diff --git a/test/sharness/lib/test-lib.sh b/test/sharness/lib/test-lib.sh
index b5c03ba48..659e8b98d 100644
--- a/test/sharness/lib/test-lib.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/lib/test-lib.sh
@@ -52,9 +52,13 @@ TEST_OS="$(uname -s | tr '[a-z]' '[A-Z]')"
 # grab + output options
 test "$TEST_NO_FUSE" != 1 && test_set_prereq FUSE
 test "$TEST_EXPENSIVE" = 1 && test_set_prereq EXPENSIVE
-test "$TEST_NO_DOCKER" != 1 && type docker >/dev/null 2>&1 && test_set_prereq DOCKER
+test "$TEST_NO_DOCKER" != 1 && type docker >/dev/null 2>&1 && groups | egrep "\bdocker\b" && test_set_prereq DOCKER
 test "$TEST_NO_PLUGIN" != 1 && test "$TEST_OS" = "LINUX" && test_set_prereq PLUGIN
 
+# this may not be available, skip a few dependent tests
+type socat >/dev/null 2>&1 && test_set_prereq SOCAT
+
+
 # Set a prereq as error messages are often different on Windows/Cygwin
 expr "$TEST_OS" : "CYGWIN_NT" >/dev/null || test_set_prereq STD_ERR_MSG
 
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0010-basic-commands.sh b/test/sharness/t0010-basic-commands.sh
index d483adfd7..b59f011f5 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0010-basic-commands.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0010-basic-commands.sh
@@ -45,8 +45,9 @@ test_expect_success "ipfs version deps succeeds" '
   ipfs version deps >deps.txt
 '
 
-test_expect_success "ipfs version deps output looks good" '
+test_expect_success "ipfs version deps output looks good ( set \$GOIPFSTEST_SKIP_LOCAL_DEVTREE_DEPS_CHECK to skip this test )" '
   head -1 deps.txt | grep "go-ipfs@(devel)" &&
+  [[ "$GOIPFSTEST_SKIP_LOCAL_DEVTREE_DEPS_CHECK" == "1" ]] ||
   [[ $(tail -n +2 deps.txt | egrep -v -c "^[^ @]+@v[^ @]+( => [^ @]+@v[^ @]+)?$") -eq 0 ]] ||
   test_fsh cat deps.txt
 '
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0060-daemon.sh b/test/sharness/t0060-daemon.sh
index 67108f7cd..7e7c658fb 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0060-daemon.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0060-daemon.sh
@@ -108,8 +108,9 @@ test_expect_success "ipfs version deps succeeds" '
   ipfs version deps >deps.txt
 '
 
-test_expect_success "ipfs version deps output looks good" '
+test_expect_success "ipfs version deps output looks good ( set \$GOIPFSTEST_SKIP_LOCAL_DEVTREE_DEPS_CHECK to skip this test )" '
   head -1 deps.txt | grep "go-ipfs@(devel)" &&
+  [[ "$GOIPFSTEST_SKIP_LOCAL_DEVTREE_DEPS_CHECK" == "1" ]] ||
   [[ $(tail -n +2 deps.txt | egrep -v -c "^[^ @]+@v[^ @]+( => [^ @]+@v[^ @]+)?$") -eq 0 ]] ||
   test_fsh cat deps.txt
 '
@@ -124,13 +125,8 @@ test_expect_success "ipfs help output looks good" '
   test_fsh cat help.txt
 '
 
-# netcat (nc) is needed for the following test
-test_expect_success "socat is available" '
-  type socat >/dev/null
-'
-
 # check transport is encrypted
-test_expect_success "transport should be encrypted" '
+test_expect_success SOCAT "transport should be encrypted ( needs socat )" '
   socat - tcp:localhost:$SWARM_PORT,connect-timeout=1 > swarmnc < ../t0060-data/mss-ls &&
   grep -q "/secio" swarmnc &&
   test_must_fail grep -q "/plaintext/1.0.0" swarmnc ||
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0061-daemon-opts.sh b/test/sharness/t0061-daemon-opts.sh
index 227d4fa30..7d5cf7fe7 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0061-daemon-opts.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0061-daemon-opts.sh
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ gwyaddr=$GWAY_ADDR
 apiaddr=$API_ADDR
 
