From a33234f79bb8042dd65dc40ee1bd7171148e67df Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "copilot-swe-agent[bot]" <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2026 22:01:12 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Initial plan


From 3a4b695563b10e47c4628e952e39ab1fb69e3691 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "copilot-swe-agent[bot]" <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2026 22:23:43 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Remove Start/Wait from CmdRunner interface; add
 regression test

Co-authored-by: meling <810999+meling@users.noreply.github.com>
---
 cmd.go       |  2 --
 cmd_test.go  |  2 --
 iago_test.go | 21 +++++++++++++++++++++
 ssh.go       |  8 ++++----
 4 files changed, 25 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/cmd.go b/cmd.go
index caa954e..02260d2 100644
--- a/cmd.go
+++ b/cmd.go
@@ -13,8 +13,6 @@ import (
 type CmdRunner interface {
 	Run(cmd string) error
 	RunContext(ctx context.Context, cmd string) error
-	Start(cmd string) error
-	Wait() error
 
 	StdinPipe() (io.WriteCloser, error)
 	StdoutPipe() (io.ReadCloser, error)
diff --git a/cmd_test.go b/cmd_test.go
index 083b5a0..fa7a2a3 100644
--- a/cmd_test.go
+++ b/cmd_test.go
@@ -20,8 +20,6 @@ type fakeCmdRunner struct {
 
 func (r *fakeCmdRunner) Run(string) error                         { return r.err }
 func (r *fakeCmdRunner) RunContext(context.Context, string) error { return r.err }
-func (r *fakeCmdRunner) Start(string) error                       { return r.err }
-func (r *fakeCmdRunner) Wait() error                              { return r.err }
 func (r *fakeCmdRunner) StdinPipe() (io.WriteCloser, error)       { return nil, errors.New("not supported") }
 func (r *fakeCmdRunner) StdoutPipe() (io.ReadCloser, error) {
 	return io.NopCloser(strings.NewReader(r.output)), nil
diff --git a/iago_test.go b/iago_test.go
index f9b0e95..69a2669 100644
--- a/iago_test.go
+++ b/iago_test.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/relab/iago"
 	"github.com/relab/iago/iagotest"
@@ -78,6 +79,26 @@ func TestIago(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestStartHonorsContextTimeout verifies that a task using the "start now,
+// wait later" pattern via RunContext respects the group's timeout: a
+// long-running remote command must be aborted promptly when the context
+// deadline expires, instead of blocking until the remote process exits.
+func TestStartHonorsContextTimeout(t *testing.T) {
+	g := iagotest.CreateSSHGroup(t, 1, false)
+	g.Timeout = 500 * time.Millisecond
+
+	start := time.Now()
+	g.ErrorHandler = iago.Ignore
+	g.Run("Sleep beyond timeout", func(ctx context.Context, host iago.Host) error {
+		return iago.Shell{Command: "sleep 60"}.Apply(ctx, host)
+	})
+	elapsed := time.Since(start)
+
+	if elapsed >= 60*time.Second {
+		t.Fatalf("Wait did not honor context timeout: took %s", elapsed)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestIagoDownloadExample(t *testing.T) {
 	dir := t.TempDir()
 
diff --git a/ssh.go b/ssh.go
index b0535df..d6e79af 100644
--- a/ssh.go
+++ b/ssh.go
@@ -639,7 +639,7 @@ func (c sshCmd) Run(cmd string) (err error) {
 }
 
 func (c sshCmd) RunContext(ctx context.Context, cmd string) (err error) {
-	if err = c.session.Start(cmd); err != nil {
+	if err = c.start(cmd); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
@@ -657,14 +657,14 @@ func (c sshCmd) RunContext(ctx context.Context, cmd string) (err error) {
 		errChan <- c.session.Close()
 	}()
 
-	return c.session.Wait()
+	return c.wait()
 }
 
-func (c sshCmd) Start(cmd string) error {
+func (c sshCmd) start(cmd string) error {
 	return c.session.Start(cmd)
 }
 
-func (c sshCmd) Wait() (err error) {
+func (c sshCmd) wait() (err error) {
 	defer safeClose(c.session, &err, io.EOF)
 	return c.session.Wait()
 }