diff --git a/t/lib-git-svn.sh b/t/lib-git-svn.sh
index fb8823224e..688313ed5c 100644
--- a/t/lib-git-svn.sh
+++ b/t/lib-git-svn.sh
@@ -65,81 +65,22 @@ svn_cmd () {
 	svn "$orig_svncmd" --config-dir "$svnconf" "$@"
 }
 
-prepare_httpd () {
-	for d in \
-		"$SVN_HTTPD_PATH" \
-		/usr/sbin/apache2 \
-		/usr/sbin/httpd \
-	; do
-		if test -f "$d"
-		then
-			SVN_HTTPD_PATH="$d"
-			break
-		fi
-	done
-	if test -z "$SVN_HTTPD_PATH"
-	then
-		echo >&2 '*** error: Apache not found'
-		return 1
-	fi
-	for d in \
-		"$SVN_HTTPD_MODULE_PATH" \
-		/usr/lib/apache2/modules \
-		/usr/libexec/apache2 \
-	; do
-		if test -d "$d"
-		then
-			SVN_HTTPD_MODULE_PATH="$d"
-			break
-		fi
-	done
-	if test -z "$SVN_HTTPD_MODULE_PATH"
-	then
-		echo >&2 '*** error: Apache module dir not found'
-		return 1
-	fi
-	if test ! -f "$SVN_HTTPD_MODULE_PATH/mod_dav_svn.so"
-	then
-		echo >&2 '*** error: Apache module "mod_dav_svn" not found'
-		return 1
-	fi
+maybe_start_httpd () {
+	loc=${1-svn}
 
-	repo_base_path="${1-svn}"
-	mkdir "$GIT_DIR"/logs
-
-	cat > "$GIT_DIR/httpd.conf" <<EOF
-ServerName "git svn test"
-ServerRoot "$GIT_DIR"
-DocumentRoot "$GIT_DIR"
-PidFile "$GIT_DIR/httpd.pid"
-LockFile logs/accept.lock
-Listen 127.0.0.1:$SVN_HTTPD_PORT
-LoadModule dav_module $SVN_HTTPD_MODULE_PATH/mod_dav.so
-LoadModule dav_svn_module $SVN_HTTPD_MODULE_PATH/mod_dav_svn.so
-<Location /$repo_base_path>
-	DAV svn
-	SVNPath "$rawsvnrepo"
-</Location>
-EOF
-}
-
-start_httpd () {
-	if test -z "$SVN_HTTPD_PORT"
-	then
-		echo >&2 'SVN_HTTPD_PORT is not defined!'
-		return
-	fi
-
-	prepare_httpd "$1" || return 1
-
-	"$SVN_HTTPD_PATH" -f "$GIT_DIR"/httpd.conf -k start
-	svnrepo="http://127.0.0.1:$SVN_HTTPD_PORT/$repo_base_path"
-}
-
-stop_httpd () {
-	test -z "$SVN_HTTPD_PORT" && return
-	test ! -f "$GIT_DIR/httpd.conf" && return
-	"$SVN_HTTPD_PATH" -f "$GIT_DIR"/httpd.conf -k stop
+	test_tristate GIT_SVN_TEST_HTTPD
+	case $GIT_SVN_TEST_HTTPD in
+	true)
+		. "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/lib-httpd.sh
+		LIB_HTTPD_SVN="$loc"
+		start_httpd
+		;;
+	*)
+		stop_httpd () {
+			: noop
+		}
+		;;
+	esac
 }
 
 convert_to_rev_db () {
diff --git a/t/lib-httpd.sh b/t/lib-httpd.sh
index ac2cbee250..435a37465a 100644
--- a/t/lib-httpd.sh
+++ b/t/lib-httpd.sh
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 #    LIB_HTTPD_MODULE_PATH       web server modules path
 #    LIB_HTTPD_PORT              listening port
 #    LIB_HTTPD_DAV               enable DAV
-#    LIB_HTTPD_SVN               enable SVN
+#    LIB_HTTPD_SVN               enable SVN at given location (e.g. "svn")
 #    LIB_HTTPD_SSL               enable SSL
 #
 # Copyright (c) 2008 Clemens Buchacher <drizzd@aon.at>
@@ -162,8 +162,10 @@ prepare_httpd() {
 		if test -n "$LIB_HTTPD_SVN"
 		then
 			HTTPD_PARA="$HTTPD_PARA -DSVN"
-			rawsvnrepo="$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/svnrepo"
-			svnrepo="http://127.0.0.1:$LIB_HTTPD_PORT/svn"
+			LIB_HTTPD_SVNPATH="$rawsvnrepo"
+			svnrepo="http://127.0.0.1:$LIB_HTTPD_PORT/"
+			svnrepo="$svnrepo$LIB_HTTPD_SVN"
+			export LIB_HTTPD_SVN LIB_HTTPD_SVNPATH
 		fi
 	fi
 }
diff --git a/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf b/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf
index 018a83a5a1..c3e631394f 100644
--- a/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf
+++ b/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf
@@ -208,8 +208,8 @@ RewriteRule ^/half-auth-complete/ - [E=AUTHREQUIRED:yes]
 <IfDefine SVN>
 	LoadModule dav_svn_module modules/mod_dav_svn.so
 
