diff --git a/tests/libtest-core.sh b/tests/libtest-core.sh
index bc191332c..46aafab03 100644
--- a/tests/libtest-core.sh
+++ b/tests/libtest-core.sh
@@ -37,9 +37,15 @@ assert_not_reached () {
 # Some tests look for specific English strings. Use a UTF-8 version
 # of the C (POSIX) locale if we have one, or fall back to en_US.UTF-8
 # (https://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/Proposals/C.UTF-8)
-export LC_ALL=$(locale -a | grep -Ee '\.(UTF-8|utf8)' | grep -iEe '^(C|en_US)' | head -1 || true)
-if [ -z "${LC_ALL}" ]; then fatal "Can't find suitable UTF-8 locale"; fi
-
+#
+# If we can't find the locale command assume we have support for C.UTF-8
+# (e.g. musl based systems)
+if type -p locale >/dev/null; then
+    export LC_ALL=$(locale -a | grep -Ee '\.(UTF-8|utf8)' | grep -iEe '^(C|en_US)' | head -1 || true)
+    if [ -z "${LC_ALL}" ]; then fatal "Can't find suitable UTF-8 locale"; fi
+else
+    export LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
+fi
 # A GNU extension, used whenever LC_ALL is not C
 unset LANGUAGE
 
diff --git a/tests/libtest.sh b/tests/libtest.sh
index ba00073a1..3f5fd931b 100755
--- a/tests/libtest.sh
+++ b/tests/libtest.sh
@@ -440,7 +440,9 @@ EOF
     ${CMD_PREFIX} ostree --repo=${test_tmpdir}/testos-repo commit --add-metadata-string version=1.0.10 -b testos/buildmaster/x86_64-runtime -s "Build"
 
     cd ${test_tmpdir}
-    cp -a osdata osdata-devel
+    rm -rf osdata-devel
+    mkdir osdata-devel
+    tar -C osdata -cf - . | tar -C osdata-devel -xf -
     cd osdata-devel
     mkdir -p usr/include
     echo "a development header" > usr/include/foo.h
diff --git a/tests/pull-test.sh b/tests/pull-test.sh
index 0a97a1195..2cfd8e02f 100644
--- a/tests/pull-test.sh
+++ b/tests/pull-test.sh
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ if ! skip_one_without_user_xattrs; then
     ${CMD_PREFIX} ostree --repo=cacherepo pull-local ostree-srv/gnomerepo main
     rev=$(ostree --repo=cacherepo rev-parse main)
     ${CMD_PREFIX} ostree --repo=cacherepo ls -R -C main > ls.txt
-    regfile_hash=$(grep -E -e '^-0' ls.txt | head -1 | awk '{ print $5 }')
+    regfile_hash=$((grep -E -e '^-0' ls.txt || true) | head -1 | awk '{ print $5 }')
     ${CMD_PREFIX} ostree --repo=repo remote add --set=gpg-verify=false corruptrepo $(cat httpd-address)/ostree/corruptrepo
     # Make this a loop so in the future we can add more object types like commit etc.
     for object in ${regfile_hash}.file; do
diff --git a/tests/test-admin-gpg.sh b/tests/test-admin-gpg.sh
index 1f50c8a9a..dc7767437 100755
--- a/tests/test-admin-gpg.sh
+++ b/tests/test-admin-gpg.sh
@@ -90,7 +90,9 @@ EOF
     ${CMD_PREFIX} ostree --repo=${test_tmpdir}/testos-repo commit --add-metadata-string version=1.0.10 -b testos/buildmaster/x86_64-runtime -s "Build" --gpg-sign=$keyid --gpg-homedir=${test_tmpdir}/gpghome
 
     cd ${test_tmpdir}
-    cp -a osdata osdata-devel
+    rm -rf osdata-devel
+    mkdir osdata-devel
+    tar -C osdata -cf - . | tar -C osdata-devel -xf -
     cd osdata-devel
     mkdir -p usr/include
     echo "a development header" > usr/include/foo.h
diff --git a/tests/test-pull-mirrorlist.sh b/tests/test-pull-mirrorlist.sh
index 4e44852d3..85ff66e99 100755
--- a/tests/test-pull-mirrorlist.sh
+++ b/tests/test-pull-mirrorlist.sh
@@ -47,12 +47,12 @@ setup_mirror content_mirror3
 
 # Let's delete a file from 1 so that it falls back on 2
 cd ${test_tmpdir}/content_mirror1/ostree/gnomerepo
-filez=$(find objects/ -name '*.filez' | head -n 1)
+filez=$((find objects/ -name '*.filez' || true) | head -n 1)
 rm ${filez}
 
 # Let's delete a file from 1 and 2 so that it falls back on 3
 cd ${test_tmpdir}/content_mirror1/ostree/gnomerepo
-filez=$(find objects/ -name '*.filez' | head -n 1)
+filez=$((find objects/ -name '*.filez' || true) | head -n 1)
 rm ${filez}
 cd ${test_tmpdir}/content_mirror2/ostree/gnomerepo
 rm ${filez}