From 8afecde5275f689bcbfb508aa47241dd7ecdf884 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:05:52 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 01/20] t: skip chain lint when PERL_PATH is unset

Our chainlint script verifies that test files have proper '&&' chains.
This script is written in Perl and executed for every test file before
executing the test logic itself.

In subsequent commits we're about to refactor our test suite so that
Perl becomes an optional dependency, only. And while it is already
possible to disable this linter, developers that don't have Perl
available at all would always have to disable the linter manually, which
is rather cumbersome.

Disable the chain linter automatically in case PERL_PATH isn't set to
make this a bit less annoying. Bail out with an error in case the
developer has asked explicitly for the chain linter.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 t/test-lib.sh | 16 ++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 16 insertions(+)

diff --git a/t/test-lib.sh b/t/test-lib.sh
index 9001ed3a64..1ce3b32fca 100644
--- a/t/test-lib.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib.sh
@@ -1523,6 +1523,22 @@ then
 	export LSAN_OPTIONS
 fi
 
+if test -z "$PERL_PATH"
+then
+	case "${GIT_TEST_CHAIN_LINT:-unset}" in
+	unset)
+		GIT_TEST_CHAIN_LINT=0
+		;;
+	0)
+		# The user has explicitly disabled the chain linter, so we
+		# don't have anything to worry about.
+		;;
+	*)
+		BAIL_OUT 'You need Perl for the chain linter'
+		;;
+	esac
+fi
+
 if test "${GIT_TEST_CHAIN_LINT:-1}" != 0 &&
    test "${GIT_TEST_EXT_CHAIN_LINT:-1}" != 0
 then

From 7792d326f19bd1386600975d97f854d17d74c618 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:05:53 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 02/20] t: refactor environment sanitization to not use Perl

Before executing tests we first sanitize the environment. Part of the
sanitization is to unset a couple of environment variables that we know
will change the behaviour of Git. This is done with a small Perl script,
which has the consequence that having a Perl interpreter available is a
strict requirement for running our unit tests.

The logic itself isn't particularly involved: we simply unset every
environment variable whose key starts with 'GIT_', but then explicitly
allow a subset of these.

Refactor the logic to instead use sed(1) so that it becomes possible to
execute our tests without Perl.

Based-on-patch-by: Johannes Schindelin <Johannes.Schindelin@gmx.de>
Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 t/test-lib.sh | 32 ++++++++++++++------------------
 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 18 deletions(-)

diff --git a/t/test-lib.sh b/t/test-lib.sh
index 1ce3b32fca..a62699d6c7 100644
--- a/t/test-lib.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib.sh
@@ -499,24 +499,20 @@ EDITOR=:
 # /usr/xpg4/bin/sh and /bin/ksh to bail out.  So keep the unsets
 # deriving from the command substitution clustered with the other
 # ones.
-unset VISUAL EMAIL LANGUAGE $("$PERL_PATH" -e '
-	my @env = keys %ENV;
-	my $ok = join("|", qw(
-		TRACE
-		DEBUG
-		TEST
-		.*_TEST
-		PROVE
-		VALGRIND
-		UNZIP
-		PERF_
-		CURL_VERBOSE
-		TRACE_CURL
-		BUILD_DIR
-	));
-	my @vars = grep(/^GIT_/ && !/^GIT_($ok)/o, @env);
-	print join("\n", @vars);
-')
+unset VISUAL EMAIL LANGUAGE $(env | sed -n \
+	-e '/^GIT_TRACE/d' \
+	-e '/^GIT_DEBUG/d' \
+	-e '/^GIT_TEST/d' \
+	-e '/^GIT_.*_TEST/d' \
+	-e '/^GIT_PROVE/d' \
+	-e '/^GIT_VALGRIND/d' \
+	-e '/^GIT_UNZIP/d' \
+	-e '/^GIT_PERF_/d' \
+	-e '/^GIT_CURL_VERBOSE/d' \
+	-e '/^GIT_TRACE_CURL/d' \
+	-e '/^GIT_BUILD_DIR/d' \
+	-e 's/^\(GIT_[^=]*\)=.*/\1/p'
+)
 unset XDG_CACHE_HOME
 unset XDG_CONFIG_HOME
 unset GITPERLLIB

From 2df6710097cf7abe07e4e3b42955cc881ca7aa22 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:05:54 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 03/20] t: adapt character translation helpers to not use Perl

We have a couple of helper functions that translate characters, e.g.
from LF to NUL or NUL to 'Q' and vice versa. These helpers use Perl
scripts, but they can be trivially adapted to instead use tr(1).

Note that one specialty here is the handling of NUL characters in tr(1),
which historically wasn't implemented correctly on all platforms. But
quoting tr(1p):

    It was considered that automatically stripping NUL characters from
    the input was not correct functionality.  However, the removal of -n
    in a later proposal does not remove the requirement that tr
    correctly process NUL characters in its input stream.

So when tr(1) is implemented following the POSIX standard then it is
expected to handle the transliteration of NUL just fine.

Refactor the helpers accordingly, which allows a bunch of tests to pass
when Perl is not available.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 t/test-lib-functions.sh | 6 +++---
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/t/test-lib-functions.sh b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
index 79377bc0fc..377f08a142 100644
--- a/t/test-lib-functions.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
@@ -88,15 +88,15 @@ test_decode_color () {
 }
 
 lf_to_nul () {
-	perl -pe 'y/\012/\000/'
+	tr '\012' '\000'
 }
 
 nul_to_q () {
-	perl -pe 'y/\000/Q/'
+	tr '\000' 'Q'
 }
 
 q_to_nul () {
-	perl -pe 'y/Q/\000/'
+	tr 'Q' '\000'
 }
 
 q_to_cr () {

From 01486b5de886af06c5bbfb097736ec97b86bacda Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:05:55 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 04/20] t: adapt `test_copy_bytes()` to not use Perl

The `test_copy_bytes()` helper function copies up to N bytes from stdin
to stdout. This is implemented using Perl, but it can be trivially
adapted to instead use dd(1).

Refactor the helper accordingly, which allows a bunch of tests to pass
when Perl is not available.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 t/test-lib-functions.sh | 12 +-----------
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/t/test-lib-functions.sh b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
index 377f08a142..c4b4d3a4c7 100644
--- a/t/test-lib-functions.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
@@ -1640,17 +1640,7 @@ test_match_signal () {
 
 # Read up to "$1" bytes (or to EOF) from stdin and write them to stdout.
 test_copy_bytes () {
-	perl -e '
-		my $len = $ARGV[1];
-		while ($len > 0) {
-			my $s;
-			my $nread = sysread(STDIN, $s, $len);
-			die "cannot read: $!" unless defined($nread);
-			last unless $nread;
-			print $s;
-			$len -= $nread;
-		}
-	' - "$1"
+	dd ibs=1 count="$1" 2>/dev/null
 }
 
 # run "$@" inside a non-git directory

From 21386ed6ebde7a29de5a41639a714cecf69191e3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:05:56 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 05/20] t: adapt `test_readlink()` to not use Perl

The `test_readlink()` helper function reads a symbolic link and returns
the path it is pointing to. It is thus equivalent to the readlink(1)
utility, which isn't available on all supported platforms. As such, it
is implemented using Perl so that we can use it even on platforms where
the shell utility isn't available.

While using readlink(1) is not an option, what we can do is to implement
the logic ourselves in our test-tool. Do so, which allows a bunch of
tests to pass when Perl is not available.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 t/helper/test-path-utils.c | 13 +++++++++++++
 t/test-lib-functions.sh    |  2 +-
 2 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/t/helper/test-path-utils.c b/t/helper/test-path-utils.c
index 72ac8d1b1b..54d9ba98c0 100644
--- a/t/helper/test-path-utils.c
+++ b/t/helper/test-path-utils.c
@@ -323,6 +323,19 @@ int cmd__path_utils(int argc, const char **argv)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	if (argc >= 2 && !strcmp(argv[1], "readlink")) {
+		struct strbuf target = STRBUF_INIT;
+		while (argc > 2) {
+			if (strbuf_readlink(&target, argv[2], 0) < 0)
+				die_errno("cannot read link at '%s'", argv[2]);
+			puts(target.buf);
+			argc--;
+			argv++;
+		}
+		strbuf_release(&target);
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	if (argc >= 2 && !strcmp(argv[1], "absolute_path")) {
 		while (argc > 2) {
 			puts(absolute_path(argv[2]));
diff --git a/t/test-lib-functions.sh b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
index c4b4d3a4c7..bff8c4d1b4 100644
--- a/t/test-lib-functions.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
@@ -1979,7 +1979,7 @@ test_remote_https_urls() {
 # Print the destination of symlink(s) provided as arguments. Basically
 # the same as the readlink command, but it's not available everywhere.
 test_readlink () {
-	perl -le 'print readlink($_) for @ARGV' "$@"
+	test-tool path-utils readlink "$@"
 }
 
 # Set mtime to a fixed "magic" timestamp in mid February 2009, before we

From 23e21a58d5c7b5ae7b4b5532933e0f82e24024fe Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:05:57 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 06/20] t: introduce PERL_TEST_HELPERS prerequisite

In the early days of Git, Perl was used quite prominently throughout the
project. This has changed significantly as almost all of the executables
we ship nowadays have eventually been rewritten in C. Only a handful of
subsystems remain that require Perl:

  - gitweb, a read-only web interface.

  - A couple of scripts that allow importing repositories from GNU Arch,
    CVS and Subversion.

  - git-send-email(1), which can be used to send mails.

  - git-request-pull(1), which is used to request somebody to pull from
    a URL by sending an email.

  - git-filter-branch(1), which uses Perl with the `--state-branch`
    option. This command is typically recommended against nowadays in
    favor of git-filter-repo(1).

  - Our Perl bindings for Git.

  - The netrc Git credential helper.

None of these subsystems can really be considered to be part of the
"core" of Git, and an installation without them is fully functional.
It is more likely than not that an end user wouldn't even notice that
any features are missing if those tools weren't installed. But while
Perl nowadays very much is an optional dependency of Git, there is a
significant limitation when Perl isn't available: developers cannot run
our test suite.

Preceding commits have started to lift this restriction by removing the
strict dependency on Perl in many central parts of the test library. But
there are still many tests that rely on small Perl helpers to do various
different things.

Introduce a new PERL_TEST_HELPERS prerequisite that guards all tests
that require Perl. This prerequisite is explicitly different than the
preexisting PERL prerequisite:

  - PERL records whether or not features depending on the Perl
    interpreter are built.

  - PERL_TEST_HELPERS records whether or not a Perl interpreter is
    available for our tests.

By having these two separate prerequisites we can thus distinguish
between tests that inherently depend on Perl because the underlying
feature does, and those tests that depend on Perl because the test
itself is using Perl.

Adapt all tests to set the PERL_TEST_HELPERS prerequisite as needed.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 t/t0008-ignores.sh                        |  6 +++++
 t/t0021-conversion.sh                     |  4 +--
 t/t0210-trace2-normal.sh                  |  6 +++++
 t/t0211-trace2-perf.sh                    |  6 +++++
 t/t0610-reftable-basics.sh                |  2 +-
 t/t0613-reftable-write-options.sh         |  2 +-
 t/t1006-cat-file.sh                       |  2 +-
 t/t1007-hash-object.sh                    |  6 ++---
 t/t1010-mktree.sh                         |  4 +--
 t/t1450-fsck.sh                           |  6 ++---
 t/t3300-funny-names.sh                    |  6 ++---
 t/t4013-diff-various.sh                   |  6 +++++
 t/t4014-format-patch.sh                   | 30 +++++++++++------------
 t/t4020-diff-external.sh                  |  4 +--
 t/t4029-diff-trailing-space.sh            |  2 +-
 t/t4030-diff-textconv.sh                  |  6 +++++
 t/t4031-diff-rewrite-binary.sh            |  2 +-
 t/t4058-diff-duplicates.sh                |  6 +++++
 t/t4103-apply-binary.sh                   |  6 +++++
 t/t4116-apply-reverse.sh                  |  6 +++++
 t/t4150-am.sh                             |  2 +-
 t/t4200-rerere.sh                         |  6 +++++
 t/t4205-log-pretty-formats.sh             |  6 ++---
 t/t4216-log-bloom.sh                      |  8 +++---
 t/t5004-archive-corner-cases.sh           |  6 +++++
 t/t5300-pack-object.sh                    |  6 +++++
 t/t5303-pack-corruption-resilience.sh     |  4 +--
 t/t5310-pack-bitmaps.sh                   |  2 +-
 t/t5316-pack-delta-depth.sh               |  8 +++---
 t/t5318-commit-graph.sh                   | 12 ++++-----
 t/t5319-multi-pack-index.sh               | 16 ++++++------
 t/t5324-split-commit-graph.sh             |  2 +-
 t/t5326-multi-pack-bitmaps.sh             |  2 +-
 t/t5328-commit-graph-64bit-time.sh        |  2 +-
 t/t5333-pseudo-merge-bitmaps.sh           |  6 +++++
 t/t5400-send-pack.sh                      |  2 +-
 t/t5410-receive-pack-alternates.sh        |  4 +--
 t/t5503-tagfollow.sh                      |  6 +++++
 t/t5504-fetch-receive-strict.sh           |  2 +-
 t/t5510-fetch.sh                          |  6 +++++
 t/t5532-fetch-proxy.sh                    |  6 +++++
 t/t5534-push-signed.sh                    |  2 +-
 t/t5537-fetch-shallow.sh                  |  2 +-
 t/t5551-http-fetch-smart.sh               |  7 ++++++
 t/t5562-http-backend-content-length.sh    |  6 +++++
 t/t5601-clone.sh                          |  4 +--
 t/t5616-partial-clone.sh                  |  6 ++---
 t/t5701-git-serve.sh                      |  2 +-
 t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh                    |  6 ++---
 t/t5703-upload-pack-ref-in-want.sh        |  6 +++++
 t/t5710-promisor-remote-capability.sh     |  6 +++++
 t/t6002-rev-list-bisect.sh                |  6 +++++
 t/t6003-rev-list-topo-order.sh            |  6 +++++
 t/t6011-rev-list-with-bad-commit.sh       |  6 +++++
 t/t6013-rev-list-reverse-parents.sh       |  4 +--
 t/t6102-rev-list-unexpected-objects.sh    |  6 +++++
 t/t6115-rev-list-du.sh                    |  6 +++++
 t/t6300-for-each-ref.sh                   |  6 +++++
 t/t7006-pager.sh                          |  2 +-
 t/t7416-submodule-dash-url.sh             |  6 +++++
 t/t7508-status.sh                         |  2 +-
 t/t7815-grep-binary.sh                    |  6 +++++
 t/t8001-annotate.sh                       |  6 +++++
 t/t8002-blame.sh                          |  6 +++++
 t/t8006-blame-textconv.sh                 |  6 +++++
 t/t8011-blame-split-file.sh               |  6 ++---
 t/t8012-blame-colors.sh                   |  6 +++++
 t/t9137-git-svn-dcommit-clobber-series.sh |  4 +--
 t/t9350-fast-export.sh                    |  2 +-
 t/t9850-shell.sh                          |  2 +-
 t/test-lib.sh                             |  1 +
 71 files changed, 281 insertions(+), 93 deletions(-)

diff --git a/t/t0008-ignores.sh b/t/t0008-ignores.sh
index c9376dffb5..1aaa6bf5ae 100755
--- a/t/t0008-ignores.sh
+++ b/t/t0008-ignores.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@ test_description=check-ignore
 TEST_CREATE_REPO_NO_TEMPLATE=1
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping ignores tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 init_vars () {
 	global_excludes="global-excludes"
 }
diff --git a/t/t0021-conversion.sh b/t/t0021-conversion.sh
index 3f6433d304..9c3738ebb3 100755
--- a/t/t0021-conversion.sh
+++ b/t/t0021-conversion.sh
@@ -619,7 +619,7 @@ test_expect_success 'required process filter should be used only for "clean" ope
 	)
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'required process filter should process multiple packets' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'required process filter should process multiple packets' '
 	test_config_global filter.protocol.process "test-tool rot13-filter --log=debug.log clean smudge" &&
 	test_config_global filter.protocol.required true &&
 
@@ -684,7 +684,7 @@ test_expect_success 'required process filter should process multiple packets' '
 	)
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'required process filter with clean error should fail' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'required process filter with clean error should fail' '
 	test_config_global filter.protocol.process "test-tool rot13-filter --log=debug.log clean smudge" &&
 	test_config_global filter.protocol.required true &&
 	rm -rf repo &&
diff --git a/t/t0210-trace2-normal.sh b/t/t0210-trace2-normal.sh
index 4287ed3fbb..ba4c0442b8 100755
--- a/t/t0210-trace2-normal.sh
+++ b/t/t0210-trace2-normal.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ test_description='test trace2 facility (normal target)'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping trace2 tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 # Turn off any inherited trace2 settings for this test.
 sane_unset GIT_TRACE2 GIT_TRACE2_PERF GIT_TRACE2_EVENT
 sane_unset GIT_TRACE2_BRIEF
diff --git a/t/t0211-trace2-perf.sh b/t/t0211-trace2-perf.sh
index bac9046540..760cf69087 100755
--- a/t/t0211-trace2-perf.sh
+++ b/t/t0211-trace2-perf.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ test_description='test trace2 facility (perf target)'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping trace2 tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 # Turn off any inherited trace2 settings for this test.
 sane_unset GIT_TRACE2 GIT_TRACE2_PERF GIT_TRACE2_EVENT
 sane_unset GIT_TRACE2_PERF_BRIEF
diff --git a/t/t0610-reftable-basics.sh b/t/t0610-reftable-basics.sh
index 4618ffc108..5e0a1fa176 100755
--- a/t/t0610-reftable-basics.sh
+++ b/t/t0610-reftable-basics.sh
@@ -643,7 +643,7 @@ test_expect_success 'basic: commit and list refs' '
 	test_cmp actual expect
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'basic: can write large commit message' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'basic: can write large commit message' '
 	test_when_finished "rm -rf repo" &&
 	git init repo &&
 	perl -e "
diff --git a/t/t0613-reftable-write-options.sh b/t/t0613-reftable-write-options.sh
index e2708e11d5..fa1e2f9eef 100755
--- a/t/t0613-reftable-write-options.sh
+++ b/t/t0613-reftable-write-options.sh
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ test_expect_success 'small block size leads to multiple ref blocks' '
 	)
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'small block size fails with large reflog message' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'small block size fails with large reflog message' '
 	test_when_finished "rm -rf repo" &&
 	git init repo &&
 	(
diff --git a/t/t1006-cat-file.sh b/t/t1006-cat-file.sh
index 398865d6eb..a574da3df5 100755
--- a/t/t1006-cat-file.sh
+++ b/t/t1006-cat-file.sh
@@ -1270,7 +1270,7 @@ extract_batch_output () {
     ' "$@"
 }
 
-test_expect_success 'cat-file --batch-all-objects --batch ignores replace' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'cat-file --batch-all-objects --batch ignores replace' '
 	git cat-file --batch-all-objects --batch >actual.raw &&
 	extract_batch_output $orig <actual.raw >actual &&
 	{
diff --git a/t/t1007-hash-object.sh b/t/t1007-hash-object.sh
index a0481139de..b3cf53ff8c 100755
--- a/t/t1007-hash-object.sh
+++ b/t/t1007-hash-object.sh
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ test_expect_success 'too-short tree' '
 	grep "too-short tree object" err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'malformed mode in tree' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'malformed mode in tree' '
 	hex_oid=$(echo foo | git hash-object --stdin -w) &&
 	bin_oid=$(echo $hex_oid | hex2oct) &&
 	printf "9100644 \0$bin_oid" >tree-with-malformed-mode &&
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ test_expect_success 'malformed mode in tree' '
 	grep "malformed mode in tree entry" err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'empty filename in tree' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'empty filename in tree' '
 	hex_oid=$(echo foo | git hash-object --stdin -w) &&
 	bin_oid=$(echo $hex_oid | hex2oct) &&
 	printf "100644 \0$bin_oid" >tree-with-empty-filename &&
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ test_expect_success 'empty filename in tree' '
 	grep "empty filename in tree entry" err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'duplicate filename in tree' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'duplicate filename in tree' '
 	hex_oid=$(echo foo | git hash-object --stdin -w) &&
 	bin_oid=$(echo $hex_oid | hex2oct) &&
 	{
diff --git a/t/t1010-mktree.sh b/t/t1010-mktree.sh
index c291a2b33d..4977998e20 100755
--- a/t/t1010-mktree.sh
+++ b/t/t1010-mktree.sh
@@ -41,13 +41,13 @@ test_expect_success 'ls-tree piped to mktree (2)' '
 	test_cmp tree.withsub actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'ls-tree output in wrong order given to mktree (1)' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'ls-tree output in wrong order given to mktree (1)' '
 	perl -e "print reverse <>" <top |
 	git mktree >actual &&
 	test_cmp tree actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'ls-tree output in wrong order given to mktree (2)' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'ls-tree output in wrong order given to mktree (2)' '
 	perl -e "print reverse <>" <top.withsub |
 	git mktree >actual &&
 	test_cmp tree.withsub actual
diff --git a/t/t1450-fsck.sh b/t/t1450-fsck.sh
index 8a456b1142..0105045376 100755
--- a/t/t1450-fsck.sh
+++ b/t/t1450-fsck.sh
@@ -346,7 +346,7 @@ test_expect_success 'unparseable tree object' '
 	test_grep ! "fatal: empty filename in tree entry" out
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'tree entry with type mismatch' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'tree entry with type mismatch' '
 	test_when_finished "remove_object \$blob" &&
 	test_when_finished "remove_object \$tree" &&
 	test_when_finished "remove_object \$commit" &&
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ test_expect_success 'tree entry with type mismatch' '
 	test_grep ! "dangling blob" out
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'tree entry with bogus mode' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'tree entry with bogus mode' '
 	test_when_finished "remove_object \$blob" &&
 	test_when_finished "remove_object \$tree" &&
 	blob=$(echo blob | git hash-object -w --stdin) &&
@@ -984,7 +984,7 @@ corrupt_index_checksum () {
 
