diff --git a/t/t3200-branch.sh b/t/t3200-branch.sh
index 029f19d6fa..a891fa47d3 100755
--- a/t/t3200-branch.sh
+++ b/t/t3200-branch.sh
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ test_expect_success \
      git-commit -m "Initial commit." &&
      HEAD=$(git rev-parse --verify HEAD)'
 
-true ||
 test_expect_failure \
     'git branch --help should not have created a bogus branch' \
     'git branch --help </dev/null >/dev/null 2>/dev/null || :
diff --git a/t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh b/t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh
index c031d31698..f1039d1a21 100755
--- a/t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh
+++ b/t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ test_expect_success 'retain authorship' '
 	test_tick &&
 	GIT_AUTHOR_NAME="Twerp Snog" git commit -m "different author" &&
 	git tag twerp &&
-	git rebase -i --onto master HEAD~1 &&
+	git rebase -i --onto master HEAD^ &&
 	git show HEAD | grep "^Author: Twerp Snog"
 '
 
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ test_expect_success 'preserve merges with -p' '
 
 test_expect_success '--continue tries to commit' '
 	test_tick &&
-	! git rebase -i --onto new-branch1 HEAD~1 &&
+	! git rebase -i --onto new-branch1 HEAD^ &&
 	echo resolved > file1 &&
 	git add file1 &&
 	FAKE_COMMIT_MESSAGE="chouette!" git rebase --continue &&
@@ -217,9 +217,9 @@ test_expect_success '--continue tries to commit' '
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'verbose flag is heeded, even after --continue' '
-	git reset --hard $(git rev-parse HEAD@{1}) &&
+	git reset --hard HEAD@{1} &&
 	test_tick &&
-	! git rebase -v -i --onto new-branch1 HEAD~1 &&
+	! git rebase -v -i --onto new-branch1 HEAD^ &&
 	echo resolved > file1 &&
 	git add file1 &&
 	git rebase --continue > output &&
diff --git a/t/t3900-i18n-commit.sh b/t/t3900-i18n-commit.sh
index 12812f924a..94b1c24b0a 100755
--- a/t/t3900-i18n-commit.sh
+++ b/t/t3900-i18n-commit.sh
@@ -7,10 +7,6 @@ test_description='commit and log output encodings'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-say "iconv not supported, skipping tests."
-test_done
-exit 0
-
 compare_with () {
 	git show -s $1 | sed -e '1,/^$/d' -e 's/^    //' >current &&
 	git diff current "$2"
diff --git a/t/t4121-apply-diffs.sh b/t/t4121-apply-diffs.sh
index d93b61d8c4..aff551a1d7 100755
--- a/t/t4121-apply-diffs.sh
+++ b/t/t4121-apply-diffs.sh
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 test_description='git apply for contextually independent diffs'
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-test_done
-
 echo '1
 2
 3
diff --git a/t/t5100-mailinfo.sh b/t/t5100-mailinfo.sh
index 0dcab1fbfe..9b1a74542a 100755
--- a/t/t5100-mailinfo.sh
+++ b/t/t5100-mailinfo.sh
@@ -7,10 +7,6 @@ test_description='git mailinfo and git mailsplit test'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-say "git-mailinfo does not work yet; skipping tests."
-test_done
-exit 0
-
 test_expect_success 'split sample box' \
 	'git mailsplit -o. ../t5100/sample.mbox >last &&
 	last=`cat last` &&
diff --git a/t/t5302-pack-index.sh b/t/t5302-pack-index.sh
index 8f62429306..2a2878b572 100755
--- a/t/t5302-pack-index.sh
+++ b/t/t5302-pack-index.sh
@@ -59,7 +59,6 @@ test_expect_success \
     'cmp "test-1-${pack1}.idx" "1.idx" &&
      cmp "test-2-${pack2}.idx" "2.idx"'
 
-false && {
 test_expect_success \
     'index v2: force some 64-bit offsets with pack-objects' \
     'pack3=$(git pack-objects --index-version=2,0x40000 test-3 <obj-list)'
@@ -162,6 +161,5 @@ test_expect_failure \
 test_expect_failure \
     '[index v2] 5) pack-objects refuses to reuse corrupted data' \
     'git pack-objects test-5 <obj-list'
-}
 
 test_done
diff --git a/t/t6023-merge-file.sh b/t/t6023-merge-file.sh
index 2dd852c782..ae3b6f2831 100755
--- a/t/t6023-merge-file.sh
+++ b/t/t6023-merge-file.sh
@@ -134,9 +134,6 @@ EOF
 
 test_expect_success "expected conflict markers" "git diff expect out"
 
-# the rest fails for some unknown reason
-test_done
-
 test_expect_success 'binary files cannot be merged' '
 	! git merge-file -p orig.txt ../test4012.png new1.txt 2> merge.err &&
 	grep "Cannot merge binary files" merge.err
diff --git a/t/t6200-fmt-merge-msg.sh b/t/t6200-fmt-merge-msg.sh
index 878f51a8d9..526d7d1c44 100755
--- a/t/t6200-fmt-merge-msg.sh
+++ b/t/t6200-fmt-merge-msg.sh
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ test_description='fmt-merge-msg test'
 
 datestamp=1151939923
 setdate () {
-	sleep 1
 	GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="$datestamp +0200"
 	GIT_AUTHOR_DATE="$datestamp +0200"
 	datestamp=`expr "$datestamp" + 1`
diff --git a/t/t7003-filter-branch.sh b/t/t7003-filter-branch.sh
index ed467c7009..2089351f7d 100755
--- a/t/t7003-filter-branch.sh
+++ b/t/t7003-filter-branch.sh
@@ -3,9 +3,6 @@
 test_description='git-filter-branch'
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-say "filter-branch has not been taken care of - skipping tests"
-test_done
-
 make_commit () {
 	lower=$(echo $1 | tr A-Z a-z)
 	echo $lower > $lower
diff --git a/t/t7004-tag.sh b/t/t7004-tag.sh
index 42d4e42dec..b9ac9e3eb3 100755
--- a/t/t7004-tag.sh
+++ b/t/t7004-tag.sh
@@ -116,9 +116,9 @@ mytag
 EOF
 test_expect_success \
 	'trying to delete tags without params should succeed and do nothing' '
-	git tag -l | cat > actual && git diff expect actual &&
+	git tag -l > actual && git diff expect actual &&
 	git-tag -d &&
-	git tag -l | cat > actual && git diff expect actual
+	git tag -l > actual && git diff expect actual
 '
 
 test_expect_success \
diff --git a/t/t9300-fast-import.sh b/t/t9300-fast-import.sh
index d92bf36f9c..0595041af5 100755
--- a/t/t9300-fast-import.sh
+++ b/t/t9300-fast-import.sh
@@ -7,10 +7,6 @@ test_description='test git-fast-import utility'
 . ./test-lib.sh
 . ../diff-lib.sh ;# test-lib chdir's into trash
 
-say "git-fast-import has not been taken care of, skipping test."
-test_done
-exit 0
-
 file2_data='file2
 second line of EOF'