lib/PublicInbox/IPC.pm        |  4 ++++
 lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm        |  3 +++
 lib/PublicInbox/TestCommon.pm | 16 ++++++++++++----
 t/lei-daemon.t                |  6 +++++-
 t/lei-externals.t             |  1 +

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/IPC.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/IPC.pm
index 8376275e3c9501c52366b08b7eda7fe4024b5d49..67e86a43409cd2d6890913e882d12237bc33cb8c 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/IPC.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/IPC.pm
@@ -47,6 +47,10 @@ my $send_cmd = PublicInbox::Spawn->can('send_cmd4') // do {
 	require PublicInbox::CmdIPC4;
 	$recv_cmd //= PublicInbox::CmdIPC4->can('recv_cmd4');
 	PublicInbox::CmdIPC4->can('send_cmd4');
+} // do {
+	require PublicInbox::Syscall;
+	$recv_cmd //= PublicInbox::Syscall->can('recv_cmd4');
+	PublicInbox::Syscall->can('send_cmd4');
 };
 
 sub _get_rec ($) {
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
index 9ab91714d0b8b725fdda3b92889b70574dce6b83..4bd9183e969247da542c2c70a8b4d9935c8b8733 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
@@ -1277,6 +1277,9 @@ 		$recv_cmd = PublicInbox::Spawn->can('recv_cmd4') // do {
 			require PublicInbox::CmdIPC4;
 			$send_cmd = PublicInbox::CmdIPC4->can('send_cmd4');
 			PublicInbox::CmdIPC4->can('recv_cmd4');
+		} // do {
+			$send_cmd = PublicInbox::Syscall->can('send_cmd4');
+			PublicInbox::Syscall->can('recv_cmd4');
 		};
 	}
 	$recv_cmd or die <<"";
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/TestCommon.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/TestCommon.pm
index ca7328111dcc47dc974aa3d3e5e83549130f111c..943dd2fa9d111c85f1222a9e853264af20bb4205 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/TestCommon.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/TestCommon.pm
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2015-2021 all contributors <meta@public-inbox.org>
+# Copyright (C) all contributors <meta@public-inbox.org>
 # License: AGPL-3.0+ <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.txt>
 
 # internal APIs used only for tests
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@ 	@EXPORT = qw(tmpdir tcp_server tcp_connect require_git require_mods
 		run_script start_script key2sub xsys xsys_e xqx eml_load tick
 		have_xapian_compact json_utf8 setup_public_inboxes create_inbox
 		tcp_host_port test_lei lei lei_ok $lei_out $lei_err $lei_opt
-		test_httpd xbail require_cmd is_xdeeply tail_f);
+		test_httpd xbail require_cmd is_xdeeply tail_f
+		ignore_inline_c_missing);
 	require Test::More;
 	my @methods = grep(!/\W/, @Test::More::EXPORT);
 	eval(join('', map { "*$_=\\&Test::More::$_;" } @methods));
@@ -547,6 +548,11 @@ 	diag explain([$x, '!=', $y]) if !$ok;
 	$ok;
 }
 
+sub ignore_inline_c_missing {
+	$_[0] = join('', grep(/\S/, grep(!/compilation aborted/,
+		grep(!/\bInline\b/, split(/^/m, $_[0])))));
+}
+
 sub test_lei {
 SKIP: {
 	my ($cb) = pop @_;
@@ -571,8 +577,10 @@ 	$ENV{GIT_COMMITTER_NAME} = 'lei user';
 	$ENV{LANG} = $ENV{LC_ALL} = 'C';
 	my (undef, $fn, $lineno) = caller(0);
 	my $t = "$fn:$lineno";
-	state $lei_daemon = PublicInbox::Spawn->can('send_cmd4') ||
-				eval { require Socket::MsgHdr; 1 };
+	state $lei_daemon = PublicInbox::Spawn->can('send_cmd4') || do {
+			require PublicInbox::Syscall;
+			PublicInbox::Syscall->can('send_cmd4');
+		} || eval { require Socket::MsgHdr; 1 };
 	unless ($lei_daemon) {
 		skip('Inline::C unconfigured/missing '.
 '(mkdir -p ~/.cache/public-inbox/inline-c) OR Socket::MsgHdr missing',
diff --git a/t/lei-daemon.t b/t/lei-daemon.t
index b60c7ce6dc4aa8277219c10e33d676d9c39162bb..e11105bc7040c080f81483396d1a3d0ff1bbb0fd 100644
--- a/t/lei-daemon.t
+++ b/t/lei-daemon.t
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!perl -w
-# Copyright (C) 2020-2021 all contributors <meta@public-inbox.org>
+# Copyright (C) all contributors <meta@public-inbox.org>
 # License: AGPL-3.0+ <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.txt>
 use strict; use v5.10.1; use PublicInbox::TestCommon;
 use Socket qw(AF_UNIX SOCK_SEQPACKET MSG_EOR pack_sockaddr_un);
@@ -8,12 +8,16 @@ test_lei({ daemon_only => 1 }, sub {
 	my $send_cmd = PublicInbox::Spawn->can('send_cmd4') // do {
 		require PublicInbox::CmdIPC4;
 		PublicInbox::CmdIPC4->can('send_cmd4');
+	} // do {
+		require PublicInbox::Syscall;
+		PublicInbox::Syscall->can('send_cmd4');
 	};
 	$send_cmd or BAIL_OUT 'started testing lei-daemon w/o send_cmd4!';
 
 	my $sock = "$ENV{XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/lei/5.seq.sock";
 	my $err_log = "$ENV{XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/lei/errors.log";
 	lei_ok('daemon-pid');
+	ignore_inline_c_missing($lei_err);
 	is($lei_err, '', 'no error from daemon-pid');
 	like($lei_out, qr/\A[0-9]+\n\z/s, 'pid returned') or BAIL_OUT;
 	chomp(my $pid = $lei_out);
diff --git a/t/lei-externals.t b/t/lei-externals.t
index fed57789d05aa1bcd7abc69e0afdd40e0d6849e2..284be1b9866b838a904fedc2576738e7ce9eb5b4 100644
--- a/t/lei-externals.t
+++ b/t/lei-externals.t
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ 	my $home = $ENV{HOME};
 	my $config_file = "$home/.config/lei/config";
 	my $store_dir = "$home/.local/share/lei";
 	lei_ok 'ls-external', \'ls-external on fresh install';
+	ignore_inline_c_missing($lei_err);
 	is($lei_out.$lei_err, '', 'ls-external no output, yet');
 	ok(!-e $config_file && !-e $store_dir,
 		'nothing created by ls-external');