 # Corrupt the checksum on the index and then
 # verify that only fsck notices.
-test_expect_success 'detect corrupt index file in fsck' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'detect corrupt index file in fsck' '
 	cp .git/index .git/index.backup &&
 	test_when_finished "mv .git/index.backup .git/index" &&
 	corrupt_index_checksum &&
diff --git a/t/t3300-funny-names.sh b/t/t3300-funny-names.sh
index f5bf16abcd..502b157205 100755
--- a/t/t3300-funny-names.sh
+++ b/t/t3300-funny-names.sh
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ test_expect_success 'ls-files quotes funny filename' '
 	test_cmp expected current
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'ls-files -z does not quote funny filename' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'ls-files -z does not quote funny filename' '
 	cat >expected <<-\EOF &&
 	just space
 	no-funny
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ test_expect_success 'diff-tree --name-status quotes funny filename' '
 	test_cmp expected current
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'diff-index -z does not quote funny filename' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'diff-index -z does not quote funny filename' '
 	cat >expected <<-\EOF &&
 	A
 	tabs	," (dq) and spaces
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ test_expect_success 'diff-index -z does not quote funny filename' '
 	test_cmp expected current
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'diff-tree -z does not quote funny filename' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'diff-tree -z does not quote funny filename' '
 	cat >expected <<-\EOF &&
 	A
 	tabs	," (dq) and spaces
diff --git a/t/t4013-diff-various.sh b/t/t4013-diff-various.sh
index 3855d68dbc..782d97fb7d 100755
--- a/t/t4013-diff-various.sh
+++ b/t/t4013-diff-various.sh
@@ -11,6 +11,12 @@ export GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME
 . ./test-lib.sh
 . "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/lib-diff.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping diff various tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 test_expect_success setup '
 
 	GIT_AUTHOR_DATE="2006-06-26 00:00:00 +0000" &&
diff --git a/t/t4014-format-patch.sh b/t/t4014-format-patch.sh
index 884f83fb8a..2782b1fc18 100755
--- a/t/t4014-format-patch.sh
+++ b/t/t4014-format-patch.sh
@@ -448,7 +448,7 @@ cat >>expect.no-threading <<EOF
 ---
 EOF
 
-test_expect_success 'no threading' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'no threading' '
 	git checkout side &&
 	check_threading expect.no-threading main
 '
@@ -466,11 +466,11 @@ In-Reply-To: <0>
 References: <0>
 EOF
 
-test_expect_success 'thread' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'thread' '
 	check_threading expect.thread --thread main
 '
 
-test_expect_success '--thread overrides format.thread=deep' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS '--thread overrides format.thread=deep' '
 	test_config format.thread deep &&
 	check_threading expect.thread --thread main
 '
@@ -490,7 +490,7 @@ In-Reply-To: <1>
 References: <1>
 EOF
 
-test_expect_success 'thread in-reply-to' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'thread in-reply-to' '
 	check_threading expect.in-reply-to --in-reply-to="<test.message>" \
 		--thread main
 '
@@ -512,7 +512,7 @@ In-Reply-To: <0>
 References: <0>
 EOF
 
-test_expect_success 'thread cover-letter' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'thread cover-letter' '
 	check_threading expect.cover-letter --cover-letter --thread main
 '
 
@@ -538,12 +538,12 @@ References: <1>
 	<0>
 EOF
 
-test_expect_success 'thread cover-letter in-reply-to' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'thread cover-letter in-reply-to' '
 	check_threading expect.cl-irt --cover-letter \
 		--in-reply-to="<test.message>" --thread main
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'thread explicit shallow' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'thread explicit shallow' '
 	check_threading expect.cl-irt --cover-letter \
 		--in-reply-to="<test.message>" --thread=shallow main
 '
@@ -562,7 +562,7 @@ References: <0>
 	<1>
 EOF
 
-test_expect_success 'thread deep' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'thread deep' '
 	check_threading expect.deep --thread=deep main
 '
 
@@ -584,7 +584,7 @@ References: <1>
 	<2>
 EOF
 
-test_expect_success 'thread deep in-reply-to' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'thread deep in-reply-to' '
 	check_threading expect.deep-irt  --thread=deep \
 		--in-reply-to="<test.message>" main
 '
@@ -609,7 +609,7 @@ References: <0>
 	<2>
 EOF
 
-test_expect_success 'thread deep cover-letter' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'thread deep cover-letter' '
 	check_threading expect.deep-cl --cover-letter --thread=deep main
 '
 
@@ -638,27 +638,27 @@ References: <1>
 	<3>
 EOF
 
-test_expect_success 'thread deep cover-letter in-reply-to' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'thread deep cover-letter in-reply-to' '
 	check_threading expect.deep-cl-irt --cover-letter \
 		--in-reply-to="<test.message>" --thread=deep main
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'thread via config' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'thread via config' '
 	test_config format.thread true &&
 	check_threading expect.thread main
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'thread deep via config' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'thread deep via config' '
 	test_config format.thread deep &&
 	check_threading expect.deep main
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'thread config + override' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'thread config + override' '
 	test_config format.thread deep &&
 	check_threading expect.thread --thread main
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'thread config + --no-thread' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'thread config + --no-thread' '
 	test_config format.thread deep &&
 	check_threading expect.no-threading --no-thread main
 '
diff --git a/t/t4020-diff-external.sh b/t/t4020-diff-external.sh
index f1efe482a5..189294de7e 100755
--- a/t/t4020-diff-external.sh
+++ b/t/t4020-diff-external.sh
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ check_external_diff 128 empty  error 2 on  --quiet
 
 echo NULZbetweenZwords | perl -pe 'y/Z/\000/' > file
 
-test_expect_success 'force diff with "diff"' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'force diff with "diff"' '
 	after=$(git hash-object file) &&
 	after=$(git rev-parse --short $after) &&
 	echo >.gitattributes "file diff" &&
@@ -300,7 +300,7 @@ test_expect_success 'external diff with autocrlf = true' '
 	test $(wc -l <crlfed.txt) = $(keep_only_cr <crlfed.txt | wc -c)
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'diff --cached' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'diff --cached' '
 	test_config core.autocrlf true &&
 	git add file &&
 	git update-index --assume-unchanged file &&
diff --git a/t/t4029-diff-trailing-space.sh b/t/t4029-diff-trailing-space.sh
index 32b6e9a4e7..a92a42990b 100755
--- a/t/t4029-diff-trailing-space.sh
+++ b/t/t4029-diff-trailing-space.sh
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ index 5f6a263..8cb8bae 100644
 EOF
 exit 1
 
-test_expect_success "$test_description" '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS "$test_description" '
 	printf "\nx\n" > f &&
 	before=$(git hash-object f) &&
 	before=$(git rev-parse --short $before) &&
diff --git a/t/t4030-diff-textconv.sh b/t/t4030-diff-textconv.sh
index daebf9796f..c7d8eb1245 100755
--- a/t/t4030-diff-textconv.sh
+++ b/t/t4030-diff-textconv.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ test_description='diff.*.textconv tests'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping diff textconv tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 find_diff() {
 	sed '1,/^index /d' | sed '/^-- $/,$d'
 }
diff --git a/t/t4031-diff-rewrite-binary.sh b/t/t4031-diff-rewrite-binary.sh
index c4394a27b5..cbe50b1577 100755
--- a/t/t4031-diff-rewrite-binary.sh
+++ b/t/t4031-diff-rewrite-binary.sh
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ test_expect_success 'setup textconv' '
 	git config diff.foo.textconv "\"$(pwd)\""/dump
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'rewrite diff respects textconv' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'rewrite diff respects textconv' '
 	git diff -B >diff &&
 	grep "dissimilarity index" diff &&
 	grep "^-61" diff &&
diff --git a/t/t4058-diff-duplicates.sh b/t/t4058-diff-duplicates.sh
index 2fce4a9897..16266dff2a 100755
--- a/t/t4058-diff-duplicates.sh
+++ b/t/t4058-diff-duplicates.sh
@@ -13,6 +13,12 @@ test_description='test tree diff when trees have duplicate entries'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping diff duplicates tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 # make_tree_entry <mode> <mode> <sha1>
 #
 # We have to rely on perl here because not all printfs understand
diff --git a/t/t4103-apply-binary.sh b/t/t4103-apply-binary.sh
index d370ecfe0d..59d38793ae 100755
--- a/t/t4103-apply-binary.sh
+++ b/t/t4103-apply-binary.sh
@@ -11,6 +11,12 @@ export GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping apply-binary tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 test_expect_success 'setup' '
 	cat >file1 <<-\EOF &&
 	A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
diff --git a/t/t4116-apply-reverse.sh b/t/t4116-apply-reverse.sh
index 0784ba033a..6f414ad27f 100755
--- a/t/t4116-apply-reverse.sh
+++ b/t/t4116-apply-reverse.sh
@@ -10,6 +10,12 @@ test_description='git apply in reverse
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping apply reverse tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 test_expect_success setup '
 
 	test_write_lines a b c d e f g h i j k l m n >file1 &&
diff --git a/t/t4150-am.sh b/t/t4150-am.sh
index 5e2b6c80ea..4794510d70 100755
--- a/t/t4150-am.sh
+++ b/t/t4150-am.sh
@@ -1073,7 +1073,7 @@ test_expect_success 'am --patch-format=mboxrd handles mboxrd' '
 	test_cmp msg out
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'am works with multi-line in-body headers' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'am works with multi-line in-body headers' '
 	FORTY="String that has a length of more than forty characters" &&
 	LONG="$FORTY $FORTY" &&
 	rm -fr .git/rebase-apply &&
diff --git a/t/t4200-rerere.sh b/t/t4200-rerere.sh
index b0a3e84984..50fe8b0fd0 100755
--- a/t/t4200-rerere.sh
+++ b/t/t4200-rerere.sh
@@ -27,6 +27,12 @@ export GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping rerere tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 test_expect_success 'setup' '
 	cat >a1 <<-\EOF &&
 	Some title
diff --git a/t/t4205-log-pretty-formats.sh b/t/t4205-log-pretty-formats.sh
index f81e42a84d..8f2ba98963 100755
--- a/t/t4205-log-pretty-formats.sh
+++ b/t/t4205-log-pretty-formats.sh
@@ -698,7 +698,7 @@ test_expect_success '%(trailers:only=no,only=true) shows only "key: value" trail
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success '%(trailers:unfold) unfolds trailers' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS '%(trailers:unfold) unfolds trailers' '
 	git log --no-walk --pretty="%(trailers:unfold)" >actual &&
 	{
 		unfold <trailers &&
@@ -707,7 +707,7 @@ test_expect_success '%(trailers:unfold) unfolds trailers' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success ':only and :unfold work together' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS ':only and :unfold work together' '
 	git log --no-walk --pretty="%(trailers:only,unfold)" >actual &&
 	git log --no-walk --pretty="%(trailers:unfold,only)" >reverse &&
 	test_cmp actual reverse &&
@@ -754,7 +754,7 @@ test_expect_success '%(trailers:key=foo) handles multiple lines even if folded'
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success '%(trailers:key=foo,unfold) properly unfolds' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS '%(trailers:key=foo,unfold) properly unfolds' '
 	git log --no-walk --pretty="format:%(trailers:key=Signed-Off-by,unfold)" >actual &&
 	unfold <trailers | grep Signed-off-by >expect &&
 	test_cmp expect actual
diff --git a/t/t4216-log-bloom.sh b/t/t4216-log-bloom.sh
index 3f163dc396..8910d53cac 100755
--- a/t/t4216-log-bloom.sh
+++ b/t/t4216-log-bloom.sh
@@ -738,20 +738,20 @@ check_corrupt_graph () {
 	test_cmp expect.out out
 }
 
-test_expect_success 'Bloom reader notices too-small data chunk' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'Bloom reader notices too-small data chunk' '
 	check_corrupt_graph BDAT clear 00000000 &&
 	echo "warning: ignoring too-small changed-path chunk" \
 		"(4 < 12) in commit-graph file" >expect.err &&
 	test_cmp expect.err err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'Bloom reader notices out-of-bounds filter offsets' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'Bloom reader notices out-of-bounds filter offsets' '
 	check_corrupt_graph BIDX 12 FFFFFFFF &&
 	# use grep to avoid depending on exact chunk size
 	grep "warning: ignoring out-of-range offset (4294967295) for changed-path filter at pos 3 of .git/objects/info/commit-graph" err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'Bloom reader notices too-small index chunk' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'Bloom reader notices too-small index chunk' '
 	# replace the index with a single entry, making most
 	# lookups out-of-bounds
 	check_corrupt_graph BIDX clear 00000000 &&
@@ -760,7 +760,7 @@ test_expect_success 'Bloom reader notices too-small index chunk' '
 	test_cmp expect.err err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'Bloom reader notices out-of-order index offsets' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'Bloom reader notices out-of-order index offsets' '
 	# we do not know any real offsets, but we can pick
 	# something plausible; we should not get to the point of
 	# actually reading from the bogus offsets anyway.
diff --git a/t/t5004-archive-corner-cases.sh b/t/t5004-archive-corner-cases.sh
index 50344e17ca..5174995191 100755
--- a/t/t5004-archive-corner-cases.sh
+++ b/t/t5004-archive-corner-cases.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ test_description='test corner cases of git-archive'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping archive corner cases tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 # the 10knuls.tar file is used to test for an empty git generated tar
 # without having to invoke tar because an otherwise valid empty GNU tar
 # will be considered broken by {Open,Net}BSD tar
diff --git a/t/t5300-pack-object.sh b/t/t5300-pack-object.sh
index 5ac8d39094..143856c29f 100755
--- a/t/t5300-pack-object.sh
+++ b/t/t5300-pack-object.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@ test_description='git pack-object'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping pack-object tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 test_expect_success 'setup' '
 	rm -f .git/index* &&
 	perl -e "print \"a\" x 4096;" >a &&
diff --git a/t/t5303-pack-corruption-resilience.sh b/t/t5303-pack-corruption-resilience.sh
index de58ca654a..ac5e370e1e 100755
--- a/t/t5303-pack-corruption-resilience.sh
+++ b/t/t5303-pack-corruption-resilience.sh
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ test_expect_success '... and loose copy of first delta allows for partial recove
 	git cat-file blob $blob_3 > /dev/null
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'create corruption in data of first object' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'create corruption in data of first object' '
 	create_new_pack &&
 	git prune-packed &&
 	chmod +w ${pack}.pack &&
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ test_expect_success '... and then a repack "clears" the corruption' '
 	git cat-file blob $blob_3 > /dev/null
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'create corruption in data of first delta' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'create corruption in data of first delta' '
 	create_new_pack &&
 	git prune-packed &&
 	chmod +w ${pack}.pack &&
diff --git a/t/t5310-pack-bitmaps.sh b/t/t5310-pack-bitmaps.sh
index 621bbbdd26..8198729623 100755
--- a/t/t5310-pack-bitmaps.sh
+++ b/t/t5310-pack-bitmaps.sh
@@ -395,7 +395,7 @@ test_bitmap_cases () {
 		)
 	'
 
-	test_expect_success 'pack.preferBitmapTips' '
+	test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'pack.preferBitmapTips' '
 		git init repo &&
 		test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
 		(
diff --git a/t/t5316-pack-delta-depth.sh b/t/t5316-pack-delta-depth.sh
index 32cf422745..cd947b5a5e 100755
--- a/t/t5316-pack-delta-depth.sh
+++ b/t/t5316-pack-delta-depth.sh
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ max_chain() {
 # packing heuristics. We double-check that our test case
 # actually produces a long chain. If it doesn't, it should be
 # adjusted (or scrapped if the heuristics have become too unreliable)
-test_expect_success 'packing produces a long delta' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'packing produces a long delta' '
 	# Use --window=0 to make sure we are seeing reused deltas,
 	# not computing a new long chain.
 	pack=$(git pack-objects --all --window=0 </dev/null pack) &&
@@ -96,21 +96,21 @@ test_expect_success 'packing produces a long delta' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success '--depth limits depth' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS '--depth limits depth' '
 	pack=$(git pack-objects --all --depth=5 </dev/null pack) &&
 	echo 5 >expect &&
 	max_chain pack-$pack.pack >actual &&
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success '--depth=0 disables deltas' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS '--depth=0 disables deltas' '
 	pack=$(git pack-objects --all --depth=0 </dev/null pack) &&
 	echo 0 >expect &&
 	max_chain pack-$pack.pack >actual &&
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'negative depth disables deltas' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'negative depth disables deltas' '
 	pack=$(git pack-objects --all --depth=-1 </dev/null pack) &&
 	echo 0 >expect &&
 	max_chain pack-$pack.pack >actual &&
diff --git a/t/t5318-commit-graph.sh b/t/t5318-commit-graph.sh
index f68f64cd85..0b3404f58f 100755
--- a/t/t5318-commit-graph.sh
+++ b/t/t5318-commit-graph.sh
@@ -837,7 +837,7 @@ check_corrupt_chunk () {
 	test_cmp expect.out out
 }
 
-test_expect_success 'reader notices too-small oid fanout chunk' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'reader notices too-small oid fanout chunk' '
 	# make it big enough that the graph file is plausible,
 	# otherwise we hit an earlier check
 	check_corrupt_chunk OIDF clear $(printf "000000%02x" $(test_seq 250)) &&
@@ -848,7 +848,7 @@ test_expect_success 'reader notices too-small oid fanout chunk' '
 	test_cmp expect.err err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'reader notices fanout/lookup table mismatch' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'reader notices fanout/lookup table mismatch' '
 	check_corrupt_chunk OIDF 1020 "FFFFFFFF" &&
 	cat >expect.err <<-\EOF &&
 	error: commit-graph OID lookup chunk is the wrong size
@@ -857,7 +857,7 @@ test_expect_success 'reader notices fanout/lookup table mismatch' '
 	test_cmp expect.err err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'reader notices out-of-bounds fanout' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'reader notices out-of-bounds fanout' '
 	# Rather than try to corrupt a specific hash, we will just
 	# wreck them all. But we cannot just set them all to 0xFFFFFFFF or
 	# similar, as they are used for hi/lo starts in a binary search (so if
@@ -873,7 +873,7 @@ test_expect_success 'reader notices out-of-bounds fanout' '
 	test_cmp expect.err err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'reader notices too-small commit data chunk' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'reader notices too-small commit data chunk' '
 	check_corrupt_chunk CDAT clear 00000000 &&
 	cat >expect.err <<-\EOF &&
 	error: commit-graph commit data chunk is wrong size
@@ -882,7 +882,7 @@ test_expect_success 'reader notices too-small commit data chunk' '
 	test_cmp expect.err err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'reader notices out-of-bounds extra edge' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'reader notices out-of-bounds extra edge' '
 	check_corrupt_chunk EDGE clear &&
 	cat >expect.err <<-\EOF &&
 	error: commit-graph extra-edges pointer out of bounds
@@ -890,7 +890,7 @@ test_expect_success 'reader notices out-of-bounds extra edge' '
 	test_cmp expect.err err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'reader notices too-small generations chunk' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'reader notices too-small generations chunk' '
 	check_corrupt_chunk GDA2 clear 00000000 &&
 	cat >expect.err <<-\EOF &&
 	error: commit-graph generations chunk is wrong size
diff --git a/t/t5319-multi-pack-index.sh b/t/t5319-multi-pack-index.sh
index 0f215ad2e8..bd75dea950 100755
--- a/t/t5319-multi-pack-index.sh
+++ b/t/t5319-multi-pack-index.sh
@@ -1120,7 +1120,7 @@ corrupt_chunk () {
 	corrupt_chunk_file $midx "$@"
 }
 