 # Odd. this fails here, but the inverse works on t0060-daemon.
-test_expect_success 'transport should be unencrypted' '
+test_expect_success SOCAT 'transport should be unencrypted ( needs socat )' '
   socat - tcp:localhost:$SWARM_PORT,connect-timeout=1 > swarmnc < ../t0060-data/mss-ls &&
   grep -q -v "/secio" swarmnc &&
   grep -q "/plaintext" swarmnc ||
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0080-repo.sh b/test/sharness/t0080-repo.sh
index 46254288e..3d228ea33 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0080-repo.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0080-repo.sh
@@ -247,10 +247,10 @@ test_expect_success "'ipfs repo stat --human' succeeds" '
 
 test_expect_success "repo stats --human came out correct" '
   grep "RepoPath" repo-stats-human &&
-  grep -P "RepoSize:\s*([0-9]*[.])?[0-9]+\s+?(B|kB|MB|GB|TB|PB|EB)" repo-stats-human &&
+  grep -E "RepoSize:\s*([0-9]*[.])?[0-9]+\s+?(B|kB|MB|GB|TB|PB|EB)" repo-stats-human &&
   grep "NumObjects" repo-stats-human &&
   grep "Version" repo-stats-human &&
-  grep -P "StorageMax:\s*([0-9]*[.])?[0-9]+\s+?(B|kB|MB|GB|TB|PB|EB)" repo-stats-human ||
+  grep -E "StorageMax:\s*([0-9]*[.])?[0-9]+\s+?(B|kB|MB|GB|TB|PB|EB)" repo-stats-human ||
   test_fsh cat repo-stats-human
 '
 
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0095-refs.sh b/test/sharness/t0095-refs.sh
index d363d043f..99dc361c7 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0095-refs.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0095-refs.sh
@@ -182,4 +182,6 @@ test_refs_output '' 'cat'
 
 test_refs_output '--cid-base=base32' 'ipfs cid base32'
 
+test_kill_ipfs_daemon
+
 test_done
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0121-bootstrap-iptb.sh b/test/sharness/t0121-bootstrap-iptb.sh
index 8de23a216..16dcbdb2f 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0121-bootstrap-iptb.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0121-bootstrap-iptb.sh
@@ -38,11 +38,11 @@ betterwait() {
 }
 
 test_expect_success "bring down iptb nodes" '
-  PID0=$(cat "$IPTB_ROOT/benches/default/0/daemon.pid") &&
-  PID1=$(cat "$IPTB_ROOT/benches/default/1/daemon.pid") &&
-  PID2=$(cat "$IPTB_ROOT/benches/default/2/daemon.pid") &&
-  PID3=$(cat "$IPTB_ROOT/benches/default/3/daemon.pid") &&
-  PID4=$(cat "$IPTB_ROOT/benches/default/4/daemon.pid") &&
+  PID0=$(cat "$IPTB_ROOT/testbeds/default/0/daemon.pid") &&
+  PID1=$(cat "$IPTB_ROOT/testbeds/default/1/daemon.pid") &&
+  PID2=$(cat "$IPTB_ROOT/testbeds/default/2/daemon.pid") &&
+  PID3=$(cat "$IPTB_ROOT/testbeds/default/3/daemon.pid") &&
+  PID4=$(cat "$IPTB_ROOT/testbeds/default/4/daemon.pid") &&
   iptb stop && # TODO: add --wait flag to iptb stop
   betterwait $PID0
   betterwait $PID1
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0130-multinode.sh b/test/sharness/t0130-multinode.sh
index 1c732db7a..e0a27b666 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0130-multinode.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0130-multinode.sh
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ run_advanced_test() {
 
   test_expect_success "shut down nodes" '
     iptb stop && iptb_wait_stop ||
-      test_fsh tail -n +1 .iptb/benches/default/*/daemon.std*
+      test_fsh tail -n +1 .iptb/testbeds/default/*/daemon.std*
   '
 }
 
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0180-p2p.sh b/test/sharness/t0180-p2p.sh
index 0aa9d8c42..236f2ac9f 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0180-p2p.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0180-p2p.sh
@@ -22,10 +22,10 @@ test_expect_success 'peer ids' '
 '
 check_test_ports() {
   test_expect_success "test ports are closed" '
-    (! (netstat -lnp | grep "LISTEN" | grep ":10101 ")) &&
-    (! (netstat -lnp | grep "LISTEN" | grep ":10102 "))&&
-    (! (netstat -lnp | grep "LISTEN" | grep ":10103 ")) &&
-    (! (netstat -lnp | grep "LISTEN" | grep ":10104 "))
+    (! (netstat -aln | grep "LISTEN" | grep -E "[.:]10101 ")) &&
+    (! (netstat -aln | grep "LISTEN" | grep -E "[.:]10102 ")) &&
+    (! (netstat -aln | grep "LISTEN" | grep -E "[.:]10103 ")) &&
+    (! (netstat -aln | grep "LISTEN" | grep -E "[.:]10104 "))
   '
 }
 check_test_ports
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0181-private-network.sh b/test/sharness/t0181-private-network.sh
index d2230aa1b..dfb4be203 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0181-private-network.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0181-private-network.sh
@@ -132,4 +132,6 @@ test_expect_success "stop testbed" '
   iptb stop
 '
 
