Comment 4 for bug 1791405

The D-Bus end-points for those 2 properties are:
property_set_discoverable and property_set_discoverable_timeout
in src/adapter.c

bluetoothd, to change those properties, calls out asynchronously to the kernel:
property_set_mode -> async stuff -> property_set_mode_complete -> new_settings_callback() sets adapter->current_settings

And to those used to async programming, the problem should be obvious. In
property_set_discoverable_timeout():
        if (adapter->current_settings & MGMT_SETTING_DISCOVERABLE)
                set_discoverable(adapter, 0x01, adapter->discoverable_timeout);

So if a discoverable setting is pending, adapter->current_settings isn't set to the new value, and discoverable is *reset* to on.

This is a definite bug in bluez, though work-aroundable in gnome-bluetooth.