-test_expect_success 'reader notices too-small oid fanout chunk' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'reader notices too-small oid fanout chunk' '
 	corrupt_chunk OIDF clear 00000000 &&
 	test_must_fail git log 2>err &&
 	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
@@ -1130,7 +1130,7 @@ test_expect_success 'reader notices too-small oid fanout chunk' '
 	test_cmp expect err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'reader notices too-small oid lookup chunk' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'reader notices too-small oid lookup chunk' '
 	corrupt_chunk OIDL clear 00000000 &&
 	test_must_fail git log 2>err &&
 	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
@@ -1140,7 +1140,7 @@ test_expect_success 'reader notices too-small oid lookup chunk' '
 	test_cmp expect err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'reader notices too-small pack names chunk' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'reader notices too-small pack names chunk' '
 	# There is no NUL to terminate the name here, so the
 	# chunk is too short.
 	corrupt_chunk PNAM clear 70656666 &&
@@ -1151,7 +1151,7 @@ test_expect_success 'reader notices too-small pack names chunk' '
 	test_cmp expect err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'reader handles unaligned chunks' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'reader handles unaligned chunks' '
 	# A 9-byte PNAM means all of the subsequent chunks
 	# will no longer be 4-byte aligned, but it is still
 	# a valid one-pack chunk on its own (it is "foo.pack\0").
@@ -1165,7 +1165,7 @@ test_expect_success 'reader handles unaligned chunks' '
 	test_cmp expect.err err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'reader notices too-small object offset chunk' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'reader notices too-small object offset chunk' '
 	corrupt_chunk OOFF clear 00000000 &&
 	test_must_fail git log 2>err &&
 	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
@@ -1175,7 +1175,7 @@ test_expect_success 'reader notices too-small object offset chunk' '
 	test_cmp expect err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'reader bounds-checks large offset table' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'reader bounds-checks large offset table' '
 	# re-use the objects64 dir here to cheaply get access to a midx
 	# with large offsets.
 	git init repo &&
@@ -1197,7 +1197,7 @@ test_expect_success 'reader bounds-checks large offset table' '
 	)
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'reader notices too-small revindex chunk' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'reader notices too-small revindex chunk' '
 	# We only get a revindex with bitmaps (and likewise only
 	# load it when they are asked for).
 	test_config repack.writeBitmaps true &&
@@ -1214,7 +1214,7 @@ test_expect_success 'reader notices too-small revindex chunk' '
 	test_cmp expect.err err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'reader notices out-of-bounds fanout' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'reader notices out-of-bounds fanout' '
 	# This is similar to the out-of-bounds fanout test in t5318. The values
 	# in adjacent entries should be large but not identical (they
 	# are used as hi/lo starts for a binary search, which would then abort
diff --git a/t/t5324-split-commit-graph.sh b/t/t5324-split-commit-graph.sh
index a32be3867d..49a057cc2e 100755
--- a/t/t5324-split-commit-graph.sh
+++ b/t/t5324-split-commit-graph.sh
@@ -401,7 +401,7 @@ test_expect_success 'verify across alternates' '
 	)
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'reader bounds-checks base-graph chunk' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'reader bounds-checks base-graph chunk' '
 	git clone --no-hardlinks . corrupt-base-chunk &&
 	(
 		cd corrupt-base-chunk &&
diff --git a/t/t5326-multi-pack-bitmaps.sh b/t/t5326-multi-pack-bitmaps.sh
index d27557b9b0..627f8b4efd 100755
--- a/t/t5326-multi-pack-bitmaps.sh
+++ b/t/t5326-multi-pack-bitmaps.sh
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ test_midx_bitmap_cases () {
 		)
 	'
 
-	test_expect_success 'pack.preferBitmapTips' '
+	test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'pack.preferBitmapTips' '
 		git init repo &&
 		test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
 		(
diff --git a/t/t5328-commit-graph-64bit-time.sh b/t/t5328-commit-graph-64bit-time.sh
index a766a3e3f8..d8891e6a92 100755
--- a/t/t5328-commit-graph-64bit-time.sh
+++ b/t/t5328-commit-graph-64bit-time.sh
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ test_expect_success 'single commit with generation data exceeding UINT32_MAX' '
 	git -C repo-uint32-max commit-graph verify
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'reader notices out-of-bounds generation overflow' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'reader notices out-of-bounds generation overflow' '
 	graph=.git/objects/info/commit-graph &&
 	test_when_finished "rm -rf $graph" &&
 	git commit-graph write --reachable &&
diff --git a/t/t5333-pseudo-merge-bitmaps.sh b/t/t5333-pseudo-merge-bitmaps.sh
index 3905cb6e4f..1059ff45fe 100755
--- a/t/t5333-pseudo-merge-bitmaps.sh
+++ b/t/t5333-pseudo-merge-bitmaps.sh
@@ -6,6 +6,12 @@ GIT_TEST_MULTI_PACK_INDEX_WRITE_BITMAP=0
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping pseudo-merge bitmap tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 test_pseudo_merges () {
 	test-tool bitmap dump-pseudo-merges
 }
diff --git a/t/t5400-send-pack.sh b/t/t5400-send-pack.sh
index 3f81f16e13..571e8f1bc5 100755
--- a/t/t5400-send-pack.sh
+++ b/t/t5400-send-pack.sh
@@ -268,7 +268,7 @@ extract_ref_advertisement () {
 	'
 }
 
-test_expect_success 'receive-pack de-dupes .have lines' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'receive-pack de-dupes .have lines' '
 	git init shared &&
 	git -C shared commit --allow-empty -m both &&
 	git clone -s shared fork &&
diff --git a/t/t5410-receive-pack-alternates.sh b/t/t5410-receive-pack-alternates.sh
index 0b28e4e452..6a009fdcd7 100755
--- a/t/t5410-receive-pack-alternates.sh
+++ b/t/t5410-receive-pack-alternates.sh
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ extract_haves () {
 	depacketize | perl -lne '/^(\S+) \.have/ and print $1'
 }
 
-test_expect_success 'with core.alternateRefsCommand' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'with core.alternateRefsCommand' '
 	write_script fork/alternate-refs <<-\EOF &&
 		git --git-dir="$1" for-each-ref \
 			--format="%(objectname)" \
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ test_expect_success 'with core.alternateRefsCommand' '
 	test_cmp expect actual.haves
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'with core.alternateRefsPrefixes' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'with core.alternateRefsPrefixes' '
 	test_config -C fork core.alternateRefsPrefixes "refs/heads/private" &&
 	git rev-parse private/branch >expect &&
 	printf "0000" | git receive-pack fork >actual &&
diff --git a/t/t5503-tagfollow.sh b/t/t5503-tagfollow.sh
index 845ca43ea0..febe441041 100755
--- a/t/t5503-tagfollow.sh
+++ b/t/t5503-tagfollow.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@ export GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping tagfollow tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 # End state of the repository:
 #
 #         T - tag1          S - tag2
diff --git a/t/t5504-fetch-receive-strict.sh b/t/t5504-fetch-receive-strict.sh
index 58074506c5..438250c75e 100755
--- a/t/t5504-fetch-receive-strict.sh
+++ b/t/t5504-fetch-receive-strict.sh
@@ -359,7 +359,7 @@ test_expect_success \
 	grep "Cannot demote unterminatedheader" act
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'badFilemode is not a strict error' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'badFilemode is not a strict error' '
 	git init --bare badmode.git &&
 	tree=$(
 		cd badmode.git &&
diff --git a/t/t5510-fetch.sh b/t/t5510-fetch.sh
index 5f350facf5..432a2264e6 100755
--- a/t/t5510-fetch.sh
+++ b/t/t5510-fetch.sh
@@ -8,6 +8,12 @@ test_description='Per branch config variables affects "git fetch".
 . ./test-lib.sh
 . "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/lib-bundle.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping fetch tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 D=$(pwd)
 
 test_expect_success setup '
diff --git a/t/t5532-fetch-proxy.sh b/t/t5532-fetch-proxy.sh
index 3755822629..95d0f33b29 100755
--- a/t/t5532-fetch-proxy.sh
+++ b/t/t5532-fetch-proxy.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ test_description='fetching via git:// using core.gitproxy'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping fetch proxy tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 test_expect_success 'setup remote repo' '
 	git init remote &&
 	(cd remote &&
diff --git a/t/t5534-push-signed.sh b/t/t5534-push-signed.sh
index c91a62b77a..342d0423c9 100755
--- a/t/t5534-push-signed.sh
+++ b/t/t5534-push-signed.sh
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ test_expect_success GPGSSH 'ssh signed push sends push certificate' '
 	test_cmp expect dst/push-cert-status
 '
 
-test_expect_success GPG 'inconsistent push options in signed push not allowed' '
+test_expect_success GPG,PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'inconsistent push options in signed push not allowed' '
 	# First, invoke receive-pack with dummy input to obtain its preamble.
 	prepare_dst &&
 	git -C dst config receive.certnonceseed sekrit &&
diff --git a/t/t5537-fetch-shallow.sh b/t/t5537-fetch-shallow.sh
index 37f7547a4c..77d20d1911 100755
--- a/t/t5537-fetch-shallow.sh
+++ b/t/t5537-fetch-shallow.sh
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ start_httpd
 
 REPO="$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/repo"
 
-test_expect_success 'shallow fetches check connectivity before writing shallow file' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'shallow fetches check connectivity before writing shallow file' '
 	rm -rf "$REPO" client &&
 
 	git init "$REPO" &&
diff --git a/t/t5551-http-fetch-smart.sh b/t/t5551-http-fetch-smart.sh
index 761fdfcfe6..b0d4ea7801 100755
--- a/t/t5551-http-fetch-smart.sh
+++ b/t/t5551-http-fetch-smart.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,13 @@ export GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 . "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/lib-httpd.sh
+
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping http fetch smart tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 test "$HTTP_PROTO" = "HTTP/2" && enable_http2
 start_httpd
 
diff --git a/t/t5562-http-backend-content-length.sh b/t/t5562-http-backend-content-length.sh
index f3b158274c..b6ee06f5c8 100755
--- a/t/t5562-http-backend-content-length.sh
+++ b/t/t5562-http-backend-content-length.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ test_description='test git-http-backend respects CONTENT_LENGTH'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping http backend content tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 test_lazy_prereq GZIP 'gzip --version'
 
 verify_http_result() {
diff --git a/t/t5601-clone.sh b/t/t5601-clone.sh
index d0c18660e3..d743d986c4 100755
--- a/t/t5601-clone.sh
+++ b/t/t5601-clone.sh
@@ -649,7 +649,7 @@ test_expect_success 'GIT_TRACE_PACKFILE produces a usable pack' '
 	git -C replay.git index-pack -v --stdin <tmp.pack
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'clone on case-insensitive fs' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'clone on case-insensitive fs' '
 	git init icasefs &&
 	(
 		cd icasefs &&
@@ -662,7 +662,7 @@ test_expect_success 'clone on case-insensitive fs' '
 	)
 '
 
-test_expect_success CASE_INSENSITIVE_FS 'colliding file detection' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS,CASE_INSENSITIVE_FS 'colliding file detection' '
 	grep X icasefs/warning &&
 	grep x icasefs/warning &&
 	test_grep "the following paths have collided" icasefs/warning
diff --git a/t/t5616-partial-clone.sh b/t/t5616-partial-clone.sh
index 4650451964..bc7e0fec8d 100755
--- a/t/t5616-partial-clone.sh
+++ b/t/t5616-partial-clone.sh
@@ -751,7 +751,7 @@ replace_packfile () {
 	}' >"$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-perl"
 }
 
-test_expect_success 'upon cloning, check that all refs point to objects' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'upon cloning, check that all refs point to objects' '
 	SERVER="$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/server" &&
 	rm -rf "$SERVER" repo &&
 	test_create_repo "$SERVER" &&
@@ -784,7 +784,7 @@ test_expect_success 'upon cloning, check that all refs point to objects' '
 	! test -e "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-perl"
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'when partial cloning, tolerate server not sending target of tag' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'when partial cloning, tolerate server not sending target of tag' '
 	SERVER="$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/server" &&
 	rm -rf "$SERVER" repo &&
 	test_create_repo "$SERVER" &&
@@ -825,7 +825,7 @@ test_expect_success 'when partial cloning, tolerate server not sending target of
 	! test -e "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-perl"
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'tolerate server sending REF_DELTA against missing promisor objects' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'tolerate server sending REF_DELTA against missing promisor objects' '
 	SERVER="$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/server" &&
 	rm -rf "$SERVER" repo &&
 	test_create_repo "$SERVER" &&
diff --git a/t/t5701-git-serve.sh b/t/t5701-git-serve.sh
index 678a346ed0..200bf06ecb 100755
--- a/t/t5701-git-serve.sh
+++ b/t/t5701-git-serve.sh
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ test_expect_success 'refs/heads prefix' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'ignore very large set of prefixes' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'ignore very large set of prefixes' '
 	# generate a large number of ref-prefixes that we expect
 	# to match nothing; the value here exceeds TOO_MANY_PREFIXES
 	# from ls-refs.c.
diff --git a/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh b/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh
index d3df81e785..ad5e772cd7 100755
--- a/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh
+++ b/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh
@@ -1120,7 +1120,7 @@ test_expect_success 'push with http:// and a config of v2 does not request v2' '
 	! grep "git< version 2" log
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'when server sends "ready", expect DELIM' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'when server sends "ready", expect DELIM' '
 	rm -rf "$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/http_parent" http_child &&
 
 	git init "$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/http_parent" &&
@@ -1140,7 +1140,7 @@ test_expect_success 'when server sends "ready", expect DELIM' '
 	test_grep "expected packfile to be sent after .ready." err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'when server does not send "ready", expect FLUSH' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'when server does not send "ready", expect FLUSH' '
 	rm -rf "$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/http_parent" http_child log &&
 
 	git init "$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/http_parent" &&
@@ -1446,7 +1446,7 @@ test_expect_success 'http:// --negotiate-only' '
 	grep "$COMMON" out
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'http:// --negotiate-only without wait-for-done support' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'http:// --negotiate-only without wait-for-done support' '
 	SERVER="server" &&
 	URI="$HTTPD_URL/one_time_perl/server" &&
 
diff --git a/t/t5703-upload-pack-ref-in-want.sh b/t/t5703-upload-pack-ref-in-want.sh
index 191097171b..f59d47aa6c 100755
--- a/t/t5703-upload-pack-ref-in-want.sh
+++ b/t/t5703-upload-pack-ref-in-want.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ test_description='upload-pack ref-in-want'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping upload-pack ref-in-want tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 get_actual_refs () {
 	sed -n -e '/wanted-refs/,/0001/{
 		/wanted-refs/d
diff --git a/t/t5710-promisor-remote-capability.sh b/t/t5710-promisor-remote-capability.sh
index d2cc69a17e..9a420cf560 100755
--- a/t/t5710-promisor-remote-capability.sh
+++ b/t/t5710-promisor-remote-capability.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ test_description='handling of promisor remote advertisement'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping promisor remote capabilities tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 GIT_TEST_MULTI_PACK_INDEX=0
 GIT_TEST_MULTI_PACK_INDEX_WRITE_INCREMENTAL=0
 
diff --git a/t/t6002-rev-list-bisect.sh b/t/t6002-rev-list-bisect.sh
index daa009c9a1..5e1482aff7 100755
--- a/t/t6002-rev-list-bisect.sh
+++ b/t/t6002-rev-list-bisect.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@ test_description='Tests git rev-list --bisect functionality'
 . ./test-lib.sh
 . "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/lib-t6000.sh # t6xxx specific functions
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping rev-list bisect tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 # usage: test_bisection max-diff bisect-option head ^prune...
 #
 # e.g. test_bisection 1 --bisect l1 ^l0
diff --git a/t/t6003-rev-list-topo-order.sh b/t/t6003-rev-list-topo-order.sh
index 0d7055d46d..02dd4127af 100755
--- a/t/t6003-rev-list-topo-order.sh
+++ b/t/t6003-rev-list-topo-order.sh
@@ -8,6 +8,12 @@ test_description='Tests git rev-list --topo-order functionality'
 . ./test-lib.sh
 . "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/lib-t6000.sh # t6xxx specific functions
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping rev-list topo-order tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 list_duplicates()
 {
     "$@" | sort | uniq -d
diff --git a/t/t6011-rev-list-with-bad-commit.sh b/t/t6011-rev-list-with-bad-commit.sh
index bad02cf5b8..6131c36109 100755
--- a/t/t6011-rev-list-with-bad-commit.sh
+++ b/t/t6011-rev-list-with-bad-commit.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ test_description='git rev-list should notice bad commits'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping rev-list with bad commit tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 # Note:
 # - compression level is set to zero to make "corruptions" easier to perform
 # - reflog is disabled to avoid extra references which would twart the test
diff --git a/t/t6013-rev-list-reverse-parents.sh b/t/t6013-rev-list-reverse-parents.sh
index 39793cbbd6..8074185742 100755
--- a/t/t6013-rev-list-reverse-parents.sh
+++ b/t/t6013-rev-list-reverse-parents.sh
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ test_expect_success 'set up --reverse example' '
 	commit five
 	'
 
-test_expect_success '--reverse --parents --full-history combines correctly' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS '--reverse --parents --full-history combines correctly' '
 	git rev-list --parents --full-history main -- foo |
 		perl -e "print reverse <>" > expected &&
 	git rev-list --reverse --parents --full-history main -- foo \
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ test_expect_success '--reverse --parents --full-history combines correctly' '
 	test_cmp expected actual
 	'
 
-test_expect_success '--boundary does too' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS '--boundary does too' '
 	git rev-list --boundary --parents --full-history main ^root -- foo |
 		perl -e "print reverse <>" > expected &&
 	git rev-list --boundary --reverse --parents --full-history \
diff --git a/t/t6102-rev-list-unexpected-objects.sh b/t/t6102-rev-list-unexpected-objects.sh
index 22dfd6d978..eb98b3919c 100755
--- a/t/t6102-rev-list-unexpected-objects.sh
+++ b/t/t6102-rev-list-unexpected-objects.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ test_description='git rev-list should handle unexpected object types'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping rev-list unexpected objects tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 test_expect_success 'setup well-formed objects' '
 	blob="$(printf "foo" | git hash-object -w --stdin)" &&
 	tree="$(printf "100644 blob $blob\tfoo" | git mktree)" &&
diff --git a/t/t6115-rev-list-du.sh b/t/t6115-rev-list-du.sh
index 3385fe9f13..6a74be576a 100755
--- a/t/t6115-rev-list-du.sh
+++ b/t/t6115-rev-list-du.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ test_description='basic tests of rev-list --disk-usage'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping rev-list disk usage tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 # we want a mix of reachable and unreachable, as well as
 # objects in the bitmapped pack and some outside of it
 test_expect_success 'set up repository' '
diff --git a/t/t6300-for-each-ref.sh b/t/t6300-for-each-ref.sh
index a5c7794385..732a4d3171 100755
--- a/t/t6300-for-each-ref.sh
+++ b/t/t6300-for-each-ref.sh
@@ -10,6 +10,12 @@ GNUPGHOME_NOT_USED=$GNUPGHOME
 . "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/lib-gpg.sh
 . "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/lib-terminal.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping for-each-ref tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 # Mon Jul 3 23:18:43 2006 +0000
 datestamp=1151968723
 setdate_and_increment () {
diff --git a/t/t7006-pager.sh b/t/t7006-pager.sh
index 932c26cb45..49aae18382 100755
--- a/t/t7006-pager.sh
+++ b/t/t7006-pager.sh
@@ -661,7 +661,7 @@ test_expect_success 'setup trace2' '
 	export GIT_TRACE2_BRIEF
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'setup large log output' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'setup large log output' '
 	perl -e "
 		print \"this is a long commit message\" x 50000
 	" >commit-msg &&
diff --git a/t/t7416-submodule-dash-url.sh b/t/t7416-submodule-dash-url.sh
index 0c605fd271..14069600a2 100755
--- a/t/t7416-submodule-dash-url.sh
+++ b/t/t7416-submodule-dash-url.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ test_description='check handling of disallowed .gitmodule urls'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping submodule dash URL tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 test_expect_success 'setup' '
 	git config --global protocol.file.allow always
 '
diff --git a/t/t7508-status.sh b/t/t7508-status.sh
index b2070d4e39..14c41b2cb7 100755
--- a/t/t7508-status.sh
+++ b/t/t7508-status.sh
@@ -1064,7 +1064,7 @@ test_expect_success 'status -s submodule summary (clean submodule)' '
 	test_cmp expect output
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'status -z implies porcelain' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'status -z implies porcelain' '
 	git status --porcelain |
 	perl -pe "s/\012/\000/g" >expect &&
 	git status -z >output &&
diff --git a/t/t7815-grep-binary.sh b/t/t7815-grep-binary.sh
index 90ebb64f46..b2730d200c 100755
--- a/t/t7815-grep-binary.sh
+++ b/t/t7815-grep-binary.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ test_description='git grep in binary files'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping grep binary tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 test_expect_success 'setup' "
 	echo 'binaryQfileQm[*]cQ*æQð' | q_to_nul >a &&
 	git add a &&
diff --git a/t/t8001-annotate.sh b/t/t8001-annotate.sh
index d7167f5539..609845aeb1 100755
--- a/t/t8001-annotate.sh
+++ b/t/t8001-annotate.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@ export GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME
 TEST_CREATE_REPO_NO_TEMPLATE=1
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping annotate tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 PROG='git annotate'
 . "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/annotate-tests.sh
 
diff --git a/t/t8002-blame.sh b/t/t8002-blame.sh
index e98993276a..b40199df23 100755
--- a/t/t8002-blame.sh
+++ b/t/t8002-blame.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@ export GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME
 TEST_CREATE_REPO_NO_TEMPLATE=1
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping blame colors tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 PROG='git blame -c'
 . "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/annotate-tests.sh
 
diff --git a/t/t8006-blame-textconv.sh b/t/t8006-blame-textconv.sh
index 07a287ffd3..5cb1687208 100755
--- a/t/t8006-blame-textconv.sh
+++ b/t/t8006-blame-textconv.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ test_description='git blame textconv support'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping blame textconv tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 find_blame() {
 	sed -e 's/^[^(]*//'
 }
diff --git a/t/t8011-blame-split-file.sh b/t/t8011-blame-split-file.sh
index c66494f5ba..388057245c 100755
--- a/t/t8011-blame-split-file.sh
+++ b/t/t8011-blame-split-file.sh
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ do
 		git blame --root -C --$output combined >output
 	'
 
