diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5a969f5830..28d78688fa 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2567,6 +2567,7 @@ GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS: FORCE
 	@echo NO_UNIX_SOCKETS=\''$(subst ','\'',$(subst ','\'',$(NO_UNIX_SOCKETS)))'\' >>$@+
 	@echo PAGER_ENV=\''$(subst ','\'',$(subst ','\'',$(PAGER_ENV)))'\' >>$@+
 	@echo DC_SHA1=\''$(subst ','\'',$(subst ','\'',$(DC_SHA1)))'\' >>$@+
+	@echo X=\'$(X)\' >>$@+
 ifdef TEST_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY
 	@echo TEST_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY=\''$(subst ','\'',$(subst ','\'',$(TEST_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY)))'\' >>$@+
 endif
diff --git a/t/lib-gettext.sh b/t/lib-gettext.sh
index eec757f104..9eb160c997 100644
--- a/t/lib-gettext.sh
+++ b/t/lib-gettext.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,12 @@ GIT_TEXTDOMAINDIR="$GIT_BUILD_DIR/po/build/locale"
 GIT_PO_PATH="$GIT_BUILD_DIR/po"
 export GIT_TEXTDOMAINDIR GIT_PO_PATH
 
-. "$GIT_BUILD_DIR"/git-sh-i18n
+if test -n "$GIT_TEST_INSTALLED"
+then
+	. "$(git --exec-path)"/git-sh-i18n
+else
+	. "$GIT_BUILD_DIR"/git-sh-i18n
+fi
 
 if test_have_prereq GETTEXT && ! test_have_prereq GETTEXT_POISON
 then
diff --git a/t/test-lib-functions.sh b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
index 98c981f4dc..40ef84a97e 100644
--- a/t/test-lib-functions.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
@@ -927,7 +927,8 @@ test_create_repo () {
 	mkdir -p "$repo"
 	(
 		cd "$repo" || error "Cannot setup test environment"
-		"$GIT_EXEC_PATH/git-init" "--template=$GIT_BUILD_DIR/templates/blt/" >&3 2>&4 ||
+		"${GIT_TEST_INSTALLED:-$GIT_EXEC_PATH}/git$X" init \
+			"--template=$GIT_BUILD_DIR/templates/blt/" >&3 2>&4 ||
 		error "cannot run git init -- have you built things yet?"
 		mv .git/hooks .git/hooks-disabled
 	) || exit
diff --git a/t/test-lib.sh b/t/test-lib.sh
index d47c99d43e..4461ea4307 100644
--- a/t/test-lib.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib.sh
@@ -49,18 +49,23 @@ export ASAN_OPTIONS
 : ${LSAN_OPTIONS=abort_on_error=1}
 export LSAN_OPTIONS
 
+if test ! -f "$GIT_BUILD_DIR"/GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS
+then
+	echo >&2 'error: GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS missing (has Git been built?).'
+	exit 1
+fi
+. "$GIT_BUILD_DIR"/GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS
+export PERL_PATH SHELL_PATH
+
 ################################################################
 # It appears that people try to run tests without building...
-"$GIT_BUILD_DIR/git" >/dev/null
+test -n "$GIT_TEST_INSTALLED" || "$GIT_BUILD_DIR/git$X" >/dev/null ||
 if test $? != 1
 then
 	echo >&2 'error: you do not seem to have built git yet.'
 	exit 1
 fi
 
-. "$GIT_BUILD_DIR"/GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS
-export PERL_PATH SHELL_PATH
-
 # if --tee was passed, write the output not only to the terminal, but
 # additionally to the file test-results/$BASENAME.out, too.
 case "$GIT_TEST_TEE_STARTED, $* " in
@@ -1052,7 +1057,7 @@ elif test -n "$GIT_TEST_INSTALLED"
 then
 	GIT_EXEC_PATH=$($GIT_TEST_INSTALLED/git --exec-path)  ||
 	error "Cannot run git from $GIT_TEST_INSTALLED."
-	PATH=$GIT_TEST_INSTALLED:$GIT_BUILD_DIR:$PATH
+	PATH=$GIT_TEST_INSTALLED:$GIT_BUILD_DIR/t/helper:$PATH
 	GIT_EXEC_PATH=${GIT_TEST_EXEC_PATH:-$GIT_EXEC_PATH}
 else # normal case, use ../bin-wrappers only unless $with_dashes:
 	git_bin_dir="$GIT_BUILD_DIR/bin-wrappers"