diff --git a/testing/sisyphus/bin/build.sh b/testing/sisyphus/bin/build.sh
index 5212707f999..53f6453623a 100755
--- a/testing/sisyphus/bin/build.sh
+++ b/testing/sisyphus/bin/build.sh
@@ -126,6 +126,8 @@ case $product in
                     AUTOCONF=autoconf-2.13
                 elif findprogram autoconf-2.13; then
                     AUTOCONF=autoconf-2.13
+                elif findprogram autoconf2.13; then
+                    AUTOCONF=autoconf2.13
                 elif findprogram autoconf213; then
                     AUTOCONF=autoconf213
                 else
diff --git a/testing/sisyphus/bin/memory.pl b/testing/sisyphus/bin/memory.pl
index 0ffb203d51c..06a9db56579 100755
--- a/testing/sisyphus/bin/memory.pl
+++ b/testing/sisyphus/bin/memory.pl
@@ -49,8 +49,10 @@ my $ulimit_virtualmemory = 0;
 my $test_memory = 0;
 
 # hack around lack of available environment entries in both
-# cygwin perl and redhat perl
-open OSTYPE, "set | grep OSTYPE |" || die "Unable to open OSTYPE: $!";
+# cygwin perl and redhat perl.
+# Note the bash -c set is required for ubuntu 9.04 otherwise the
+# OSTYPE file will return no data. I don't know why.
+open OSTYPE, "bash -c set | grep OSTYPE |" || die "Unable to open OSTYPE: $!";
 while (<OSTYPE>)
 {
     chomp;