-	test_expect_success "$output output finds correct commits" '
+	test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS "$output output finds correct commits" '
 		generate_expect >expect <<-\EOF &&
 		5 base
 		1 modified
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ do
 		test_cmp expect actual
 	'
 
-	test_expect_success "$output output shows correct filenames" '
+	test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS "$output output shows correct filenames" '
 		generate_expect >expect <<-\EOF &&
 		11 one
 		11 two
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ do
 		test_cmp expect actual
 	'
 
-	test_expect_success "$output output shows correct previous pointer" '
+	test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS "$output output shows correct previous pointer" '
 		generate_expect >expect <<-EOF &&
 		5 NONE
 		1 $(git rev-parse modified^) one
diff --git a/t/t8012-blame-colors.sh b/t/t8012-blame-colors.sh
index c3a5f6d01f..3d77352650 100755
--- a/t/t8012-blame-colors.sh
+++ b/t/t8012-blame-colors.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@ export GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME
 TEST_CREATE_REPO_NO_TEMPLATE=1
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
+then
+	skip_all='skipping blame colors tests; Perl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 PROG='git blame -c'
 . "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/annotate-tests.sh
 
diff --git a/t/t9137-git-svn-dcommit-clobber-series.sh b/t/t9137-git-svn-dcommit-clobber-series.sh
index 067b15bad2..a9d38be997 100755
--- a/t/t9137-git-svn-dcommit-clobber-series.sh
+++ b/t/t9137-git-svn-dcommit-clobber-series.sh
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ test_expect_success 'initialize repo' '
 	test -e file
 	'
 
-test_expect_success '(supposedly) non-conflicting change from SVN' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS '(supposedly) non-conflicting change from SVN' '
 	test x"$(sed -n -e 58p < file)" = x58 &&
 	test x"$(sed -n -e 61p < file)" = x61 &&
 	svn_cmd co "$svnrepo" tmp &&
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ test_expect_success 'some unrelated changes to git' "
 	git commit -m bye-life life
 	"
 
-test_expect_success 'change file but in unrelated area' "
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'change file but in unrelated area' "
 	test x\"\$(sed -n -e 4p < file)\" = x4 &&
 	test x\"\$(sed -n -e 7p < file)\" = x7 &&
 	perl -i.bak -p -e 's/^4\$/4444/' file &&
diff --git a/t/t9350-fast-export.sh b/t/t9350-fast-export.sh
index 40427883ec..0781a8d6ac 100755
--- a/t/t9350-fast-export.sh
+++ b/t/t9350-fast-export.sh
@@ -610,7 +610,7 @@ test_expect_success 'directory becomes symlink'        '
 	(cd result && git show main:foo)
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'fast-export quotes pathnames' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'fast-export quotes pathnames' '
 	git init crazy-paths &&
 	test_config -C crazy-paths core.protectNTFS false &&
 	(cd crazy-paths &&
diff --git a/t/t9850-shell.sh b/t/t9850-shell.sh
index 36566ace21..f619b60f22 100755
--- a/t/t9850-shell.sh
+++ b/t/t9850-shell.sh
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ test_expect_success 'shell allows interactive command' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'shell complains of overlong commands' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'shell complains of overlong commands' '
 	perl -e "print \"a\" x 2**12 for (0..2**19)" |
 	test_must_fail git shell 2>err &&
 	grep "too long" err
diff --git a/t/test-lib.sh b/t/test-lib.sh
index a62699d6c7..59162a3c83 100644
--- a/t/test-lib.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib.sh
@@ -1706,6 +1706,7 @@ test -n "$USE_LIBPCRE2" && test_set_prereq LIBPCRE2
 test -z "$NO_GETTEXT" && test_set_prereq GETTEXT
 test -n "$SANITIZE_LEAK" && test_set_prereq SANITIZE_LEAK
 test -n "$GIT_VALGRIND_ENABLED" && test_set_prereq VALGRIND
+test -n "$PERL_PATH" && test_set_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
 
 if test -z "$GIT_TEST_CHECK_CACHE_TREE"
 then

From 64b3eee038c22142724778c7e32265d0fa986248 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:05:58 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 07/20] t: adapt existing PERL prerequisites

A couple of our tests depend on the PERL prerequisite even though it
isn't needed. These tests fall into one of the following classes:

  - The underlying logic used to be implemented in Perl but isn't
    anymore. Here we can simply drop the dependency altogether.

  - The test logic used to depend on Perl but doesn't anymore. Again, we
    can simply drop the dependency.

  - The test logic still relies on a Perl interpreter. These tests
    should use the newly introduced PERL_TEST_HELPERS prerequisite.

Adapt test cases accordingly.

Note that in t1006 we have to introduce another new prerequisite
depending on whether or not the IPC::Open2 module is available. Funny
enough, when starting to use `test_lazy_prereq` to do so we also get a
conflict of variables with the "script" variable that contains the Perl
logic because `test_run_lazy_prereq_` also sets that variable. We thus
rename the variable in t1006 to "perl_script".

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 t/t0021-conversion.sh                 | 10 +++++-----
 t/t0090-cache-tree.sh                 |  4 ++--
 t/t1006-cat-file.sh                   | 14 +++++++++-----
 t/t7501-commit-basic-functionality.sh |  6 +++---
 4 files changed, 19 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-)

diff --git a/t/t0021-conversion.sh b/t/t0021-conversion.sh
index 9c3738ebb3..4a892a9178 100755
--- a/t/t0021-conversion.sh
+++ b/t/t0021-conversion.sh
@@ -841,7 +841,7 @@ test_expect_success 'process filter abort stops processing of all further files'
 	)
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL 'invalid process filter must fail (and not hang!)' '
+test_expect_success 'invalid process filter must fail (and not hang!)' '
 	test_config_global filter.protocol.process cat &&
 	test_config_global filter.protocol.required true &&
 	rm -rf repo &&
@@ -1111,19 +1111,19 @@ do
 	branch) opt='-f HEAD' ;;
 	esac
 
-	test_expect_success PERL,TTY "delayed checkout shows progress by default on tty ($mode checkout)" '
+	test_expect_success TTY "delayed checkout shows progress by default on tty ($mode checkout)" '
 		test_delayed_checkout_progress test_terminal git checkout $opt
 	'
 
-	test_expect_success PERL "delayed checkout omits progress on non-tty ($mode checkout)" '
+	test_expect_success "delayed checkout omits progress on non-tty ($mode checkout)" '
 		test_delayed_checkout_progress ! git checkout $opt
 	'
 
-	test_expect_success PERL,TTY "delayed checkout omits progress with --quiet ($mode checkout)" '
+	test_expect_success TTY "delayed checkout omits progress with --quiet ($mode checkout)" '
 		test_delayed_checkout_progress ! test_terminal git checkout --quiet $opt
 	'
 
-	test_expect_success PERL,TTY "delayed checkout honors --[no]-progress ($mode checkout)" '
+	test_expect_success TTY "delayed checkout honors --[no]-progress ($mode checkout)" '
 		test_delayed_checkout_progress ! test_terminal git checkout --no-progress $opt &&
 		test_delayed_checkout_progress test_terminal git checkout --quiet --progress $opt
 	'
diff --git a/t/t0090-cache-tree.sh b/t/t0090-cache-tree.sh
index ab80c9ef13..d901588294 100755
--- a/t/t0090-cache-tree.sh
+++ b/t/t0090-cache-tree.sh
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ test_expect_success 'second commit has cache-tree' '
 	test_cache_tree
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL 'commit --interactive gives cache-tree on partial commit' '
+test_expect_success 'commit --interactive gives cache-tree on partial commit' '
 	test_when_finished "git reset --hard" &&
 	cat <<-\EOT >foo.c &&
 	int foo()
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ test_expect_success PERL 'commit --interactive gives cache-tree on partial commi
 	test_cache_tree expected.status
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL 'commit -p with shrinking cache-tree' '
+test_expect_success 'commit -p with shrinking cache-tree' '
 	mkdir -p deep/very-long-subdir &&
 	echo content >deep/very-long-subdir/file &&
 	git add deep &&
diff --git a/t/t1006-cat-file.sh b/t/t1006-cat-file.sh
index a574da3df5..0a22b0a7b8 100755
--- a/t/t1006-cat-file.sh
+++ b/t/t1006-cat-file.sh
@@ -1323,7 +1323,7 @@ test_expect_success 'batch-command flush without --buffer' '
 	grep "^fatal:.*flush is only for --buffer mode.*" err
 '
 
-script='
+perl_script='
 use warnings;
 use strict;
 use IPC::Open2;
@@ -1345,12 +1345,16 @@ $? == 0 or die "\$?=$?";
 
 expect="$hello_oid blob $hello_size"
 
-test_expect_success PERL '--batch-check is unbuffered by default' '
-	perl -e "$script" -- --batch-check $hello_oid "$expect"
+test_lazy_prereq PERL_IPC_OPEN2 '
+	perl -MIPC::Open2 -e "exit 0"
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL '--batch-command info is unbuffered by default' '
-	perl -e "$script" -- --batch-command $hello_oid "$expect" "info "
+test_expect_success PERL_IPC_OPEN2 '--batch-check is unbuffered by default' '
+	perl -e "$perl_script" -- --batch-check $hello_oid "$expect"
+'
+
+test_expect_success PERL_IPC_OPEN2 '--batch-command info is unbuffered by default' '
+	perl -e "$perl_script" -- --batch-command $hello_oid "$expect" "info "
 '
 
 test_done
diff --git a/t/t7501-commit-basic-functionality.sh b/t/t7501-commit-basic-functionality.sh
index cc12f99f11..a37509f004 100755
--- a/t/t7501-commit-basic-functionality.sh
+++ b/t/t7501-commit-basic-functionality.sh
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ test_expect_success 'paths and -a do not mix' '
 	test_must_fail git commit -m foo -a file
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL 'can use paths with --interactive' '
+test_expect_success 'can use paths with --interactive' '
 	echo bong-o-bong >file &&
 	# 2: update, 1:st path, that is all, 7: quit
 	test_write_lines 2 1 "" 7 |
@@ -345,12 +345,12 @@ test_expect_success 'overriding author from command line' '
 	grep Rubber.Duck output
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL 'interactive add' '
+test_expect_success 'interactive add' '
 	echo 7 | test_must_fail git commit --interactive >out &&
 	grep "What now" out
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL "commit --interactive doesn't change index if editor aborts" '
+test_expect_success "commit --interactive doesn't change index if editor aborts" '
 	echo zoo >file &&
 	test_must_fail git diff --exit-code >diff1 &&
 	test_write_lines u "*" q |

From 267143f28659fb6868dd73e44bf06e3e26976666 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:05:59 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 08/20] meson: stop requiring Perl when tests are enabled

The Perl interpreter used to be a strict dependency for running our test
suite. This requirement is explicit in the Meson build system, where we
require Perl to be present unless tests have been disabled.

With the preceding commits we have loosened this restriction so that it
is now possible to run tests when Perl is unavailable. Loosen the above
requirement accordingly.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 meson.build | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index efe2871c9d..d6e27b236f 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -772,7 +772,7 @@ endif
 # features. It is optional if you want to neither execute tests nor use any of
 # these optional features.
 perl_required = get_option('perl')
-if get_option('tests') or get_option('gitweb').enabled() or 'netrc' in get_option('credential_helpers')
+if get_option('gitweb').enabled() or 'netrc' in get_option('credential_helpers')
   perl_required = true
 endif
 

From 8d531a9d18d658f696de5a71458e832317b7ca5a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:06:00 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 09/20] Makefile: stop requiring Perl when running tests

The Makefile for our tests has a couple of targets that depend on Perl.
Adapt those targets to only run conditionally in case Perl is available
on the system so that it becomes possible to run the test suite without
Perl.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 t/Makefile | 16 +++++++++++++---
 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/t/Makefile b/t/Makefile
index 2994eb5fa9..791e0a0978 100644
--- a/t/Makefile
+++ b/t/Makefile
@@ -59,16 +59,21 @@ CHAINLINTSUPPRESS = GIT_TEST_EXT_CHAIN_LINT=0 && export GIT_TEST_EXT_CHAIN_LINT
 
 all:: $(DEFAULT_TEST_TARGET)
 
-test: pre-clean check-chainlint check-meson $(TEST_LINT)
+test: pre-clean check-meson $(TEST_LINT)
 	$(CHAINLINTSUPPRESS) $(MAKE) aggregate-results-and-cleanup
 
+ifneq ($(PERL_PATH),)
+test: check-chainlint
+prove: check-chainlint
+endif
+
 failed:
 	@failed=$$(cd '$(TEST_RESULTS_DIRECTORY_SQ)' && \
 		grep -l '^failed [1-9]' *.counts | \
 		sed -n 's/\.counts$$/.sh/p') && \
 	test -z "$$failed" || $(MAKE) $$failed
 
-prove: pre-clean check-chainlint $(TEST_LINT)
+prove: pre-clean $(TEST_LINT)
 	@echo "*** prove (shell & unit tests) ***"
 	@$(CHAINLINTSUPPRESS) TEST_OPTIONS='$(GIT_TEST_OPTS)' TEST_SHELL_PATH='$(TEST_SHELL_PATH_SQ)' $(PROVE) --exec ./run-test.sh $(GIT_PROVE_OPTS) $(T) $(UNIT_TESTS)
 	$(MAKE) clean-except-prove-cache
@@ -132,8 +137,13 @@ check-meson:
 		fi; \
 	done
 
-test-lint: test-lint-duplicates test-lint-executable test-lint-shell-syntax \
+test-lint: test-lint-duplicates test-lint-executable \
 	test-lint-filenames
+ifneq ($(PERL_PATH),)
+test-lint: test-lint-shell-syntax
+else
+GIT_TEST_CHAIN_LINT = 0
+endif
 ifneq ($(GIT_TEST_CHAIN_LINT),0)
 test-lint: test-chainlint
 endif

From db8ff64a3a5244b44e27e0d46a48a304a2e36456 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:06:01 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 10/20] t: refactor tests depending on Perl transliteration
 operator

We have a bunch of tests that use Perl to perform character
transliteration via the "y/" or "tr/" operator. These usecases can be
trivially replaced with tr(1).

Refactor the tests accordingly so that we can drop a couple of
PERL_TEST_HELPERS prerequisites.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 t/helper/test-sha1.sh    |  4 ++--
 t/lib-diff.sh            |  4 ++--
 t/t3300-funny-names.sh   | 12 ++++++------
 t/t4020-diff-external.sh |  6 +++---
 t/t4103-apply-binary.sh  | 12 +++---------
 t/t4116-apply-reverse.sh | 10 ++--------
 t/t4200-rerere.sh        |  2 +-
 7 files changed, 19 insertions(+), 31 deletions(-)

diff --git a/t/helper/test-sha1.sh b/t/helper/test-sha1.sh
index bf387d3db1..f03b784ddc 100755
--- a/t/helper/test-sha1.sh
+++ b/t/helper/test-sha1.sh
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ do
 			{
 				test -z "$pfx" || echo "$pfx"
 				dd if=/dev/zero bs=1048576 count=$cnt 2>/dev/null |
-				perl -pe 'y/\000/g/'
+				tr "\000" "g"
 			} | ./t/helper/test-tool $sha1 $cnt
 		)
 		if test "$expect" = "$actual"
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ do
 		{
 			test -z "$pfx" || echo "$pfx"
 			dd if=/dev/zero bs=1048576 count=$cnt 2>/dev/null |
-			perl -pe 'y/\000/g/'
+			tr "\000" "g"
 		} | sha1sum |
 		sed -e 's/ .*//'
 	)
diff --git a/t/lib-diff.sh b/t/lib-diff.sh
index c4606bd4b7..12b3c8fcc6 100644
--- a/t/lib-diff.sh
+++ b/t/lib-diff.sh
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ compare_diff_raw_z () {
     # Also we do not check SHA1 hash generation in this test, which
     # is a job for t0000-basic.sh
 
-    perl -pe 'y/\000/\012/' <"$1" | sed -e "$sanitize_diff_raw_z" >.tmp-1
-    perl -pe 'y/\000/\012/' <"$2" | sed -e "$sanitize_diff_raw_z" >.tmp-2
+    tr "\000" "\012" <"$1" | sed -e "$sanitize_diff_raw_z" >.tmp-1
+    tr "\000" "\012" <"$2" | sed -e "$sanitize_diff_raw_z" >.tmp-2
     test_cmp .tmp-1 .tmp-2 && rm -f .tmp-1 .tmp-2
 }
 
diff --git a/t/t3300-funny-names.sh b/t/t3300-funny-names.sh
index 502b157205..dd0586b007 100755
--- a/t/t3300-funny-names.sh
+++ b/t/t3300-funny-names.sh
@@ -63,14 +63,14 @@ test_expect_success 'ls-files quotes funny filename' '
 	test_cmp expected current
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'ls-files -z does not quote funny filename' '
+test_expect_success 'ls-files -z does not quote funny filename' '
 	cat >expected <<-\EOF &&
 	just space
 	no-funny
 	tabs	," (dq) and spaces
 	EOF
 	git ls-files -z >ls-files.z &&
-	perl -pe "y/\000/\012/" <ls-files.z >current &&
+	tr "\000" "\012" <ls-files.z >current &&
 	test_cmp expected current
 '
 
@@ -101,23 +101,23 @@ test_expect_success 'diff-tree --name-status quotes funny filename' '
 	test_cmp expected current
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'diff-index -z does not quote funny filename' '
+test_expect_success 'diff-index -z does not quote funny filename' '
 	cat >expected <<-\EOF &&
 	A
 	tabs	," (dq) and spaces
 	EOF
 	git diff-index -z --name-status $t0 >diff-index.z &&
-	perl -pe "y/\000/\012/" <diff-index.z >current &&
+	tr "\000" "\012" <diff-index.z >current &&
 	test_cmp expected current
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'diff-tree -z does not quote funny filename' '
+test_expect_success 'diff-tree -z does not quote funny filename' '
 	cat >expected <<-\EOF &&
 	A
 	tabs	," (dq) and spaces
 	EOF
 	git diff-tree -z --name-status $t0 $t1 >diff-tree.z &&
-	perl -pe y/\\000/\\012/ <diff-tree.z >current &&
+	tr "\000" "\012" <diff-tree.z >current &&
 	test_cmp expected current
 '
 
diff --git a/t/t4020-diff-external.sh b/t/t4020-diff-external.sh
index 189294de7e..c8a23d5148 100755
--- a/t/t4020-diff-external.sh
+++ b/t/t4020-diff-external.sh
@@ -237,9 +237,9 @@ check_external_diff   0 empty  empty 0 on  --quiet
 check_external_diff   1 empty  empty 1 on  --quiet
 check_external_diff 128 empty  error 2 on  --quiet
 
