diff --git a/tests/common.bash b/tests/common.bash
index 22aaa25241..28dde17710 100644
--- a/tests/common.bash
+++ b/tests/common.bash
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 common_setup() {
 	test_tmpdir="$(mktemp -d)"
-	ln -s "$BATS_TEST_DIRNAME/.." "$test_tmpdir/build-aux"
+	cp -a "$BATS_TEST_DIRNAME/.." "$test_tmpdir/build-aux"
 	cd "$test_tmpdir"
 	cat >Makefile <<-'__EOT__'
 		.DEFAULT_GOAL = all
diff --git a/tests/prelude.bats b/tests/prelude.bats
index 9224e4b735..2c7b180563 100644
--- a/tests/prelude.bats
+++ b/tests/prelude.bats
@@ -130,9 +130,6 @@ load common
 		# things are clean.
 		skip
 	fi
-	# Let's not work with a symlink for this test
-	rm "$test_tmpdir/build-aux"
-	cp -a "$BATS_TEST_DIRNAME/.." "$test_tmpdir/build-aux"
 	(cd build-aux && git clean -fdx)
 
 	cat >>Makefile <<-'__EOT__'