diff --git a/t/README b/t/README
index 0e4e8d8862..aa4ed280b3 100644
--- a/t/README
+++ b/t/README
@@ -18,25 +18,48 @@ The easiest way to run tests is to say "make".  This runs all
 the tests.
 
     *** t0000-basic.sh ***
-    *   ok 1: .git/objects should be empty after git-init in an empty repo.
-    *   ok 2: .git/objects should have 256 subdirectories.
-    *   ok 3: git-update-index without --add should fail adding.
-    ...
-    *   ok 23: no diff after checkout and git-update-index --refresh.
-    * passed all 23 test(s)
-    *** t0100-environment-names.sh ***
-    *   ok 1: using old names should issue warnings.
-    *   ok 2: using old names but having new names should not issue warnings.
+    ok 1 - .git/objects should be empty after git init in an empty repo.
+    ok 2 - .git/objects should have 3 subdirectories.
+    ok 3 - success is reported like this
     ...
+    ok 43 - very long name in the index handled sanely
+    # fixed 1 known breakage(s)
+    # still have 1 known breakage(s)
+    # passed all remaining 42 test(s)
+    1..43
+    *** t0001-init.sh ***
+    ok 1 - plain
+    ok 2 - plain with GIT_WORK_TREE
+    ok 3 - plain bare
 
-Or you can run each test individually from command line, like
-this:
+Since the tests all output TAP (see http://testanything.org) they can
+be run with any TAP harness. Here's an example of paralell testing
+powered by a recent version of prove(1):
 
-    $ sh ./t3001-ls-files-killed.sh
-    *   ok 1: git-update-index --add to add various paths.
-    *   ok 2: git-ls-files -k to show killed files.
-    *   ok 3: validate git-ls-files -k output.
-    * passed all 3 test(s)
+    $ prove --timer --jobs 15 ./t[0-9]*.sh
+    [19:17:33] ./t0005-signals.sh ................................... ok       36 ms
+    [19:17:33] ./t0022-crlf-rename.sh ............................... ok       69 ms
+    [19:17:33] ./t0024-crlf-archive.sh .............................. ok      154 ms
+    [19:17:33] ./t0004-unwritable.sh ................................ ok      289 ms
+    [19:17:33] ./t0002-gitfile.sh ................................... ok      480 ms
+    ===(     102;0  25/?  6/?  5/?  16/?  1/?  4/?  2/?  1/?  3/?  1... )===
+
+prove and other harnesses come with a lot of useful options. The
+--state option in particular is very useful:
+
+    # Repeat until no more failures
+    $ prove -j 15 --state=failed,save ./t[0-9]*.sh
+
+You can also run each test individually from command line, like this:
+
+    $ sh ./t3010-ls-files-killed-modified.sh
+    ok 1 - git update-index --add to add various paths.
+    ok 2 - git ls-files -k to show killed files.
+    ok 3 - validate git ls-files -k output.
+    ok 4 - git ls-files -m to show modified files.
+    ok 5 - validate git ls-files -m output.
+    # passed all 5 test(s)
+    1..5
 
 You can pass --verbose (or -v), --debug (or -d), and --immediate
 (or -i) command line argument to the test, or by setting GIT_TEST_OPTS
diff --git a/t/test-lib.sh b/t/test-lib.sh
index 367f0537cd..e97645ca8f 100644
--- a/t/test-lib.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib.sh
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ if test -n "$color"; then
 			*) test -n "$quiet" && return;;
 		esac
 		shift
-		printf "* %s" "$*"
+		printf "%s" "$*"
 		tput sgr0
 		echo
 		)
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ else
 	say_color() {
 		test -z "$1" && test -n "$quiet" && return
 		shift
-		echo "* $*"
+		echo "$*"
 	}
 fi
 
@@ -339,25 +339,25 @@ test_have_prereq () {
 
 test_ok_ () {
 	test_success=$(($test_success + 1))
-	say_color "" "  ok $test_count: $@"
+	say_color "" "ok $test_count - $@"
 }
 
 test_failure_ () {
 	test_failure=$(($test_failure + 1))
-	say_color error "FAIL $test_count: $1"
+	say_color error "not ok - $test_count $1"
 	shift
-	echo "$@" | sed -e 's/^/	/'
+	echo "$@" | sed -e 's/^/#	/'
 	test "$immediate" = "" || { GIT_EXIT_OK=t; exit 1; }
 }
 
 test_known_broken_ok_ () {
 	test_fixed=$(($test_fixed+1))
-	say_color "" "  FIXED $test_count: $@"
+	say_color "" "ok $test_count - $@ # TODO known breakage"
 }
 
 test_known_broken_failure_ () {
 	test_broken=$(($test_broken+1))
-	say_color skip "  still broken $test_count: $@"
+	say_color skip "not ok $test_count - $@ # TODO known breakage"
 }
 
 test_debug () {
@@ -390,7 +390,7 @@ test_skip () {
 	case "$to_skip" in
 	t)
 		say_color skip >&3 "skipping test: $@"
-		say_color skip "skip $test_count: $1"
+		say_color skip "ok $test_count: # skip $1"
 		: true
 		;;
 	*)
@@ -620,18 +620,22 @@ test_done () {
 
 	if test "$test_fixed" != 0
 	then
-		say_color pass "fixed $test_fixed known breakage(s)"
+		say_color pass "# fixed $test_fixed known breakage(s)"
 	fi
 	if test "$test_broken" != 0
 	then
-		say_color error "still have $test_broken known breakage(s)"
+		say_color error "# still have $test_broken known breakage(s)"
 		msg="remaining $(($test_count-$test_broken)) test(s)"
 	else
 		msg="$test_count test(s)"
 	fi
 	case "$test_failure" in
 	0)
-		say_color pass "passed all $msg"
+		# Maybe print SKIP message
+		[ -z "$skip_all" ] || skip_all=" # SKIP $skip_all"
+
+		say_color pass "# passed all $msg"
+		say "1..$test_count$skip_all"
 
 		test -d "$remove_trash" &&
 		cd "$(dirname "$remove_trash")" &&
@@ -640,7 +644,9 @@ test_done () {
 		exit 0 ;;
 
 	*)
-		say_color error "failed $test_failure among $msg"
+		say_color error "# failed $test_failure among $msg"
+		say "1..$test_count"
+
 		exit 1 ;;
 
 	esac