-echo NULZbetweenZwords | perl -pe 'y/Z/\000/' > file
+echo NULZbetweenZwords | tr "Z" "\000" > file
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'force diff with "diff"' '
+test_expect_success 'force diff with "diff"' '
 	after=$(git hash-object file) &&
 	after=$(git rev-parse --short $after) &&
 	echo >.gitattributes "file diff" &&
@@ -300,7 +300,7 @@ test_expect_success 'external diff with autocrlf = true' '
 	test $(wc -l <crlfed.txt) = $(keep_only_cr <crlfed.txt | wc -c)
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'diff --cached' '
+test_expect_success 'diff --cached' '
 	test_config core.autocrlf true &&
 	git add file &&
 	git update-index --assume-unchanged file &&
diff --git a/t/t4103-apply-binary.sh b/t/t4103-apply-binary.sh
index 59d38793ae..8e302a5a57 100755
--- a/t/t4103-apply-binary.sh
+++ b/t/t4103-apply-binary.sh
@@ -11,12 +11,6 @@ export GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
-then
-	skip_all='skipping apply-binary tests; Perl not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 test_expect_success 'setup' '
 	cat >file1 <<-\EOF &&
 	A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
@@ -32,10 +26,10 @@ test_expect_success 'setup' '
 	git commit -m "Initial Version" 2>/dev/null &&
 
 	git checkout -b binary &&
-	perl -pe "y/x/\000/" <file1 >file3 &&
+	tr "x" "\000" <file1 >file3 &&
 	cat file3 >file4 &&
 	git add file2 &&
-	perl -pe "y/\000/v/" <file3 >file1 &&
+	tr "y" "\000" <file3 >file1 &&
 	rm -f file2 &&
 	git update-index --add --remove file1 file2 file3 file4 &&
 	git commit -m "Second Version" &&
@@ -164,7 +158,7 @@ test_expect_success 'apply binary -p0 diff' '
 	test -z "$(git diff --name-status binary -- file3)"
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'reject truncated binary diff' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'reject truncated binary diff' '
 	do_reset &&
 
 	# this length is calculated to get us very close to
diff --git a/t/t4116-apply-reverse.sh b/t/t4116-apply-reverse.sh
index 6f414ad27f..1e7beab001 100755
--- a/t/t4116-apply-reverse.sh
+++ b/t/t4116-apply-reverse.sh
@@ -10,23 +10,17 @@ test_description='git apply in reverse
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
-then
-	skip_all='skipping apply reverse tests; Perl not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 test_expect_success setup '
 
 	test_write_lines a b c d e f g h i j k l m n >file1 &&
-	perl -pe "y/ijk/\\000\\001\\002/" <file1 >file2 &&
+	tr "ijk" "\000\001\002" <file1 >file2 &&
 
 	git add file1 file2 &&
 	git commit -m initial &&
 	git tag initial &&
 
 	test_write_lines a b c g h i J K L m o n p q >file1 &&
-	perl -pe "y/mon/\\000\\001\\002/" <file1 >file2 &&
+	tr "mon" "\000\001\002" <file1 >file2 &&
 
 	git commit -a -m second &&
 	git tag second &&
diff --git a/t/t4200-rerere.sh b/t/t4200-rerere.sh
index 50fe8b0fd0..7fcca9ddad 100755
--- a/t/t4200-rerere.sh
+++ b/t/t4200-rerere.sh
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ test_expect_success 'rerere updates postimage timestamp' '
 
 test_expect_success 'rerere clear' '
 	mv $rr/postimage .git/post-saved &&
-	echo "$sha1	a1" | perl -pe "y/\012/\000/" >.git/MERGE_RR &&
+	echo "$sha1	a1" | tr "\012" "\000" >.git/MERGE_RR &&
 	git rerere clear &&
 	! test -d $rr
 '

From cdbdc6bf8caddc32e5fae7bfe4a63c54be21093f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:06:02 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 11/20] t: refactor tests depending on Perl substitution
 operator

We have a bunch of tests that use Perl to perform substitution via the
"s/" operator. These usecases can be trivially replaced with sed(1) and
tr(1).

Refactor the tests accordingly so that we can drop a couple of
PERL_TEST_HELPERS prerequisites.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 t/t0008-ignores.sh                        | 10 ++--------
 t/t4029-diff-trailing-space.sh            |  5 +++--
 t/t4200-rerere.sh                         | 12 +++---------
 t/t5303-pack-corruption-resilience.sh     | 10 ++++++----
 t/t5310-pack-bitmaps.sh                   |  4 ++--
 t/t5534-push-signed.sh                    |  4 ++--
 t/t6011-rev-list-with-bad-commit.sh       | 20 +++++++++-----------
 t/t7416-submodule-dash-url.sh             |  9 ++-------
 t/t7508-status.sh                         |  4 ++--
 t/t8006-blame-textconv.sh                 |  8 +-------
 t/t9137-git-svn-dcommit-clobber-series.sh | 14 ++++++++------
 11 files changed, 40 insertions(+), 60 deletions(-)

diff --git a/t/t0008-ignores.sh b/t/t0008-ignores.sh
index 1aaa6bf5ae..273d71411f 100755
--- a/t/t0008-ignores.sh
+++ b/t/t0008-ignores.sh
@@ -5,12 +5,6 @@ test_description=check-ignore
 TEST_CREATE_REPO_NO_TEMPLATE=1
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
-then
-	skip_all='skipping ignores tests; Perl not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 init_vars () {
 	global_excludes="global-excludes"
 }
@@ -45,11 +39,11 @@ test_stderr () {
 }
 
 broken_c_unquote () {
-	"$PERL_PATH" -pe 's/^"//; s/\\//; s/"$//; tr/\n/\0/' "$@"
+	sed -e 's/^"//' -e 's/\\//' -e 's/"$//' "$1" | tr '\n' '\0'
 }
 
 broken_c_unquote_verbose () {
-	"$PERL_PATH" -pe 's/	"/	/; s/\\//; s/"$//; tr/:\t\n/\0/' "$@"
+	sed -e 's/	"/	/' -e 's/\\//' -e 's/"$//' "$1" | tr ':\t\n' '\000'
 }
 
 stderr_contains () {
diff --git a/t/t4029-diff-trailing-space.sh b/t/t4029-diff-trailing-space.sh
index a92a42990b..90cdde88d8 100755
--- a/t/t4029-diff-trailing-space.sh
+++ b/t/t4029-diff-trailing-space.sh
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ index 5f6a263..8cb8bae 100644
 EOF
 exit 1
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS "$test_description" '
+test_expect_success "$test_description" '
 	printf "\nx\n" > f &&
 	before=$(git hash-object f) &&
 	before=$(git rev-parse --short $before) &&
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS "$test_description" '
 	git config --bool diff.suppressBlankEmpty true &&
 	git diff f > actual &&
 	test_cmp exp actual &&
-	perl -i.bak -p -e "s/^\$/ /" exp &&
+	sed "s/^\$/ /" exp >exp.munged &&
+	mv exp.munged exp &&
 	git config --bool diff.suppressBlankEmpty false &&
 	git diff f > actual &&
 	test_cmp exp actual &&
diff --git a/t/t4200-rerere.sh b/t/t4200-rerere.sh
index 7fcca9ddad..204325f4d5 100755
--- a/t/t4200-rerere.sh
+++ b/t/t4200-rerere.sh
@@ -27,12 +27,6 @@ export GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
-then
-	skip_all='skipping rerere tests; Perl not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 test_expect_success 'setup' '
 	cat >a1 <<-\EOF &&
 	Some title
@@ -87,7 +81,7 @@ test_expect_success 'activate rerere, old style (conflicting merge)' '
 	test_might_fail git config --unset rerere.enabled &&
 	test_must_fail git merge first &&
 
-	sha1=$(perl -pe "s/	.*//" .git/MERGE_RR) &&
+	sha1=$(sed "s/	.*//" .git/MERGE_RR) &&
 	rr=.git/rr-cache/$sha1 &&
 	grep "^=======\$" $rr/preimage &&
 	! test -f $rr/postimage &&
@@ -100,7 +94,7 @@ test_expect_success 'rerere.enabled works, too' '
 	git reset --hard &&
 	test_must_fail git merge first &&
 
-	sha1=$(perl -pe "s/	.*//" .git/MERGE_RR) &&
+	sha1=$(sed "s/	.*//" .git/MERGE_RR) &&
 	rr=.git/rr-cache/$sha1 &&
 	grep ^=======$ $rr/preimage
 '
@@ -110,7 +104,7 @@ test_expect_success 'set up rr-cache' '
 	git config rerere.enabled true &&
 	git reset --hard &&
 	test_must_fail git merge first &&
-	sha1=$(perl -pe "s/	.*//" .git/MERGE_RR) &&
+	sha1=$(sed "s/	.*//" .git/MERGE_RR) &&
 	rr=.git/rr-cache/$sha1
 '
 
diff --git a/t/t5303-pack-corruption-resilience.sh b/t/t5303-pack-corruption-resilience.sh
index ac5e370e1e..ab99c8b685 100755
--- a/t/t5303-pack-corruption-resilience.sh
+++ b/t/t5303-pack-corruption-resilience.sh
@@ -99,11 +99,12 @@ test_expect_success '... and loose copy of first delta allows for partial recove
 	git cat-file blob $blob_3 > /dev/null
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'create corruption in data of first object' '
+test_expect_success 'create corruption in data of first object' '
 	create_new_pack &&
 	git prune-packed &&
 	chmod +w ${pack}.pack &&
-	perl -i.bak -pe "s/ base /abcdef/" ${pack}.pack &&
+	sed "s/ base /abcdef/" ${pack}.pack >${pack}.pack.munged &&
+	mv ${pack}.pack.munged ${pack}.pack &&
 	test_must_fail git cat-file blob $blob_1 > /dev/null &&
 	test_must_fail git cat-file blob $blob_2 > /dev/null &&
 	test_must_fail git cat-file blob $blob_3 > /dev/null
@@ -156,11 +157,12 @@ test_expect_success '... and then a repack "clears" the corruption' '
 	git cat-file blob $blob_3 > /dev/null
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'create corruption in data of first delta' '
+test_expect_success 'create corruption in data of first delta' '
 	create_new_pack &&
 	git prune-packed &&
 	chmod +w ${pack}.pack &&
-	perl -i.bak -pe "s/ delta1 /abcdefgh/" ${pack}.pack &&
+	sed "s/ delta1 /abcdefgh/" ${pack}.pack >${pack}.pack.munged &&
+	mv ${pack}.pack.munged ${pack}.pack &&
 	git cat-file blob $blob_1 > /dev/null &&
 	test_must_fail git cat-file blob $blob_2 > /dev/null &&
 	test_must_fail git cat-file blob $blob_3 > /dev/null
diff --git a/t/t5310-pack-bitmaps.sh b/t/t5310-pack-bitmaps.sh
index 8198729623..a62b463eaf 100755
--- a/t/t5310-pack-bitmaps.sh
+++ b/t/t5310-pack-bitmaps.sh
@@ -395,7 +395,7 @@ test_bitmap_cases () {
 		)
 	'
 
-	test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'pack.preferBitmapTips' '
+	test_expect_success 'pack.preferBitmapTips' '
 		git init repo &&
 		test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
 		(
@@ -421,7 +421,7 @@ test_bitmap_cases () {
 
 			# mark the commits which did not receive bitmaps as preferred,
 			# and generate the bitmap again
-			perl -pe "s{^}{create refs/tags/include/$. }" <before |
+			sed "s|\(.*\)|create refs/tags/include/\1 \1|" before |
 				git update-ref --stdin &&
 			git -c pack.preferBitmapTips=refs/tags/include repack -adb &&
 
diff --git a/t/t5534-push-signed.sh b/t/t5534-push-signed.sh
index 342d0423c9..2a782214ee 100755
--- a/t/t5534-push-signed.sh
+++ b/t/t5534-push-signed.sh
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ test_expect_success GPGSSH 'ssh signed push sends push certificate' '
 	test_cmp expect dst/push-cert-status
 '
 
-test_expect_success GPG,PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'inconsistent push options in signed push not allowed' '
+test_expect_success GPG 'inconsistent push options in signed push not allowed' '
 	# First, invoke receive-pack with dummy input to obtain its preamble.
 	prepare_dst &&
 	git -C dst config receive.certnonceseed sekrit &&
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ test_expect_success GPG,PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'inconsistent push options in signed p
 	# Tweak the push output to make the push option outside the cert
 	# different, then replay it on a fresh dst, checking that ff is not
 	# deleted.
-	perl -pe "s/([^ ])bar/\$1baz/" push >push.tweak &&
+	sed "s/\([^ ]\)bar/\1baz/" push >push.tweak &&
 	prepare_dst &&
 	git -C dst config receive.certnonceseed sekrit &&
 	git -C dst config receive.advertisepushoptions 1 &&
diff --git a/t/t6011-rev-list-with-bad-commit.sh b/t/t6011-rev-list-with-bad-commit.sh
index 6131c36109..b6f3344dbf 100755
--- a/t/t6011-rev-list-with-bad-commit.sh
+++ b/t/t6011-rev-list-with-bad-commit.sh
@@ -4,12 +4,6 @@ test_description='git rev-list should notice bad commits'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
-then
-	skip_all='skipping rev-list with bad commit tests; Perl not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 # Note:
 # - compression level is set to zero to make "corruptions" easier to perform
 # - reflog is disabled to avoid extra references which would twart the test
@@ -41,11 +35,15 @@ test_expect_success 'verify number of revisions' \
    first_commit=$(git rev-parse HEAD~3)
    '
 
-test_expect_success 'corrupt second commit object' \
-   '
-   perl -i.bak -pe "s/second commit/socond commit/" .git/objects/pack/*.pack &&
-   test_must_fail git fsck --full
-   '
+test_expect_success 'corrupt second commit object' '
+	for p in .git/objects/pack/*.pack
+	do
+		sed "s/second commit/socond commit/" "$p" >"$p.munged" &&
+		mv "$p.munged" "$p" ||
+		return 1
+	done &&
+	test_must_fail git fsck --full
+'
 
 test_expect_success 'rev-list should fail' '
 	test_must_fail env GIT_TEST_COMMIT_GRAPH=0 git -c core.commitGraph=false rev-list --all > /dev/null
diff --git a/t/t7416-submodule-dash-url.sh b/t/t7416-submodule-dash-url.sh
index 14069600a2..3d944a00e0 100755
--- a/t/t7416-submodule-dash-url.sh
+++ b/t/t7416-submodule-dash-url.sh
@@ -4,12 +4,6 @@ test_description='check handling of disallowed .gitmodule urls'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
-then
-	skip_all='skipping submodule dash URL tests; Perl not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 test_expect_success 'setup' '
 	git config --global protocol.file.allow always
 '
@@ -39,7 +33,8 @@ test_expect_success 'fsck accepts protected dash' '
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'remove ./ protection from .gitmodules url' '
-	perl -i -pe "s{\./}{}" .gitmodules &&
+	sed "s|\./||" .gitmodules >.gitmodules.munged &&
+	mv .gitmodules.munged .gitmodules &&
 	git commit -am "drop protection"
 '
 
diff --git a/t/t7508-status.sh b/t/t7508-status.sh
index 14c41b2cb7..cdc1d6fcc7 100755
--- a/t/t7508-status.sh
+++ b/t/t7508-status.sh
@@ -1064,9 +1064,9 @@ test_expect_success 'status -s submodule summary (clean submodule)' '
 	test_cmp expect output
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'status -z implies porcelain' '
+test_expect_success 'status -z implies porcelain' '
 	git status --porcelain |
-	perl -pe "s/\012/\000/g" >expect &&
+	tr "\012" "\000" >expect &&
 	git status -z >output &&
 	test_cmp expect output
 '
diff --git a/t/t8006-blame-textconv.sh b/t/t8006-blame-textconv.sh
index 5cb1687208..db1e2afb2c 100755
--- a/t/t8006-blame-textconv.sh
+++ b/t/t8006-blame-textconv.sh
@@ -4,12 +4,6 @@ test_description='git blame textconv support'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
-then
-	skip_all='skipping blame textconv tests; Perl not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 find_blame() {
 	sed -e 's/^[^(]*//'
 }
@@ -17,7 +11,7 @@ find_blame() {
 cat >helper <<'EOF'
 #!/bin/sh
 grep -q '^bin: ' "$1" || { echo "E: $1 is not \"binary\" file" 1>&2; exit 1; }
-"$PERL_PATH" -p -e 's/^bin: /converted: /' "$1"
+sed 's/^bin: /converted: /' "$1"
 EOF
 chmod +x helper
 
diff --git a/t/t9137-git-svn-dcommit-clobber-series.sh b/t/t9137-git-svn-dcommit-clobber-series.sh
index a9d38be997..b57a362bb9 100755
--- a/t/t9137-git-svn-dcommit-clobber-series.sh
+++ b/t/t9137-git-svn-dcommit-clobber-series.sh
@@ -15,13 +15,13 @@ test_expect_success 'initialize repo' '
 	test -e file
 	'
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS '(supposedly) non-conflicting change from SVN' '
+test_expect_success '(supposedly) non-conflicting change from SVN' '
 	test x"$(sed -n -e 58p < file)" = x58 &&
 	test x"$(sed -n -e 61p < file)" = x61 &&
 	svn_cmd co "$svnrepo" tmp &&
 	(cd tmp &&
-		perl -i.bak -p -e "s/^58$/5588/" file &&
-		perl -i.bak -p -e "s/^61$/6611/" file &&
+		sed -e "s/^58$/5588/" -e "s/^61$/6611/" file >file.munged &&
+		mv file.munged file &&
 		poke file &&
 		test x"$(sed -n -e 58p < file)" = x5588 &&
 		test x"$(sed -n -e 61p < file)" = x6611 &&
@@ -37,11 +37,13 @@ test_expect_success 'some unrelated changes to git' "
 	git commit -m bye-life life
 	"
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'change file but in unrelated area' "
+test_expect_success 'change file but in unrelated area' "
 	test x\"\$(sed -n -e 4p < file)\" = x4 &&
 	test x\"\$(sed -n -e 7p < file)\" = x7 &&
-	perl -i.bak -p -e 's/^4\$/4444/' file &&
-	perl -i.bak -p -e 's/^7\$/7777/' file &&
+	sed -e 's/^4\$/4444/' \
+	    -e 's/^7\$/7777/' \
+		file >file.munged &&
+	mv file.munged file &&
 	test x\"\$(sed -n -e 4p < file)\" = x4444 &&
 	test x\"\$(sed -n -e 7p < file)\" = x7777 &&
 	git commit -m '4 => 4444, 7 => 7777' file &&

From 6aec8d38fddf22fa9fd3194acc2b891d295b5fbc Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:06:03 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 12/20] t: refactor tests depending on Perl to print data

A bunch of tests rely on Perl to print data in various different ways.
These usages fall into the following categories:

  - Print data conditionally by matching patterns. These usecases can be
    converted to use awk(1) rather easily.

  - Print data repeatedly. These usecases can typically be converted to
    use a combination of `test-tool genzeros` and sed(1).

  - Print data in reverse. These usecases can be converted to use
    awk(1) or `sort -r`.

