doc/news.texi                  | 7 +++++++
 t/apenwarr/101-atime/atime2.do | 9 ++++++++-
 t/apenwarr/101-atime/tick.py   | 6 ------
 t/apenwarr/130-mode/all.do     | 5 ++---
 usage.go                       | 2 +-

diff --git a/doc/news.texi b/doc/news.texi
index ce91d2cad7b4615c277249483c389b168ba0f7d6fa3dbb780b6d7b6f3675ae87..3f51155f8b1d4b749465394c282f76c06ae3ce010ad9a3931c08af1a0670980b 100644
--- a/doc/news.texi
+++ b/doc/news.texi
@@ -2,6 +2,13 @@ @node News
 @cindex news
 @unnumbered News
 
+@anchor{Release 2_6_1}
+@section Release 2.6.1
+@itemize
+@item
+    Tests do not depend on Python or Git.
+@end itemize
+
 @anchor{Release 2_6_0}
 @section Release 2.6.0
 @itemize
diff --git a/t/apenwarr/101-atime/atime2.do b/t/apenwarr/101-atime/atime2.do
index 09066011e3a4b140d30ad0651eb145e7726cd5006e60ec8c58c957bb23132b80..ca6a3524fb17723ed4a6b5b1430b7a5ad273735f47e2ff83edddf3a7251eb893 100644
--- a/t/apenwarr/101-atime/atime2.do
+++ b/t/apenwarr/101-atime/atime2.do
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 # make sure redo doesn't think merely *reading* the old file counts as
 # modifying it in-place.
 cat $1 >/dev/null 2>/dev/null || true
-${PYTHON:-python} tick.py
+perl -mTime::HiRes -e '
+    $t2 = 1 + int(Time::HiRes::time());
+    while (1) {
+        $t = Time::HiRes::time();
+        last if $t > $t2;
+        sleep($t2 - $t + 0.01);
+    };
+'
 cat $1 >/dev/null 2>/dev/null || true
 echo hello
diff --git a/t/apenwarr/101-atime/tick.py b/t/apenwarr/101-atime/tick.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 4654ce0d4bdb802562c0cbc20a758cebd182145a67d8afa3e8743d106f5950cb..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/t/apenwarr/101-atime/tick.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-import time
-t2 = int(time.time()) + 1.0
-while 1:
-    t = time.time()
-    if t >= t2: break
-    time.sleep(t2 - t + 0.01)
diff --git a/t/apenwarr/130-mode/all.do b/t/apenwarr/130-mode/all.do
index de96b3645fde66d2eaf79f06fcfa7aee3237efa04862d34d38636aefa536f341..772d110ad03a1b520f52030f759937ff425d3395b40019a0e889833c58547e2a 100644
--- a/t/apenwarr/130-mode/all.do
+++ b/t/apenwarr/130-mode/all.do
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 umask 0022
 redo mode1
-MODE=$(${PYTHON:-python} -c \
-	'import os; print(oct(os.stat("mode1").st_mode & 0o7777))')
-[ "$MODE" = "0644" -o "$MODE" = "0o644" ] || exit 78
+MODE=$(perl -e '@s=stat "mode1"; printf "%04o", $s[2] & 07777')
+[ "$MODE" = "0644" ] || exit 78
diff --git a/usage.go b/usage.go
index 03a05c523c306e19115fc55e6f4bda99a9db9ac1273374f8819239ee74024b7e..bb260afeb235b33dc9eefb86a067bea6e0c5cbad4dd9ee390bfe8b131e80c022 100644
--- a/usage.go
+++ b/usage.go
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ 	"os"
 )
 
 const (
-	Version  = "2.6.0"
+	Version  = "2.6.1"
 	Warranty = `Copyright (C) 2020-2024 Sergey Matveev
 
 This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify