diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index d81a53a522..af873aee44 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2592,6 +2592,7 @@ 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 755f421431..2139b427ca 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 C_LOCALE_OUTPUT
 then
diff --git a/t/test-lib-functions.sh b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
index 4397c01be0..b4e391526a 100644
--- a/t/test-lib-functions.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
@@ -923,7 +923,8 @@ 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 219ca1d520..6c6c0af7a1 100644
--- a/t/test-lib.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib.sh
@@ -49,18 +49,28 @@ export ASAN_OPTIONS
 : ${LSAN_OPTIONS=abort_on_error=1}
 export LSAN_OPTIONS
 
-################################################################
-# It appears that people try to run tests without building...
-"$GIT_BUILD_DIR/git" >/dev/null
-if test $? != 1
+if test ! -f "$GIT_BUILD_DIR"/GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS
 then
-	echo >&2 'error: you do not seem to have built git yet.'
+	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...
+"${GIT_TEST_INSTALLED:-$GIT_BUILD_DIR}/git$X" >/dev/null
+if test $? != 1
+then
+	if test -n "$GIT_TEST_INSTALLED"
+	then
+		echo >&2 "error: there is no working Git at '$GIT_TEST_INSTALLED'"
+	else
+		echo >&2 'error: you do not seem to have built git yet.'
+	fi
+	exit 1
+fi
+
 # if --tee was passed, write the output not only to the terminal, but
 # additionally to the file test-results/$BASENAME.out, too.
 case "$GIT_TEST_TEE_STARTED, $* " in
@@ -967,7 +977,7 @@ elif test -n "$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"