Refactor the tests accordingly so that we can drop a couple of
PERL_TEST_HELPERS prerequisites.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 t/t0610-reftable-basics.sh          |  7 +++----
 t/t0613-reftable-write-options.sh   |  4 ++--
 t/t1010-mktree.sh                   |  8 ++++----
 t/t4150-am.sh                       | 10 +++++-----
 t/t5300-pack-object.sh              | 16 +++++-----------
 t/t5326-multi-pack-bitmaps.sh       |  6 +++---
 t/t5333-pseudo-merge-bitmaps.sh     | 18 +++++-------------
 t/t5410-receive-pack-alternates.sh  |  6 +++---
 t/t5701-git-serve.sh                |  7 +++++--
 t/t6013-rev-list-reverse-parents.sh | 14 ++++++++------
 t/t6115-rev-list-du.sh              |  8 +-------
 t/t7006-pager.sh                    |  8 ++++----
 t/t8002-blame.sh                    |  2 +-
 t/t9850-shell.sh                    |  4 ++--
 14 files changed, 51 insertions(+), 67 deletions(-)

diff --git a/t/t0610-reftable-basics.sh b/t/t0610-reftable-basics.sh
index 5e0a1fa176..77ed11e717 100755
--- a/t/t0610-reftable-basics.sh
+++ b/t/t0610-reftable-basics.sh
@@ -643,12 +643,11 @@ test_expect_success 'basic: commit and list refs' '
 	test_cmp actual expect
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'basic: can write large commit message' '
+test_expect_success 'basic: can write large commit message' '
 	test_when_finished "rm -rf repo" &&
 	git init repo &&
-	perl -e "
-		print \"this is a long commit message\" x 50000
-	" >commit-msg &&
+
+	awk "BEGIN { for (i = 0; i < 50000; i++) printf \"%s\", \"this is a long commit message\" }" >commit-msg &&
 	git -C repo commit --allow-empty --file=../commit-msg
 '
 
diff --git a/t/t0613-reftable-write-options.sh b/t/t0613-reftable-write-options.sh
index fa1e2f9eef..42aa1592f8 100755
--- a/t/t0613-reftable-write-options.sh
+++ b/t/t0613-reftable-write-options.sh
@@ -139,13 +139,13 @@ test_expect_success 'small block size leads to multiple ref blocks' '
 	)
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'small block size fails with large reflog message' '
+test_expect_success 'small block size fails with large reflog message' '
 	test_when_finished "rm -rf repo" &&
 	git init repo &&
 	(
 		cd repo &&
 		test_commit A &&
-		perl -e "print \"a\" x 500" >logmsg &&
+		test-tool genzeros 500 | tr "\000" "a" >logmsg &&
 		cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 		fatal: update_ref failed for ref ${SQ}refs/heads/logme${SQ}: reftable: transaction failure: entry too large
 		EOF
diff --git a/t/t1010-mktree.sh b/t/t1010-mktree.sh
index 4977998e20..e9973f7494 100755
--- a/t/t1010-mktree.sh
+++ b/t/t1010-mktree.sh
@@ -41,14 +41,14 @@ test_expect_success 'ls-tree piped to mktree (2)' '
 	test_cmp tree.withsub actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'ls-tree output in wrong order given to mktree (1)' '
-	perl -e "print reverse <>" <top |
+test_expect_success 'ls-tree output in wrong order given to mktree (1)' '
+	sort -r <top |
 	git mktree >actual &&
 	test_cmp tree actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'ls-tree output in wrong order given to mktree (2)' '
-	perl -e "print reverse <>" <top.withsub |
+test_expect_success 'ls-tree output in wrong order given to mktree (2)' '
+	sort -r <top.withsub |
 	git mktree >actual &&
 	test_cmp tree.withsub actual
 '
diff --git a/t/t4150-am.sh b/t/t4150-am.sh
index 4794510d70..2ae93d3c96 100755
--- a/t/t4150-am.sh
+++ b/t/t4150-am.sh
@@ -1073,7 +1073,7 @@ test_expect_success 'am --patch-format=mboxrd handles mboxrd' '
 	test_cmp msg out
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'am works with multi-line in-body headers' '
+test_expect_success 'am works with multi-line in-body headers' '
 	FORTY="String that has a length of more than forty characters" &&
 	LONG="$FORTY $FORTY" &&
 	rm -fr .git/rebase-apply &&
@@ -1084,13 +1084,13 @@ test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'am works with multi-line in-body headers'
     Body test" --author="$LONG <long@example.com>" &&
 	git format-patch --stdout -1 >patch &&
 	# bump from, date, and subject down to in-body header
-	perl -lpe "
-		if (/^From:/) {
+	awk "
+		/^From:/{
 			print \"From: x <x\@example.com>\";
 			print \"Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2000 00:00:00 +0000\";
 			print \"Subject: x\n\";
-		}
-	" patch >msg &&
+		}; 1
+	" <patch >msg &&
 	git checkout HEAD^ &&
 	git am msg &&
 	# Ensure that the author and full message are present
diff --git a/t/t5300-pack-object.sh b/t/t5300-pack-object.sh
index 143856c29f..a5932b6a8b 100755
--- a/t/t5300-pack-object.sh
+++ b/t/t5300-pack-object.sh
@@ -7,17 +7,11 @@ test_description='git pack-object'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
-then
-	skip_all='skipping pack-object tests; Perl not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 test_expect_success 'setup' '
 	rm -f .git/index* &&
-	perl -e "print \"a\" x 4096;" >a &&
-	perl -e "print \"b\" x 4096;" >b &&
-	perl -e "print \"c\" x 4096;" >c &&
+	test-tool genzeros 4096 | tr "\000" "a" >a &&
+	test-tool genzeros 4096 | tr "\000" "b" >b &&
+	test-tool genzeros 4096 | tr "\000" "c" >c &&
 	test-tool genrandom "seed a" 2097152 >a_big &&
 	test-tool genrandom "seed b" 2097152 >b_big &&
 	git update-index --add a a_big b b_big c &&
@@ -146,7 +140,7 @@ test_expect_success 'pack-object <stdin parsing: --stdin-packs handles garbage'
 # usage: check_deltas <stderr_from_pack_objects> <cmp_op> <nr_deltas>
 # e.g.: check_deltas stderr -gt 0
 check_deltas() {
-	deltas=$(perl -lne '/delta (\d+)/ and print $1' "$1") &&
+	deltas=$(sed -n 's/Total [0-9][0-9]* (delta \([0-9][0-9]*\)).*/\1/p' "$1") &&
 	shift &&
 	if ! test "$deltas" "$@"
 	then
@@ -221,7 +215,7 @@ test_expect_success 'unpack with OFS_DELTA (core.fsyncmethod=batch)' '
 	check_unpack test-3-${packname_3} obj-list "$BATCH_CONFIGURATION"
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'compare delta flavors' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'compare delta flavors' '
 	perl -e '\''
 		defined($_ = -s $_) or die for @ARGV;
 		exit 1 if $ARGV[0] <= $ARGV[1];
diff --git a/t/t5326-multi-pack-bitmaps.sh b/t/t5326-multi-pack-bitmaps.sh
index 627f8b4efd..892aeb09e4 100755
--- a/t/t5326-multi-pack-bitmaps.sh
+++ b/t/t5326-multi-pack-bitmaps.sh
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ test_midx_bitmap_cases () {
 		)
 	'
 
-	test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'pack.preferBitmapTips' '
+	test_expect_success 'pack.preferBitmapTips' '
 		git init repo &&
 		test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
 		(
@@ -176,8 +176,8 @@ test_midx_bitmap_cases () {
 			comm -13 bitmaps commits >before &&
 			test_line_count = 1 before &&
 
-			perl -ne "printf(\"create refs/tags/include/%d \", $.); print" \
-				<before | git update-ref --stdin &&
+			sed "s|\(.*\)|create refs/tags/include/\1 \1|" before |
+			git update-ref --stdin &&
 
 			rm -fr $midx-$(midx_checksum $objdir).bitmap &&
 			rm -fr $midx &&
diff --git a/t/t5333-pseudo-merge-bitmaps.sh b/t/t5333-pseudo-merge-bitmaps.sh
index 1059ff45fe..56674db562 100755
--- a/t/t5333-pseudo-merge-bitmaps.sh
+++ b/t/t5333-pseudo-merge-bitmaps.sh
@@ -6,12 +6,6 @@ GIT_TEST_MULTI_PACK_INDEX_WRITE_BITMAP=0
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
-then
-	skip_all='skipping pseudo-merge bitmap tests; Perl not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 test_pseudo_merges () {
 	test-tool bitmap dump-pseudo-merges
 }
@@ -34,9 +28,8 @@ test_pseudo_merges_reused () {
 
 tag_everything () {
 	git rev-list --all --no-object-names >in &&
-	perl -lne '
-		print "create refs/tags/" . $. . " " . $1 if /([0-9a-f]+)/
-	' <in | git update-ref --stdin
+	sed 's|\(.*\)|create refs/tags/\1 \1|' in |
+	git update-ref --stdin
 }
 
 test_expect_success 'setup' '
@@ -108,7 +101,7 @@ test_expect_success 'stale bitmap traversal with pseudo-merges' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'bitmapPseudoMerge.sampleRate adjusts commit selection rate' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'bitmapPseudoMerge.sampleRate adjusts commit selection rate' '
 	test_config bitmapPseudoMerge.test.pattern "refs/tags/" &&
 	test_config bitmapPseudoMerge.test.maxMerges 1 &&
 	test_config bitmapPseudoMerge.test.stableThreshold never &&
@@ -241,8 +234,7 @@ test_expect_success 'pseudo-merge pattern with capture groups' '
 			test_commit_bulk 16 &&
 
 			git rev-list HEAD~16.. >in &&
-
-			perl -lne "print \"create refs/remotes/$r/tags/\$. \$_\"" <in |
+			sed "s|\(.*\)|create refs/remotes/$r/tags/\1 \1" in |
 			git update-ref --stdin || return 1
 		done &&
 
@@ -258,7 +250,7 @@ test_expect_success 'pseudo-merge pattern with capture groups' '
 		do
 			test_pseudo_merge_commits $m >oids &&
 			grep -f oids refs |
-			perl -lne "print \$1 if /refs\/remotes\/([0-9]+)/" |
+			sed -n "s|refs/remotes/\([0-9][0-9]*\)/|\1|p" &&
 			sort -u || return 1
 		done >remotes &&
 
diff --git a/t/t5410-receive-pack-alternates.sh b/t/t5410-receive-pack-alternates.sh
index 6a009fdcd7..4e82fd102e 100755
--- a/t/t5410-receive-pack-alternates.sh
+++ b/t/t5410-receive-pack-alternates.sh
@@ -17,10 +17,10 @@ test_expect_success 'setup' '
 '
 
 extract_haves () {
-	depacketize | perl -lne '/^(\S+) \.have/ and print $1'
+	depacketize | sed -n 's/^\([^ ][^ ]*\) \.have/\1/p'
 }
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'with core.alternateRefsCommand' '
+test_expect_success 'with core.alternateRefsCommand' '
 	write_script fork/alternate-refs <<-\EOF &&
 		git --git-dir="$1" for-each-ref \
 			--format="%(objectname)" \
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'with core.alternateRefsCommand' '
 	test_cmp expect actual.haves
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'with core.alternateRefsPrefixes' '
+test_expect_success 'with core.alternateRefsPrefixes' '
 	test_config -C fork core.alternateRefsPrefixes "refs/heads/private" &&
 	git rev-parse private/branch >expect &&
 	printf "0000" | git receive-pack fork >actual &&
diff --git a/t/t5701-git-serve.sh b/t/t5701-git-serve.sh
index 200bf06ecb..d4c28bae39 100755
--- a/t/t5701-git-serve.sh
+++ b/t/t5701-git-serve.sh
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ test_expect_success 'refs/heads prefix' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'ignore very large set of prefixes' '
+test_expect_success 'ignore very large set of prefixes' '
 	# generate a large number of ref-prefixes that we expect
 	# to match nothing; the value here exceeds TOO_MANY_PREFIXES
 	# from ls-refs.c.
@@ -228,7 +228,10 @@ test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'ignore very large set of prefixes' '
 		echo command=ls-refs &&
 		echo object-format=$(test_oid algo) &&
 		echo 0001 &&
-		perl -le "print \"ref-prefix refs/heads/\$_\" for (1..65536)" &&
+		awk "{
+			for (i = 1; i <= 65536; i++)
+				print \"ref-prefix refs/heads/\", \$i
+		}" &&
 		echo 0000
 	} |
 	test-tool pkt-line pack >in &&
diff --git a/t/t6013-rev-list-reverse-parents.sh b/t/t6013-rev-list-reverse-parents.sh
index 8074185742..273196f52b 100755
--- a/t/t6013-rev-list-reverse-parents.sh
+++ b/t/t6013-rev-list-reverse-parents.sh
@@ -26,17 +26,19 @@ test_expect_success 'set up --reverse example' '
 	commit five
 	'
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS '--reverse --parents --full-history combines correctly' '
-	git rev-list --parents --full-history main -- foo |
-		perl -e "print reverse <>" > expected &&
+reverse () {
+	awk '{a[i++]=$0} END {for (j=i-1; j>=0;) print a[j--] }'
+}
+
+test_expect_success '--reverse --parents --full-history combines correctly' '
+	git rev-list --parents --full-history main -- foo | reverse >expected &&
 	git rev-list --reverse --parents --full-history main -- foo \
 		> actual &&
 	test_cmp expected actual
 	'
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS '--boundary does too' '
-	git rev-list --boundary --parents --full-history main ^root -- foo |
-		perl -e "print reverse <>" > expected &&
+test_expect_success '--boundary does too' '
+	git rev-list --boundary --parents --full-history main ^root -- foo | reverse >expected &&
 	git rev-list --boundary --reverse --parents --full-history \
 		main ^root -- foo > actual &&
 	test_cmp expected actual
diff --git a/t/t6115-rev-list-du.sh b/t/t6115-rev-list-du.sh
index 6a74be576a..04c577dad6 100755
--- a/t/t6115-rev-list-du.sh
+++ b/t/t6115-rev-list-du.sh
@@ -4,12 +4,6 @@ test_description='basic tests of rev-list --disk-usage'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
-then
-	skip_all='skipping rev-list disk usage tests; Perl not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 # we want a mix of reachable and unreachable, as well as
 # objects in the bitmapped pack and some outside of it
 test_expect_success 'set up repository' '
@@ -28,7 +22,7 @@ test_expect_success 'set up repository' '
 disk_usage_slow () {
 	git rev-list --no-object-names "$@" |
 	git cat-file --batch-check="%(objectsize:disk)" |
-	perl -lne '$total += $_; END { print $total}'
+	awk '{ i += $1 } END { print i }'
 }
 
 # check behavior with given rev-list options; note that
diff --git a/t/t7006-pager.sh b/t/t7006-pager.sh
index 49aae18382..9717e825f0 100755
--- a/t/t7006-pager.sh
+++ b/t/t7006-pager.sh
@@ -661,10 +661,10 @@ test_expect_success 'setup trace2' '
 	export GIT_TRACE2_BRIEF
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'setup large log output' '
-	perl -e "
-		print \"this is a long commit message\" x 50000
-	" >commit-msg &&
+test_expect_success 'setup large log output' '
+	test-tool genzeros 50000 |
+	tr "\000" "a" |
+	sed "s/a/this is a long commit message/g" >commit-msg &&
 	git commit --allow-empty -F commit-msg
 '
 
diff --git a/t/t8002-blame.sh b/t/t8002-blame.sh
index b40199df23..7822947f02 100755
--- a/t/t8002-blame.sh
+++ b/t/t8002-blame.sh
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ test_expect_success 'set up abbrev tests' '
 		expect=$1 && shift &&
 		echo $sha1 | cut -c 1-$expect >expect &&
 		git blame "$@" abbrev.t >actual &&
-		perl -lne "/[0-9a-f]+/ and print \$&" <actual >actual.sha &&
+		sed -n "s/^[\^]\{0,1\}\([0-9a-f][0-9a-f]*\).*/\1/p" actual >actual.sha &&
 		test_cmp expect actual.sha
 	}
 '
diff --git a/t/t9850-shell.sh b/t/t9850-shell.sh
index f619b60f22..21c3af48bd 100755
--- a/t/t9850-shell.sh
+++ b/t/t9850-shell.sh
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@ test_expect_success 'shell allows interactive command' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'shell complains of overlong commands' '
-	perl -e "print \"a\" x 2**12 for (0..2**19)" |
+test_expect_success 'shell complains of overlong commands' '
+	test-tool genzeros | tr "\000" "a" |
 	test_must_fail git shell 2>err &&
 	grep "too long" err
 '

From 4a7af4edbb800ff8ed0cd131423f45c2c76e1200 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:06:04 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 13/20] t: refactor tests depending on Perl for textconv
 scripts

We have a couple of tests that depend on Perl for textconv scripts.
Refactor these tests to instead be implemented via shell utilities so
that we can drop a couple of PERL_TEST_HELPERS prerequisites.

Note that the conversion in t4030 is not a one-to-one equivalent to the
previous textconv script. Before this change we used to essentially do a
hexdump via Perl. The obvious conversion here would be to use `test-tool
hexdump` like we do for the other tests. But this would lead to a ripple
effect where we would have to adapt a bunch of other tests with a bunch
of seemingly unrelated changes, which would be somewhat awkward.

Instead, we're going with the minimum viable change: the test files we
write contain "\001" and "\000", and the test's expectation is that
those get translated into proper ASCII characters. So instead of doing a
full hexdump, we simply use tr(1) to translate these specific bytes.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 t/t4030-diff-textconv.sh       | 15 +++------------
 t/t4031-diff-rewrite-binary.sh | 19 +++++++------------
 t/t7815-grep-binary.sh         | 15 +++------------
 3 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 36 deletions(-)

diff --git a/t/t4030-diff-textconv.sh b/t/t4030-diff-textconv.sh
index c7d8eb1245..f904fc19f6 100755
--- a/t/t4030-diff-textconv.sh
+++ b/t/t4030-diff-textconv.sh
@@ -4,12 +4,6 @@ test_description='diff.*.textconv tests'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
-then
-	skip_all='skipping diff textconv tests; Perl not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 find_diff() {
 	sed '1,/^index /d' | sed '/^-- $/,$d'
 }
@@ -26,13 +20,10 @@ cat >expect.text <<'EOF'
 +1
 EOF
 
-cat >hexdump <<'EOF'
-#!/bin/sh
-"$PERL_PATH" -e '$/ = undef; $_ = <>; s/./ord($&)/ge; print $_' < "$1"
-EOF
-chmod +x hexdump
-
 test_expect_success 'setup binary file with history' '
+	write_script hexdump <<-\EOF &&
+	tr "\000\001" "01" <"$1"
+	EOF
 	test_commit --printf one file "\\0\\n" &&
 	test_commit --printf --append two file "\\01\\n"
 '
diff --git a/t/t4031-diff-rewrite-binary.sh b/t/t4031-diff-rewrite-binary.sh
index cbe50b1577..15e012ccc7 100755
--- a/t/t4031-diff-rewrite-binary.sh
+++ b/t/t4031-diff-rewrite-binary.sh
@@ -57,24 +57,19 @@ test_expect_success 'diff --stat counts binary rewrite as 0 lines' '
 	grep " rewrite file" diff
 '
 
-{
-	echo "#!$SHELL_PATH"
-	cat <<'EOF'
-"$PERL_PATH" -e '$/ = undef; $_ = <>; s/./ord($&)/ge; print $_' < "$1"
-EOF
-} >dump
-chmod +x dump
-
 test_expect_success 'setup textconv' '
+	write_script dump <<-\EOF &&
+	test-tool hexdump <"$1"
+	EOF
 	echo file diff=foo >.gitattributes &&
 	git config diff.foo.textconv "\"$(pwd)\""/dump
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'rewrite diff respects textconv' '
+test_expect_success 'rewrite diff respects textconv' '
 	git diff -B >diff &&
-	grep "dissimilarity index" diff &&
-	grep "^-61" diff &&
-	grep "^-0" diff
+	test_grep "dissimilarity index" diff &&
+	test_grep "^-3d 0a 00" diff &&
+	test_grep "^+3d 0a 01" diff
 '
 
 test_done
diff --git a/t/t7815-grep-binary.sh b/t/t7815-grep-binary.sh
index b2730d200c..3bd91da970 100755
--- a/t/t7815-grep-binary.sh
+++ b/t/t7815-grep-binary.sh
@@ -4,12 +4,6 @@ test_description='git grep in binary files'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
-then
-	skip_all='skipping grep binary tests; Perl not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 test_expect_success 'setup' "
 	echo 'binaryQfileQm[*]cQ*æQð' | q_to_nul >a &&
 	git add a &&
@@ -120,13 +114,10 @@ test_expect_success 'grep respects not-binary diff attribute' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
-cat >nul_to_q_textconv <<'EOF'
-#!/bin/sh
-"$PERL_PATH" -pe 'y/\000/Q/' < "$1"
-EOF
-chmod +x nul_to_q_textconv
-
 test_expect_success 'setup textconv filters' '
+	write_script nul_to_q_textconv <<-\EOF &&
+	tr "\000" "Q" <"$1"
+	EOF
 	echo a diff=foo >.gitattributes &&
 	git config diff.foo.textconv "\"$(pwd)\""/nul_to_q_textconv
 '

From 3ca6f2058563a371435954fa3782169073823781 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:06:05 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 14/20] t/lib-gpg: refactor `sanitize_pgp()` to not depend on
 Perl

The `sanitize_pgp()` test helper uses Perl to strip PGP signatures from
stdin. Refactor it to instead use sed(1) so that we drop the
PERL_TEST_HELPERS prerequisite in users of this library.

Note that we have to add PERL_TEST_HELPERS to a subset of tests in t6300
now that the test suite doesn't bail out early anymore in case the
prerequisite isn't set.

