diff --git a/tests/test-convert-cvs.t b/tests/test-convert-cvs.t
--- a/tests/test-convert-cvs.t
+++ b/tests/test-convert-cvs.t
@@ -521,7 +521,7 @@
 |cp932     |\x82\xa0      |  x      x     o    |
 
   $ mkdir -p cvsrepo/transcoding
-  $ python <<EOF
+  $ "$PYTHON" <<EOF
   > fp = open('cvsrepo/transcoding/file,v', 'wb')
   > fp.write((b'''
   > head	1.4;
diff --git a/tests/test-merge-tools.t b/tests/test-merge-tools.t
--- a/tests/test-merge-tools.t
+++ b/tests/test-merge-tools.t
@@ -1921,7 +1921,7 @@
 Binary files capability checking
 
   $ hg update -q -C 0
-  $ python <<EOF
+  $ "$PYTHON" <<EOF
   > with open('b', 'wb') as fp:
   >     fp.write(b'\x00\x01\x02\x03')
   > EOF
@@ -1929,7 +1929,7 @@
   $ hg commit -qm "add binary file (#1)"
 
   $ hg update -q -C 0
-  $ python <<EOF
+  $ "$PYTHON" <<EOF
   > with open('b', 'wb') as fp:
   >     fp.write(b'\x03\x02\x01\x00')
   > EOF