-	<Location /svn>
+	<Location /${LIB_HTTPD_SVN}>
 		DAV svn
-		SVNPath svnrepo
+		SVNPath "${LIB_HTTPD_SVNPATH}"
 	</Location>
 </IfDefine>
diff --git a/t/t9100-git-svn-basic.sh b/t/t9100-git-svn-basic.sh
index d29f60108a..92a3aa8063 100755
--- a/t/t9100-git-svn-basic.sh
+++ b/t/t9100-git-svn-basic.sh
@@ -8,8 +8,6 @@ GIT_SVN_LC_ALL=${LC_ALL:-$LANG}
 
 . ./lib-git-svn.sh
 
-say 'define NO_SVN_TESTS to skip git svn tests'
-
 case "$GIT_SVN_LC_ALL" in
 *.UTF-8)
 	test_set_prereq UTF8
diff --git a/t/t9115-git-svn-dcommit-funky-renames.sh b/t/t9115-git-svn-dcommit-funky-renames.sh
index a87d3d3fc1..64bb495834 100755
--- a/t/t9115-git-svn-dcommit-funky-renames.sh
+++ b/t/t9115-git-svn-dcommit-funky-renames.sh
@@ -8,9 +8,10 @@ test_description='git svn dcommit can commit renames of files with ugly names'
 . ./lib-git-svn.sh
 
 test_expect_success 'load repository with strange names' '
-	svnadmin load -q "$rawsvnrepo" < "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/t9115/funky-names.dump &&
-	start_httpd gtk+
-	'
+	svnadmin load -q "$rawsvnrepo" <"$TEST_DIRECTORY"/t9115/funky-names.dump
+'
+
+maybe_start_httpd gtk+
 
 test_expect_success 'init and fetch repository' '
 	git svn init "$svnrepo" &&
diff --git a/t/t9118-git-svn-funky-branch-names.sh b/t/t9118-git-svn-funky-branch-names.sh
index ecb1fed147..41a026637f 100755
--- a/t/t9118-git-svn-funky-branch-names.sh
+++ b/t/t9118-git-svn-funky-branch-names.sh
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ test_expect_success 'setup svnrepo' '
 			"$svnrepo/pr ject/branches/trailing_dotlock.lock" &&
 	svn_cmd cp -m "reflog" "$svnrepo/pr ject/trunk" \
 			"$svnrepo/pr ject/branches/not-a@{0}reflog@" &&
-	start_httpd
+	maybe_start_httpd
 	'
 
 # SVN 1.7 will truncate "not-a%40{0]" to just "not-a".
diff --git a/t/t9120-git-svn-clone-with-percent-escapes.sh b/t/t9120-git-svn-clone-with-percent-escapes.sh
index 59465b147e..b28a1741e3 100755
--- a/t/t9120-git-svn-clone-with-percent-escapes.sh
+++ b/t/t9120-git-svn-clone-with-percent-escapes.sh
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ test_expect_success 'setup svnrepo' '
 	svn_cmd cp -m "tag" "$svnrepo/pr ject/trunk" \
 	  "$svnrepo/pr ject/tags/v1" &&
 	rm -rf project &&
-	start_httpd
+	maybe_start_httpd
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'test clone with percent escapes' '
diff --git a/t/t9142-git-svn-shallow-clone.sh b/t/t9142-git-svn-shallow-clone.sh
index e21ee5f663..9ee23be640 100755
--- a/t/t9142-git-svn-shallow-clone.sh
+++ b/t/t9142-git-svn-shallow-clone.sh
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ test_expect_success 'setup test repository' '
 		svn_cmd add foo &&
 		svn_cmd commit -m "add foo"
 	) &&
-	start_httpd
+	maybe_start_httpd
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'clone trunk with "-r HEAD"' '
diff --git a/t/t9158-git-svn-mergeinfo.sh b/t/t9158-git-svn-mergeinfo.sh
index 13f78f2682..a875b45102 100755
--- a/t/t9158-git-svn-mergeinfo.sh
+++ b/t/t9158-git-svn-mergeinfo.sh
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@ test_description='git svn mergeinfo propagation'
 
 . ./lib-git-svn.sh
 
-say 'define NO_SVN_TESTS to skip git svn tests'
-
 test_expect_success 'initialize source svn repo' '
 	svn_cmd mkdir -m x "$svnrepo"/trunk &&
 	svn_cmd co "$svnrepo"/trunk "$SVN_TREE" &&
diff --git a/t/t9160-git-svn-preserve-empty-dirs.sh b/t/t9160-git-svn-preserve-empty-dirs.sh
index b4a4434604..0ede3cfedb 100755
--- a/t/t9160-git-svn-preserve-empty-dirs.sh
+++ b/t/t9160-git-svn-preserve-empty-dirs.sh
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ local Git repository with placeholder files.'
 
 . ./lib-git-svn.sh
 
-say 'define NO_SVN_TESTS to skip git svn tests'
 GIT_REPO=git-svn-repo
 
 test_expect_success 'initialize source svn repo containing empty dirs' '