Helped-by: Johannes Schindelin <Johannes.Schindelin@gmx.de>
Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 t/lib-gpg.sh            |  6 +-----
 t/t6300-for-each-ref.sh | 21 ++++++++++-----------
 2 files changed, 11 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)

diff --git a/t/lib-gpg.sh b/t/lib-gpg.sh
index 3845b6ac44..937b876bd0 100644
--- a/t/lib-gpg.sh
+++ b/t/lib-gpg.sh
@@ -192,9 +192,5 @@ test_lazy_prereq GPGSSH_VERIFYTIME '
 '
 
 sanitize_pgp() {
-	perl -ne '
-		/^-----END PGP/ and $in_pgp = 0;
-		print unless $in_pgp;
-		/^-----BEGIN PGP/ and $in_pgp = 1;
-	'
+	sed "/^-----BEGIN PGP/,/^-----END PGP/{/^-/p;d;}"
 }
diff --git a/t/t6300-for-each-ref.sh b/t/t6300-for-each-ref.sh
index 732a4d3171..5db7038c41 100755
--- a/t/t6300-for-each-ref.sh
+++ b/t/t6300-for-each-ref.sh
@@ -10,12 +10,6 @@ GNUPGHOME_NOT_USED=$GNUPGHOME
 . "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/lib-gpg.sh
 . "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/lib-terminal.sh
 
-if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
-then
-	skip_all='skipping for-each-ref tests; Perl not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 # Mon Jul 3 23:18:43 2006 +0000
 datestamp=1151968723
 setdate_and_increment () {
@@ -1215,7 +1209,7 @@ test_expect_success '%(raw) with --tcl must fail' '
 	test_must_fail git for-each-ref --format="%(raw)" --tcl
 '
 
-test_expect_success '%(raw) with --perl' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS '%(raw) with --perl' '
 	git for-each-ref --format="\$name= %(raw);
 print \"\$name\"" refs/myblobs/blob1 --perl | perl >actual &&
 	cmp blob1 actual &&
@@ -1442,9 +1436,14 @@ test_expect_success 'set up trailers for next test' '
 '
 
 test_trailer_option () {
+	if test "$#" -eq 3
+	then
+		prereq="$1"
+		shift
+	fi &&
 	title=$1 option=$2
 	cat >expect
-	test_expect_success "$title" '
+	test_expect_success $prereq "$title" '
 		git for-each-ref --format="%($option)" refs/heads/main >actual &&
 		test_cmp expect actual &&
 		git for-each-ref --format="%(contents:$option)" refs/heads/main >actual &&
@@ -1452,7 +1451,7 @@ test_trailer_option () {
 	'
 }
 
-test_trailer_option '%(trailers:unfold) unfolds trailers' \
+test_trailer_option PERL_TEST_HELPERS '%(trailers:unfold) unfolds trailers' \
 	'trailers:unfold' <<-EOF
 	$(unfold <trailers)
 
@@ -1482,13 +1481,13 @@ test_trailer_option '%(trailers:only=no) shows all trailers' \
 
 	EOF
 
-test_trailer_option '%(trailers:only) and %(trailers:unfold) work together' \
+test_trailer_option PERL_TEST_HELPERS '%(trailers:only) and %(trailers:unfold) work together' \
 	'trailers:only,unfold' <<-EOF
 	$(grep -v patch.description <trailers | unfold)
 
 	EOF
 
-test_trailer_option '%(trailers:unfold) and %(trailers:only) work together' \
+test_trailer_option PERL_TEST_HELPERS '%(trailers:unfold) and %(trailers:only) work together' \
 	'trailers:unfold,only' <<-EOF
 	$(grep -v patch.description <trailers | unfold)
 

From de9eeabd7119afb6c6895e88cb76403c1ec8273a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:06:06 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 15/20] t/lib-t6000: refactor `name_from_description()` to not
 depend on Perl

The `name_from_description()` test helper uses Perl to munge a given
description and convert it into a name. Refactor it to instead use a
combination of sed(1) and tr(1) so that we drop PERL_TEST_HELPERS
prerequisites in users of this library.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 t/lib-t6000.sh                 | 13 ++++++-------
 t/t6002-rev-list-bisect.sh     |  6 ------
 t/t6003-rev-list-topo-order.sh |  6 ------
 3 files changed, 6 insertions(+), 19 deletions(-)

diff --git a/t/lib-t6000.sh b/t/lib-t6000.sh
index fba6778ca3..35c5472465 100644
--- a/t/lib-t6000.sh
+++ b/t/lib-t6000.sh
@@ -109,13 +109,12 @@ check_output () {
 # All alphanums translated into -'s which are then compressed and stripped
 # from front and back.
 name_from_description () {
-	perl -pe '
-		s/[^A-Za-z0-9.]/-/g;
-		s/-+/-/g;
-		s/-$//;
-		s/^-//;
-		y/A-Z/a-z/;
-	'
+	sed \
+		-e 's/[^A-Za-z0-9.]/-/g' \
+		-e 's/--*/-/g' \
+		-e 's/-$//' \
+		-e 's/^-//' \
+		-e 'y/A-Z/a-z/'
 }
 
 
diff --git a/t/t6002-rev-list-bisect.sh b/t/t6002-rev-list-bisect.sh
index 5e1482aff7..daa009c9a1 100755
--- a/t/t6002-rev-list-bisect.sh
+++ b/t/t6002-rev-list-bisect.sh
@@ -7,12 +7,6 @@ test_description='Tests git rev-list --bisect functionality'
 . ./test-lib.sh
 . "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/lib-t6000.sh # t6xxx specific functions
 
-if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
-then
-	skip_all='skipping rev-list bisect tests; Perl not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 # usage: test_bisection max-diff bisect-option head ^prune...
 #
 # e.g. test_bisection 1 --bisect l1 ^l0
diff --git a/t/t6003-rev-list-topo-order.sh b/t/t6003-rev-list-topo-order.sh
index 02dd4127af..0d7055d46d 100755
--- a/t/t6003-rev-list-topo-order.sh
+++ b/t/t6003-rev-list-topo-order.sh
@@ -8,12 +8,6 @@ test_description='Tests git rev-list --topo-order functionality'
 . ./test-lib.sh
 . "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/lib-t6000.sh # t6xxx specific functions
 
-if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
-then
-	skip_all='skipping rev-list topo-order tests; Perl not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 list_duplicates()
 {
     "$@" | sort | uniq -d

From cee137b7e53403fe9170c9aeb758fa946b2f0c4c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:06:07 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 16/20] t/lib-httpd: refactor "one-time-perl" CGI script to not
 depend on Perl

Our Apache HTTPD setup exposes an "one_time_perl" endpoint to access
repositories. If used, we execute the "apply-one-time-perl.sh" CGI
script that checks whether we have a "one-time-perl" script. If so, that
script gets executed so that it can munge what would be served. Once
done, the script gets removed so that it doesn't execute a second time.

As the name says, this functionality expects the user to pass a Perl
script. This isn't really necessary though: we can just as easily
implement the same thing with arbitrary scripts.

Refactor the code so that we instead expect an arbitrary script to
exist and rename the functionality to "one-time-script". Adapt callers
to use shell utilities instead of Perl so that we can drop the
PERL_TEST_HELPERS prerequisite.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 t/lib-httpd.sh                       |  2 +-
 t/lib-httpd/apache.conf              |  6 ++--
 t/lib-httpd/apply-one-time-perl.sh   | 27 ----------------
 t/lib-httpd/apply-one-time-script.sh | 26 +++++++++++++++
 t/t5537-fetch-shallow.sh             | 17 +++++-----
 t/t5616-partial-clone.sh             | 48 +++++++++++++++-------------
 t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh               | 27 +++++++++-------
 t/t5703-upload-pack-ref-in-want.sh   | 10 ++++--
 8 files changed, 86 insertions(+), 77 deletions(-)
 delete mode 100644 t/lib-httpd/apply-one-time-perl.sh
 create mode 100644 t/lib-httpd/apply-one-time-script.sh

diff --git a/t/lib-httpd.sh b/t/lib-httpd.sh
index d83bafeab3..5091db949b 100644
--- a/t/lib-httpd.sh
+++ b/t/lib-httpd.sh
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ prepare_httpd() {
 	install_script broken-smart-http.sh
 	install_script error-smart-http.sh
 	install_script error.sh
-	install_script apply-one-time-perl.sh
+	install_script apply-one-time-script.sh
 	install_script nph-custom-auth.sh
 
 	ln -s "$LIB_HTTPD_MODULE_PATH" "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/modules"
diff --git a/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf b/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf
index 022276a6b9..e631ab0eb5 100644
--- a/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf
+++ b/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ SetEnv PERL_PATH ${PERL_PATH}
 	SetEnv GIT_EXEC_PATH ${GIT_EXEC_PATH}
 	SetEnv GIT_HTTP_EXPORT_ALL
 </LocationMatch>
-<LocationMatch /one_time_perl/>
+<LocationMatch /one_time_script/>
 	SetEnv GIT_EXEC_PATH ${GIT_EXEC_PATH}
 	SetEnv GIT_HTTP_EXPORT_ALL
 </LocationMatch>
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ ScriptAliasMatch /smart_*[^/]*/(.*) ${GIT_EXEC_PATH}/git-http-backend/$1
 ScriptAlias /broken_smart/ broken-smart-http.sh/
 ScriptAlias /error_smart/ error-smart-http.sh/
 ScriptAlias /error/ error.sh/
-ScriptAliasMatch /one_time_perl/(.*) apply-one-time-perl.sh/$1
+ScriptAliasMatch /one_time_script/(.*) apply-one-time-script.sh/$1
 ScriptAliasMatch /custom_auth/(.*) nph-custom-auth.sh/$1
 <Directory ${GIT_EXEC_PATH}>
 	Options FollowSymlinks
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ ScriptAliasMatch /custom_auth/(.*) nph-custom-auth.sh/$1
 <Files error.sh>
   Options ExecCGI
 </Files>
-<Files apply-one-time-perl.sh>
+<Files apply-one-time-script.sh>
 	Options ExecCGI
 </Files>
 <Files ${GIT_EXEC_PATH}/git-http-backend>
diff --git a/t/lib-httpd/apply-one-time-perl.sh b/t/lib-httpd/apply-one-time-perl.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index d7f9fed6ae..0000000000
--- a/t/lib-httpd/apply-one-time-perl.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-
-# If "one-time-perl" exists in $HTTPD_ROOT_PATH, run perl on the HTTP response,
-# using the contents of "one-time-perl" as the perl command to be run. If the
-# response was modified as a result, delete "one-time-perl" so that subsequent
-# HTTP responses are no longer modified.
-#
-# This can be used to simulate the effects of the repository changing in
-# between HTTP request-response pairs.
-if test -f one-time-perl
-then
-	LC_ALL=C
-	export LC_ALL
-
-	"$GIT_EXEC_PATH/git-http-backend" >out
-	"$PERL_PATH" -pe "$(cat one-time-perl)" out >out_modified
-
-	if cmp -s out out_modified
-	then
-		cat out
-	else
-		cat out_modified
-		rm one-time-perl
-	fi
-else
-	"$GIT_EXEC_PATH/git-http-backend"
-fi
diff --git a/t/lib-httpd/apply-one-time-script.sh b/t/lib-httpd/apply-one-time-script.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b1682944e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/lib-httpd/apply-one-time-script.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# If "one-time-script" exists in $HTTPD_ROOT_PATH, run the script on the HTTP
+# response. If the response was modified as a result, delete "one-time-script"
+# so that subsequent HTTP responses are no longer modified.
+#
+# This can be used to simulate the effects of the repository changing in
+# between HTTP request-response pairs.
+if test -f one-time-script
+then
+	LC_ALL=C
+	export LC_ALL
+
+	"$GIT_EXEC_PATH/git-http-backend" >out
+	./one-time-script out >out_modified
+
+	if cmp -s out out_modified
+	then
+		cat out
+	else
+		cat out_modified
+		rm one-time-script
+	fi
+else
+	"$GIT_EXEC_PATH/git-http-backend"
+fi
diff --git a/t/t5537-fetch-shallow.sh b/t/t5537-fetch-shallow.sh
index 77d20d1911..6588ce6226 100755
--- a/t/t5537-fetch-shallow.sh
+++ b/t/t5537-fetch-shallow.sh
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ start_httpd
 
 REPO="$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/repo"
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'shallow fetches check connectivity before writing shallow file' '
+test_expect_success 'shallow fetches check connectivity before writing shallow file' '
 	rm -rf "$REPO" client &&
 
 	git init "$REPO" &&
@@ -271,22 +271,21 @@ test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'shallow fetches check connectivity before
 	git -C "$REPO" config protocol.version 2 &&
 	git -C client config protocol.version 2 &&
 
-	git -C client fetch --depth=2 "$HTTPD_URL/one_time_perl/repo" main:a_branch &&
+	git -C client fetch --depth=2 "$HTTPD_URL/one_time_script/repo" main:a_branch &&
 
 	# Craft a situation in which the server sends back an unshallow request
 	# with an empty packfile. This is done by refetching with a shorter
 	# depth (to ensure that the packfile is empty), and overwriting the
 	# shallow line in the response with the unshallow line we want.
-	printf "$(test_oid perl)" \
-	       "$(git -C "$REPO" rev-parse HEAD)" \
-	       "$(git -C "$REPO" rev-parse HEAD^)" \
-	       >"$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-perl" &&
+	write_script "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-script" <<-EOF &&
+	sed "$(printf "$(test_oid perl)" "$(git -C "$REPO" rev-parse HEAD)" "$(git -C "$REPO" rev-parse HEAD^)")" "\$1"
+	EOF
 	test_must_fail env GIT_TEST_SIDEBAND_ALL=0 git -C client \
-		fetch --depth=1 "$HTTPD_URL/one_time_perl/repo" \
+		fetch --depth=1 "$HTTPD_URL/one_time_script/repo" \
 		main:a_branch &&
 
-	# Ensure that the one-time-perl script was used.
-	! test -e "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-perl" &&
+	# Ensure that the one-time-script script was used.
+	! test -e "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-script" &&
 
 	# Ensure that the resulting repo is consistent, despite our failure to
 	# fetch.
diff --git a/t/t5616-partial-clone.sh b/t/t5616-partial-clone.sh
index bc7e0fec8d..1e354e057f 100755
--- a/t/t5616-partial-clone.sh
+++ b/t/t5616-partial-clone.sh
@@ -737,21 +737,25 @@ intersperse () {
 	sed 's/\(..\)/'$1'\1/g'
 }
 
-# Create a one-time-perl command to replace the existing packfile with $1.
+# Create a one-time-script command to replace the existing packfile with $1.
 replace_packfile () {
-	# The protocol requires that the packfile be sent in sideband 1, hence
-	# the extra \x01 byte at the beginning.
-	cp $1 "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-pack" &&
-	echo 'if (/packfile/) {
-		print;
-		my $length = -s "one-time-pack";
-		printf "%04x\x01", $length + 5;
-		print `cat one-time-pack` . "0000";
-		last
-	}' >"$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-perl"
+	cp "$1" one-time-pack &&
+	write_script "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-script" <<-EOF
+	if grep packfile "\$1" >/dev/null
+	then
+		sed '/packfile/q' "\$1" &&
+		# The protocol requires that the packfile be sent in sideband
+		# 1, hence the extra \001 byte at the beginning.
+		printf "%04x\001" \$((\$(wc -c <"$PWD/one-time-pack") + 5)) &&
+		cat "$PWD/one-time-pack" &&
+		printf "0000"
+	else
+		cat "\$1"
+	fi
+	EOF
 }
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'upon cloning, check that all refs point to objects' '
+test_expect_success 'upon cloning, check that all refs point to objects' '
 	SERVER="$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/server" &&
 	rm -rf "$SERVER" repo &&
 	test_create_repo "$SERVER" &&
@@ -776,15 +780,15 @@ test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'upon cloning, check that all refs point t
 	# section header.
 	test_config -C "$SERVER" protocol.version 2 &&
 	test_must_fail git -c protocol.version=2 clone \
-		--filter=blob:none $HTTPD_URL/one_time_perl/server repo 2>err &&
+		--filter=blob:none $HTTPD_URL/one_time_script/server repo 2>err &&
 
 	test_grep "did not send all necessary objects" err &&
 
-	# Ensure that the one-time-perl script was used.
-	! test -e "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-perl"
+	# Ensure that the one-time-script script was used.
+	! test -e "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-script"
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'when partial cloning, tolerate server not sending target of tag' '
+test_expect_success 'when partial cloning, tolerate server not sending target of tag' '
 	SERVER="$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/server" &&
 	rm -rf "$SERVER" repo &&
 	test_create_repo "$SERVER" &&
@@ -818,11 +822,11 @@ test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'when partial cloning, tolerate server not
 
 	# Exercise to make sure it works.
 	git -c protocol.version=2 clone \
-		--filter=blob:none $HTTPD_URL/one_time_perl/server repo 2> err &&
+		--filter=blob:none $HTTPD_URL/one_time_script/server repo 2> err &&
 	! grep "missing object referenced by" err &&
 
-	# Ensure that the one-time-perl script was used.
-	! test -e "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-perl"
+	# Ensure that the one-time-script script was used.
+	! test -e "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-script"
 '
 
 test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'tolerate server sending REF_DELTA against missing promisor objects' '
@@ -845,7 +849,7 @@ test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'tolerate server sending REF_DELTA against
 
 	# Clone. The client has deltabase_have but not deltabase_missing.
 	git -c protocol.version=2 clone --no-checkout \
-		--filter=blob:none $HTTPD_URL/one_time_perl/server repo &&
+		--filter=blob:none $HTTPD_URL/one_time_script/server repo &&
 	git -C repo hash-object -w -- "$SERVER/have.txt" &&
 
 	# Sanity check to ensure that the client does not have
@@ -899,8 +903,8 @@ test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'tolerate server sending REF_DELTA against
 	grep "want $(cat deltabase_missing)" trace &&
 	! grep "want $(cat deltabase_have)" trace &&
 
-	# Ensure that the one-time-perl script was used.
-	! test -e "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-perl"
+	# Ensure that the one-time-script script was used.
+	! test -e "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-script"
 '
 
 # DO NOT add non-httpd-specific tests here, because the last part of this
diff --git a/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh b/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh
index ad5e772cd7..8548854f32 100755
--- a/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh
+++ b/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh
@@ -1120,7 +1120,7 @@ test_expect_success 'push with http:// and a config of v2 does not request v2' '
 	! grep "git< version 2" log
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'when server sends "ready", expect DELIM' '
+test_expect_success 'when server sends "ready", expect DELIM' '
 	rm -rf "$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/http_parent" http_child &&
 
 	git init "$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/http_parent" &&
@@ -1132,15 +1132,16 @@ test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'when server sends "ready", expect DELIM'
 
 	# After "ready" in the acknowledgments section, pretend that a FLUSH
 	# (0000) was sent instead of a DELIM (0001).
-	printf "\$ready = 1 if /ready/; \$ready && s/0001/0000/" \
-		>"$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-perl" &&
+	write_script "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-script" <<-\EOF &&
+	sed "/ready/{n;s/0001/0000/;}" "$1"
+	EOF
 
 	test_must_fail git -C http_child -c protocol.version=2 \
-		fetch "$HTTPD_URL/one_time_perl/http_parent" 2> err &&
+		fetch "$HTTPD_URL/one_time_script/http_parent" 2> err &&
 	test_grep "expected packfile to be sent after .ready." err
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'when server does not send "ready", expect FLUSH' '
+test_expect_success 'when server does not send "ready", expect FLUSH' '
 	rm -rf "$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/http_parent" http_child log &&
 
 	git init "$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/http_parent" &&
@@ -1157,12 +1158,13 @@ test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'when server does not send "ready", expect
 
 	# After the acknowledgments section, pretend that a DELIM
 	# (0001) was sent instead of a FLUSH (0000).
-	printf "\$ack = 1 if /acknowledgments/; \$ack && s/0000/0001/" \
-		>"$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-perl" &&
+	write_script "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-script" <<-\EOF &&
+	sed "/acknowledgments/,//{s/0000/0001/;}" "$1"
+	EOF
 
 	test_must_fail env GIT_TRACE_PACKET="$(pwd)/log" git -C http_child \
 		-c protocol.version=2 \
-		fetch "$HTTPD_URL/one_time_perl/http_parent" 2> err &&
+		fetch "$HTTPD_URL/one_time_script/http_parent" 2> err &&
 	grep "fetch< .*acknowledgments" log &&
 	! grep "fetch< .*ready" log &&
 	test_grep "expected no other sections to be sent after no .ready." err
@@ -1446,14 +1448,15 @@ test_expect_success 'http:// --negotiate-only' '
 	grep "$COMMON" out
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'http:// --negotiate-only without wait-for-done support' '
+test_expect_success 'http:// --negotiate-only without wait-for-done support' '
 	SERVER="server" &&
-	URI="$HTTPD_URL/one_time_perl/server" &&
+	URI="$HTTPD_URL/one_time_script/server" &&
 
 	setup_negotiate_only "$SERVER" "$URI" &&
 
-	echo "s/ wait-for-done/ xxxx-xxx-xxxx/" \
-		>"$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-perl" &&
+	write_script "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-script" <<-\EOF &&
+	sed "s/ wait-for-done/ xxxx-xxx-xxxx/" "$1"
+	EOF
 
 	test_must_fail git -c protocol.version=2 -C client fetch \
 		--no-tags \
diff --git a/t/t5703-upload-pack-ref-in-want.sh b/t/t5703-upload-pack-ref-in-want.sh
index f59d47aa6c..fc915e7b82 100755
--- a/t/t5703-upload-pack-ref-in-want.sh
+++ b/t/t5703-upload-pack-ref-in-want.sh
@@ -468,7 +468,7 @@ test_expect_success 'setup repos for change-while-negotiating test' '
 		test_commit m3 &&
 		git tag -d m2 m3
 	) &&
-	git -C "$LOCAL_PRISTINE" remote set-url origin "http://127.0.0.1:$LIB_HTTPD_PORT/one_time_perl/repo" &&
+	git -C "$LOCAL_PRISTINE" remote set-url origin "http://127.0.0.1:$LIB_HTTPD_PORT/one_time_script/repo" &&
 	git -C "$LOCAL_PRISTINE" config protocol.version 2
 '
 
@@ -481,7 +481,9 @@ inconsistency () {
 	# RPCs during a single negotiation.
 	oid1=$(git -C "$REPO" rev-parse $1) &&
 	oid2=$(git -C "$REPO" rev-parse $2) &&
-	echo "s/$oid1/$oid2/" >"$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-perl"
+	write_script "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-script" <<-EOF
+	sed "s/$oid1/$oid2/" "\$1"
+	EOF
 }
 
 test_expect_success 'server is initially ahead - no ref in want' '
@@ -533,7 +535,9 @@ test_expect_success 'server loses a ref - ref in want' '
 	git -C "$REPO" config uploadpack.allowRefInWant true &&
 	rm -rf local &&
 	cp -r "$LOCAL_PRISTINE" local &&
-	echo "s/main/rain/" >"$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-perl" &&
+	write_script "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/one-time-script" <<-\EOF &&
+	sed "s/main/rain/" "$1"
+	EOF
 	test_must_fail git -C local fetch 2>err &&
 
 	test_grep "fatal: remote error: unknown ref refs/heads/rain" err

From 88ed7b84cd97a0bafeeecefe6e7649eec090e02b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:06:08 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 17/20] t0021: refactor `generate_random_characters()` to not
 depend on Perl

The `generate_random_characters()` helper function generates N
random characters in the range 'a-z' and writes them into a file. The
logic currently uses Perl, but it can be adapted rather easily by:

  - Making `test-tool genrandom` generate an infinite stream.

