]] && continue
-    exe="$(readlink -f "$d/exe" 2>/dev/null)" || continue
+    # readlink, NOT readlink -f: once the binary is rebuilt the link reads
+    # "<path> (deleted)", and -f resolves that to something that matches
+    # nothing. The orphan check would then be blind to exactly the long-lived
+    # processes it exists to find — verified: two orphans (a stale-cert
+    # redirector and a Blaze sidecar) were both invisible to this until the
+    # suffix was stripped.
+    exe="$(readlink "$d/exe" 2>/dev/null)" || continue
+    exe="${exe% (deleted)}"
     [[ "${exe##*/}" == "openfut-redirector-host" ]] && echo "$pid"
   done
   return 0