+test_kill_ipfs_daemon
+
 test_done
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0184-http-proxy-over-p2p.sh b/test/sharness/t0184-http-proxy-over-p2p.sh
index d647273f0..9beda4fbc 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0184-http-proxy-over-p2p.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0184-http-proxy-over-p2p.sh
@@ -3,6 +3,12 @@
 test_description="Test http proxy over p2p"
 
 . lib/test-lib.sh
+
+if ! test_have_prereq SOCAT; then
+  skip_all="skipping '$test_description': socat is not available"
+  test_done
+fi
+
 WEB_SERVE_PORT=5099
 IPFS_GATEWAY_PORT=5199
 SENDER_GATEWAY="http://127.0.0.1:$IPFS_GATEWAY_PORT"
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0235-cli-request.sh b/test/sharness/t0235-cli-request.sh
index 24bccd4d5..3d50a2e62 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0235-cli-request.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0235-cli-request.sh
@@ -8,6 +8,12 @@ test_description="test http requests made by cli"
 
 . lib/test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq SOCAT; then
+  skip_all="skipping '$test_description': socat is not available"
+  test_done
+fi
+
+
 test_init_ipfs
 
 test_expect_success "start nc" '
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0236-cli-api-dns-resolve.sh b/test/sharness/t0236-cli-api-dns-resolve.sh
index 1beefed09..eddbc93da 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0236-cli-api-dns-resolve.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0236-cli-api-dns-resolve.sh
@@ -8,6 +8,11 @@ test_description="test dns resolution of api endpoint by cli"
 
 . lib/test-lib.sh
 
+if ! test_have_prereq SOCAT; then
+  skip_all="skipping '$test_description': socat is not available"
+  test_done
+fi
+
 test_init_ipfs
 
 test_expect_success "start nc" '
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0280-plugin-git.sh b/test/sharness/t0280-plugin-git.sh
index f5948fbb6..e7bc06427 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0280-plugin-git.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0280-plugin-git.sh
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ test_dag_git() {
   '
 
   test_expect_success "successfully get added objects" '
-    cat hashes | xargs -i ipfs dag get -- {} > /dev/null
+    cat hashes | xargs -I {} ipfs dag get -- {} > /dev/null
   '
 
   test_expect_success "path traversals work" '
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0300-docker-image.sh b/test/sharness/t0300-docker-image.sh
index 741f8885a..3d8f573f2 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0300-docker-image.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0300-docker-image.sh
@@ -23,10 +23,6 @@ test_expect_success "'docker --version' output looks good" '
   egrep "^Docker version" actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success "current user is in the 'docker' group" '
-  groups | egrep "\bdocker\b"
-'
-
 TEST_TRASH_DIR=$(pwd)
 TEST_SCRIPTS_DIR=$(dirname "$TEST_TRASH_DIR")
 TEST_TESTS_DIR=$(dirname "$TEST_SCRIPTS_DIR")
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0301-docker-migrate.sh b/test/sharness/t0301-docker-migrate.sh
index 767769202..2ccc8bae2 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0301-docker-migrate.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0301-docker-migrate.sh
@@ -10,11 +10,16 @@ test_description="Test docker image migration"
 
 # if in travis CI on OSX, docker is not available
 if ! test_have_prereq DOCKER; then
-  skip_all='skipping docker tests, docker not available'
+  skip_all='skipping '$test_description', docker not available'
 
   test_done
 fi
 
+if ! test_have_prereq SOCAT; then
+  skip_all="skipping '$test_description': socat is not available"
+  test_done
+fi
+
 TEST_TRASH_DIR=$(pwd)
 TEST_SCRIPTS_DIR=$(dirname "$TEST_TRASH_DIR")
 TEST_TESTS_DIR=$(dirname "$TEST_SCRIPTS_DIR")
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0600-issues-and-regressions-online.sh b/test/sharness/t0600-issues-and-regressions-online.sh
index 1abf87170..8496a0f03 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0600-issues-and-regressions-online.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0600-issues-and-regressions-online.sh
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ test_expect_success "pin add api looks right - #3753" '
   test_cmp pinrm_out pinrm_exp
 '
 
-test_expect_success "no daemon crash on improper file argument - #4003" '
+test_expect_success SOCAT "no daemon crash on improper file argument - #4003 ( test needs socat )" '
   FNC=$(echo $API_ADDR | awk -F: '\''{ printf "%s:%s", $1, $2 }'\'') &&
   printf "POST /api/v0/add?pin=true HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: $API_ADDR\r\nContent-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=Pyw9xQLtiLPE6XcI\r\nContent-Length: 22\r\n\r\n\r\n--Pyw9xQLtiLPE6XcI\r\n" | socat STDIO tcp-connect:$FNC | grep -m1 "500 Internal Server Error"
 '