  - Using `tr -dc` to strip all characters which aren't in the range of
    'a-z'.

  - Using `test_copy_bytes()` to copy the first N bytes.

This allows us to drop the PERL_TEST_HELPERS prerequisite.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 t/t0021-conversion.sh | 7 +++----
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/t/t0021-conversion.sh b/t/t0021-conversion.sh
index 4a892a9178..bf10d253ec 100755
--- a/t/t0021-conversion.sh
+++ b/t/t0021-conversion.sh
@@ -20,8 +20,7 @@ EOF
 generate_random_characters () {
 	LEN=$1
 	NAME=$2
-	test-tool genrandom some-seed $LEN |
-		perl -pe "s/./chr((ord($&) % 26) + ord('a'))/sge" >"$TEST_ROOT/$NAME"
+	test-tool genrandom some-seed | tr -dc 'a-z' | test_copy_bytes "$LEN" >"$TEST_ROOT/$NAME"
 }
 
 filter_git () {
@@ -619,7 +618,7 @@ test_expect_success 'required process filter should be used only for "clean" ope
 	)
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'required process filter should process multiple packets' '
+test_expect_success 'required process filter should process multiple packets' '
 	test_config_global filter.protocol.process "test-tool rot13-filter --log=debug.log clean smudge" &&
 	test_config_global filter.protocol.required true &&
 
@@ -684,7 +683,7 @@ test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'required process filter should process mu
 	)
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'required process filter with clean error should fail' '
+test_expect_success 'required process filter with clean error should fail' '
 	test_config_global filter.protocol.process "test-tool rot13-filter --log=debug.log clean smudge" &&
 	test_config_global filter.protocol.required true &&
 	rm -rf repo &&

From 9f4bce35b399508737e30bb5b22787d86cb5001f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:06:09 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 18/20] t0210: refactor trace2 scrubbing to not use Perl

The output generated by our trace2 mechanism contains several fields
that are dependent on the environment they're being run in, which makes
it somewhat harder to test it. As a countermeasure we scrub the output
and strip out any fields that contain such information.

The logic to do so is implemented in Perl, but it can be trivially
ported to instead use sed(1). Refactor the code accordingly so that we
can drop the PERL_TEST_HELPERS prerequisite.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 t/t0210-trace2-normal.sh  | 61 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------
 t/t0210/scrub_normal.perl | 54 ----------------------------------
 2 files changed, 43 insertions(+), 72 deletions(-)
 delete mode 100644 t/t0210/scrub_normal.perl

diff --git a/t/t0210-trace2-normal.sh b/t/t0210-trace2-normal.sh
index ba4c0442b8..96c68f65df 100755
--- a/t/t0210-trace2-normal.sh
+++ b/t/t0210-trace2-normal.sh
@@ -4,12 +4,6 @@ test_description='test trace2 facility (normal target)'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
-then
-	skip_all='skipping trace2 tests; Perl not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 # Turn off any inherited trace2 settings for this test.
 sane_unset GIT_TRACE2 GIT_TRACE2_PERF GIT_TRACE2_EVENT
 sane_unset GIT_TRACE2_BRIEF
@@ -59,10 +53,41 @@ GIT_TRACE2_BRIEF=1 && export GIT_TRACE2_BRIEF
 #
 # Implicit return from cmd_<verb> function propagates <code>.
 
+scrub_normal () {
+	# Scrub the variable fields from the normal trace2 output to make
+	# testing easier:
+	#
+	#   1. Various messages include an elapsed time in the middle of the
+	#      message. Replace the time with a placeholder to simplify our
+	#      HEREDOC in the test script.
+	#
+	#   2. We expect:
+	#
+	#        start <argv0> [<argv1> [<argv2> [...]]]
+	#
+	#      where argv0 might be a relative or absolute path, with or
+	#      without quotes, and platform dependent. Replace argv0 with a
+	#      token for HEREDOC matching in the test script.
+	#
+	#   3. Likewise, the 'cmd_path' message breaks out argv[0].
+	#
+	#      This line is only emitted when RUNTIME_PREFIX is defined,
+	#      so just omit it for testing purposes.
+	#
+	#   4. 'cmd_ancestry' is not implemented everywhere, so for portability's
+	#      sake, skip it when parsing normal.
+	sed \
+		-e 's/elapsed:[0-9]*\.[0-9][0-9]*\([eE][-+]\{0,1\}[0-9][0-9]*\)\{0,1\}/elapsed:_TIME_/g' \
+		-e "s/^start '[^']*' \(.*\)/start _EXE_ \1/" \
+		-e 's/^start [^ ][^ ]* \(.*\)/start _EXE_ \1/' \
+		-e '/^cmd_path/d' \
+		-e '/^cmd_ancestry/d'
+}
+
 test_expect_success 'normal stream, return code 0' '
 	test_when_finished "rm trace.normal actual expect" &&
 	GIT_TRACE2="$(pwd)/trace.normal" test-tool trace2 001return 0 &&
-	perl "$TEST_DIRECTORY/t0210/scrub_normal.perl" <trace.normal >actual &&
+	scrub_normal <trace.normal >actual &&
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 		version $V
 		start _EXE_ trace2 001return 0
@@ -76,7 +101,7 @@ test_expect_success 'normal stream, return code 0' '
 test_expect_success 'normal stream, return code 1' '
 	test_when_finished "rm trace.normal actual expect" &&
 	test_must_fail env GIT_TRACE2="$(pwd)/trace.normal" test-tool trace2 001return 1 &&
-	perl "$TEST_DIRECTORY/t0210/scrub_normal.perl" <trace.normal >actual &&
+	scrub_normal <trace.normal >actual &&
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 		version $V
 		start _EXE_ trace2 001return 1
@@ -91,7 +116,7 @@ test_expect_success 'automatic filename' '
 	test_when_finished "rm -r traces actual expect" &&
 	mkdir traces &&
 	GIT_TRACE2="$(pwd)/traces" test-tool trace2 001return 0 &&
-	perl "$TEST_DIRECTORY/t0210/scrub_normal.perl" <"$(ls traces/*)" >actual &&
+	scrub_normal <"$(ls traces/*)" >actual &&
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 		version $V
 		start _EXE_ trace2 001return 0
@@ -109,7 +134,7 @@ test_expect_success 'automatic filename' '
 test_expect_success 'normal stream, exit code 0' '
 	test_when_finished "rm trace.normal actual expect" &&
 	GIT_TRACE2="$(pwd)/trace.normal" test-tool trace2 002exit 0 &&
-	perl "$TEST_DIRECTORY/t0210/scrub_normal.perl" <trace.normal >actual &&
+	scrub_normal <trace.normal >actual &&
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 		version $V
 		start _EXE_ trace2 002exit 0
@@ -123,7 +148,7 @@ test_expect_success 'normal stream, exit code 0' '
 test_expect_success 'normal stream, exit code 1' '
 	test_when_finished "rm trace.normal actual expect" &&
 	test_must_fail env GIT_TRACE2="$(pwd)/trace.normal" test-tool trace2 002exit 1 &&
-	perl "$TEST_DIRECTORY/t0210/scrub_normal.perl" <trace.normal >actual &&
+	scrub_normal <trace.normal >actual &&
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 		version $V
 		start _EXE_ trace2 002exit 1
@@ -141,7 +166,7 @@ test_expect_success 'normal stream, exit code 1' '
 test_expect_success 'normal stream, error event' '
 	test_when_finished "rm trace.normal actual expect" &&
 	GIT_TRACE2="$(pwd)/trace.normal" test-tool trace2 003error "hello world" "this is a test" &&
-	perl "$TEST_DIRECTORY/t0210/scrub_normal.perl" <trace.normal >actual &&
+	scrub_normal <trace.normal >actual &&
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 		version $V
 		start _EXE_ trace2 003error '\''hello world'\'' '\''this is a test'\''
@@ -161,7 +186,7 @@ test_expect_success 'normal stream, error event' '
 test_expect_success 'BUG messages are written to trace2' '
 	test_when_finished "rm trace.normal actual expect" &&
 	test_must_fail env GIT_TRACE2="$(pwd)/trace.normal" test-tool trace2 007bug &&
-	perl "$TEST_DIRECTORY/t0210/scrub_normal.perl" <trace.normal >actual &&
+	scrub_normal <trace.normal >actual &&
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 		version $V
 		start _EXE_ trace2 007bug
@@ -185,7 +210,7 @@ test_expect_success 'bug messages with BUG_if_bug() are written to trace2' '
 	sed "s/^.*: //" <err >actual &&
 	test_cmp expect actual &&
 
-	perl "$TEST_DIRECTORY/t0210/scrub_normal.perl" <trace.normal >actual &&
+	scrub_normal <trace.normal >actual &&
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 		version $V
 		start _EXE_ trace2 008bug
@@ -211,7 +236,7 @@ test_expect_success 'bug messages without explicit BUG_if_bug() are written to t
 	sed "s/^.*: //" <err >actual &&
 	test_cmp expect actual &&
 
-	perl "$TEST_DIRECTORY/t0210/scrub_normal.perl" <trace.normal >actual &&
+	scrub_normal <trace.normal >actual &&
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 		version $V
 		start _EXE_ trace2 009bug_BUG
@@ -236,7 +261,7 @@ test_expect_success 'bug messages followed by BUG() are written to trace2' '
 	sed "s/^.*: //" <err >actual &&
 	test_cmp expect actual &&
 
-	perl "$TEST_DIRECTORY/t0210/scrub_normal.perl" <trace.normal >actual &&
+	scrub_normal <trace.normal >actual &&
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 		version $V
 		start _EXE_ trace2 010bug_BUG
@@ -268,7 +293,7 @@ test_expect_success 'using global config, normal stream, return code 0' '
 	test_config_global trace2.normalBrief 1 &&
 	test_config_global trace2.normalTarget "$(pwd)/trace.normal" &&
 	test-tool trace2 001return 0 &&
-	perl "$TEST_DIRECTORY/t0210/scrub_normal.perl" <trace.normal >actual &&
+	scrub_normal <trace.normal >actual &&
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 		version $V
 		start _EXE_ trace2 001return 0
@@ -286,7 +311,7 @@ test_expect_success 'using global config with include' '
 	mv "$(pwd)/.gitconfig" "$(pwd)/real.gitconfig" &&
 	test_config_global include.path "$(pwd)/real.gitconfig" &&
 	test-tool trace2 001return 0 &&
-	perl "$TEST_DIRECTORY/t0210/scrub_normal.perl" <trace.normal >actual &&
+	scrub_normal <trace.normal >actual &&
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 		version $V
 		start _EXE_ trace2 001return 0
diff --git a/t/t0210/scrub_normal.perl b/t/t0210/scrub_normal.perl
deleted file mode 100644
index 7cc4de392a..0000000000
--- a/t/t0210/scrub_normal.perl
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,54 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/perl
-#
-# Scrub the variable fields from the normal trace2 output to
-# make testing easier.
-
-use strict;
-use warnings;
-
-my $float = '[0-9]*\.[0-9]+([eE][-+]?[0-9]+)?';
-
-# This code assumes that the trace2 data was written with bare
-# turned on (which omits the "<clock> <file>:<line>" prefix.
-
-while (<>) {
-    # Various messages include an elapsed time in the middle
-    # of the message.  Replace the time with a placeholder to
-    # simplify our HEREDOC in the test script.
-    s/elapsed:$float/elapsed:_TIME_/g;
-
-    my $line = $_;
-
-    # we expect:
-    #    start <argv0> [<argv1> [<argv2> [...]]]
-    #
-    # where argv0 might be a relative or absolute path, with
-    # or without quotes, and platform dependent.  Replace argv0
-    # with a token for HEREDOC matching in the test script.
-
-    if ($line =~ m/^start/) {
-	$line =~ /^start\s+(.*)/;
-	my $argv = $1;
-	$argv =~ m/(\'[^\']*\'|[^ ]+)\s+(.*)/;
-	my $argv_0 = $1;
-	my $argv_rest = $2;
-
-	print "start _EXE_ $argv_rest\n";
-    }
-    elsif ($line =~ m/^cmd_path/) {
-	# Likewise, the 'cmd_path' message breaks out argv[0].
-	#
-	# This line is only emitted when RUNTIME_PREFIX is defined,
-	# so just omit it for testing purposes.
-	# print "cmd_path _EXE_\n";
-    }
-    elsif ($line =~ m/^cmd_ancestry/) {
-	# 'cmd_ancestry' is not implemented everywhere, so for portability's
-	# sake, skip it when parsing normal.
-	#
-	# print "$line";
-    }
-    else {
-	print "$line";
-    }
-}

From 88bef8db847ae45a22e5238e324654d72d078a26 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:06:10 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 19/20] t5316: refactor `max_chain()` to not depend on Perl

The `max_chain()` helper function is used to extract the maximum delta
chain of a packfile as printed by git-index-pack(1). The script uses
Perl to extract that data, but it can be trivially refactored to use
awk(1) instead.

Refactor the helper accordingly so that we can drop a couple of
PERL_TEST_HELPERS prerequisites.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 t/t5316-pack-delta-depth.sh | 18 +++++++++---------
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/t/t5316-pack-delta-depth.sh b/t/t5316-pack-delta-depth.sh
index cd947b5a5e..defaa06d65 100755
--- a/t/t5316-pack-delta-depth.sh
+++ b/t/t5316-pack-delta-depth.sh
@@ -76,18 +76,18 @@ test_expect_success 'create series of packs' '
 
 max_chain() {
 	git index-pack --verify-stat-only "$1" >output &&
-	perl -lne '
-	  BEGIN { $len = 0 }
-	  /chain length = (\d+)/ and $len = $1;
-	  END { print $len }
-	' output
+	awk '
+		BEGIN { len=0 }
+		/chain length = [0-9]+:/{ len=$4 }
+		END { print len }
+	' <output | tr -d ':'
 }
 
 # Note that this whole setup is pretty reliant on the current
 # packing heuristics. We double-check that our test case
 # actually produces a long chain. If it doesn't, it should be
 # adjusted (or scrapped if the heuristics have become too unreliable)
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'packing produces a long delta' '
+test_expect_success 'packing produces a long delta' '
 	# Use --window=0 to make sure we are seeing reused deltas,
 	# not computing a new long chain.
 	pack=$(git pack-objects --all --window=0 </dev/null pack) &&
@@ -96,21 +96,21 @@ test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'packing produces a long delta' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS '--depth limits depth' '
+test_expect_success '--depth limits depth' '
 	pack=$(git pack-objects --all --depth=5 </dev/null pack) &&
 	echo 5 >expect &&
 	max_chain pack-$pack.pack >actual &&
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS '--depth=0 disables deltas' '
+test_expect_success '--depth=0 disables deltas' '
 	pack=$(git pack-objects --all --depth=0 </dev/null pack) &&
 	echo 0 >expect &&
 	max_chain pack-$pack.pack >actual &&
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'negative depth disables deltas' '
+test_expect_success 'negative depth disables deltas' '
 	pack=$(git pack-objects --all --depth=-1 </dev/null pack) &&
 	echo 0 >expect &&
 	max_chain pack-$pack.pack >actual &&

From 7a7b6022670c7946afea73a1eeb2ddc32d756624 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 07:06:11 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 20/20] t5703: refactor test to not depend on Perl

We use Perl due to two different reasons in t5703:

  - To filter advertised capabilities.

  - To set up a CGI script with HTTPD.

Refactor the first category to use `test_grep` instead. Refactoring the
second category would be a bit more involved, so instead we add the
PERL_TEST_HELPERS prerequisite to those individual tests now.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 t/t5703-upload-pack-ref-in-want.sh | 25 ++++++++-----------------
 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 17 deletions(-)

diff --git a/t/t5703-upload-pack-ref-in-want.sh b/t/t5703-upload-pack-ref-in-want.sh
index fc915e7b82..249137b467 100755
--- a/t/t5703-upload-pack-ref-in-want.sh
+++ b/t/t5703-upload-pack-ref-in-want.sh
@@ -4,12 +4,6 @@ test_description='upload-pack ref-in-want'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-if ! test_have_prereq PERL_TEST_HELPERS
-then
-	skip_all='skipping upload-pack ref-in-want tests; Perl not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 get_actual_refs () {
 	sed -n -e '/wanted-refs/,/0001/{
 		/wanted-refs/d
@@ -89,18 +83,15 @@ test_expect_success 'setup repository' '
 
 test_expect_success 'config controls ref-in-want advertisement' '
 	test-tool serve-v2 --advertise-capabilities >out &&
-	perl -ne "/ref-in-want/ and print" out >out.filter &&
-	test_must_be_empty out.filter &&
+	test_grep ! "ref-in-want" out &&
 
 	git config uploadpack.allowRefInWant false &&
 	test-tool serve-v2 --advertise-capabilities >out &&
-	perl -ne "/ref-in-want/ and print" out >out.filter &&
-	test_must_be_empty out.filter &&
+	test_grep ! "ref-in-want" out &&
 
 	git config uploadpack.allowRefInWant true &&
 	test-tool serve-v2 --advertise-capabilities >out &&
-	perl -ne "/ref-in-want/ and print" out >out.filter &&
-	test_file_not_empty out.filter
+	test_grep "ref-in-want" out
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'invalid want-ref line' '
@@ -486,7 +477,7 @@ inconsistency () {
 	EOF
 }
 
-test_expect_success 'server is initially ahead - no ref in want' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'server is initially ahead - no ref in want' '
 	git -C "$REPO" config uploadpack.allowRefInWant false &&
 	rm -rf local &&
 	cp -r "$LOCAL_PRISTINE" local &&
@@ -495,7 +486,7 @@ test_expect_success 'server is initially ahead - no ref in want' '
 	test_grep "fatal: remote error: upload-pack: not our ref" err
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'server is initially ahead - ref in want' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'server is initially ahead - ref in want' '
 	git -C "$REPO" config uploadpack.allowRefInWant true &&
 	rm -rf local &&
 	cp -r "$LOCAL_PRISTINE" local &&
@@ -507,7 +498,7 @@ test_expect_success 'server is initially ahead - ref in want' '
 	test_cmp expected actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'server is initially behind - no ref in want' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'server is initially behind - no ref in want' '
 	git -C "$REPO" config uploadpack.allowRefInWant false &&
 	rm -rf local &&
 	cp -r "$LOCAL_PRISTINE" local &&
@@ -519,7 +510,7 @@ test_expect_success 'server is initially behind - no ref in want' '
 	test_cmp expected actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'server is initially behind - ref in want' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'server is initially behind - ref in want' '
 	git -C "$REPO" config uploadpack.allowRefInWant true &&
 	rm -rf local &&
 	cp -r "$LOCAL_PRISTINE" local &&
@@ -531,7 +522,7 @@ test_expect_success 'server is initially behind - ref in want' '
 	test_cmp expected actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'server loses a ref - ref in want' '
+test_expect_success PERL_TEST_HELPERS 'server loses a ref - ref in want' '
 	git -C "$REPO" config uploadpack.allowRefInWant true &&
 	rm -rf local &&
 	cp -r "$LOCAL_PRISTINE" local &&