t/cgi.t   | 18 ++++++++----------
 t/mda.t   | 15 +++++++--------
 t/plack.t | 20 +++++++++-----------

diff --git a/t/cgi.t b/t/cgi.t
index 424b738e2c4c68aceaa7a97f42ecc07d86871358..90543a7a51c9f3b87dfbc939bc326255f1ba65a2 100644
--- a/t/cgi.t
+++ b/t/cgi.t
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ my $pi_home = "$home/.public-inbox";
 my $pi_config = "$pi_home/config";
 my $maindir = "$tmpdir/main.git";
 my $addr = 'test-public@example.com';
-my $cfgpfx = "publicinbox.test";
 
 {
 	is(1, mkdir($home, 0755), "setup ~/ for testing");
@@ -23,15 +22,14 @@
 	open my $fh, '>', "$maindir/description" or die "open: $!\n";
 	print $fh "test for public-inbox\n";
 	close $fh or die "close: $!\n";
-	my %cfg = (
-		"$cfgpfx.address" => $addr,
-		"$cfgpfx.inboxdir" => $maindir,
-		"$cfgpfx.indexlevel" => 'basic',
-	);
-	while (my ($k,$v) = each %cfg) {
-		is(0, system(qw(git config --file), $pi_config, $k, $v),
-			"setup $k");
-	}
+	open $fh, '>>', $pi_config or die;
+	print $fh <<EOF or die;
+[publicinbox "test"]
+	address = $addr
+	inboxdir = $maindir
+	indexlevel = basic
+EOF
+	close $fh or die "close: $!\n";
 }
 
 use_ok 'PublicInbox::Git';
diff --git a/t/mda.t b/t/mda.t
index 4556e3234e9c7adfc6682aa7cff6bde9ba8f7563..631bb8613f6cb9e3aacb7f4b1de285f68efd65c3 100644
--- a/t/mda.t
+++ b/t/mda.t
@@ -49,14 +49,13 @@ 	is(1, mkdir($home, 0755), "setup ~/ for testing");
 	is(1, mkdir($pi_home, 0755), "setup ~/.public-inbox");
 	is(0, system(qw(git init -q --bare), $maindir), "git init (main)");
 
-	my %cfg = (
-		"$cfgpfx.address" => $addr,
-		"$cfgpfx.inboxdir" => $maindir,
-	);
-	while (my ($k,$v) = each %cfg) {
-		is(0, system(qw(git config --file), $pi_config, $k, $v),
-			"setup $k");
-	}
+	open my $fh, '>>', $pi_config or die;
+	print $fh <<EOF or die;
+[publicinbox "test"]
+	address = $addr
+	inboxdir = $maindir
+EOF
+	close $fh or die;
 }
 
 local $ENV{GIT_COMMITTER_NAME} = eval {
diff --git a/t/plack.t b/t/plack.t
index f0dc4bbb515777299d437d13ec801f6494fdf94f..ec45b02cc7297ec213ea44fbe8a0d58f00b928fd 100644
--- a/t/plack.t
+++ b/t/plack.t
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ my ($tmpdir, $for_destroy) = tmpdir();
 my $pi_config = "$tmpdir/config";
 my $maindir = "$tmpdir/main.git";
 my $addr = 'test-public@example.com';
-my $cfgpfx = "publicinbox.test";
 my @mods = qw(HTTP::Request::Common Plack::Test URI::Escape);
 require_mods(@mods);
 use_ok 'PublicInbox::Import';
@@ -24,16 +23,15 @@ 	is(0, system(qw(git init -q --bare), $maindir), "git init (main)");
 	open my $fh, '>', "$maindir/description" or die "open: $!\n";
 	print $fh "test for public-inbox\n";
 	close $fh or die "close: $!\n";
-	my %cfg = (
-		"$cfgpfx.address" => $addr,
-		"$cfgpfx.inboxdir" => $maindir,
-		"$cfgpfx.url" => 'http://example.com/test/',
-		"$cfgpfx.newsgroup" => 'inbox.test',
-	);
-	while (my ($k,$v) = each %cfg) {
-		is(0, system(qw(git config --file), $pi_config, $k, $v),
-			"setup $k");
-	}
+	open $fh, '>>', $pi_config or die;
+	print $fh <<EOF or die;
+[publicinbox "test"]
+	address = $addr
+	inboxdir = $maindir
+	url = http://example.com/test/
+	newsgroup = inbox.test
+EOF
+	close $fh or die;
 
 	# ensure successful message delivery
 	{