diff --git a/tests/hghave b/tests/hghave
--- a/tests/hghave
+++ b/tests/hghave
@@ -154,6 +154,9 @@ def has_pygments():
     except ImportError:
         return False
 
+def has_outer_repo():
+    return matchoutput('hg root 2>&1', r'')
+
 checks = {
     "baz": (has_baz, "GNU Arch baz client"),
     "bzr": (has_bzr, "Canonical's Bazaar client"),
@@ -169,6 +172,7 @@ checks = {
     "inotify": (has_inotify, "inotify extension support"),
     "lsprof": (has_lsprof, "python lsprof module"),
     "mtn": (has_mtn, "monotone client (> 0.31)"),
+    "outer-repo": (has_outer_repo, "outer repo"),
     "pygments": (has_pygments, "Pygments source highlighting library"),
     "svn": (has_svn, "subversion client and admin tools"),
     "svn-bindings": (has_svn_bindings, "subversion python bindings"),
diff --git a/tests/test-convert-svn-sink b/tests/test-convert-svn-sink
--- a/tests/test-convert-svn-sink
+++ b/tests/test-convert-svn-sink
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-"$TESTDIR/hghave" svn svn-bindings || exit 80
+"$TESTDIR/hghave" svn svn-bindings no-outer-repo || exit 80
 
 fixpath()
 {
diff --git a/tests/test-dispatch b/tests/test-dispatch
--- a/tests/test-dispatch
+++ b/tests/test-dispatch
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 # test command parsing and dispatch
 
+"$TESTDIR/hghave" no-outer-repo || exit 80
+
 hg init a
 cd a
 echo a > a
diff --git a/tests/test-extension b/tests/test-extension
--- a/tests/test-extension
+++ b/tests/test-extension
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 # Test basic extension support
 
+"$TESTDIR/hghave" no-outer-repo || exit 80
+
 cat > foobar.py <<EOF
 import os
 from mercurial import commands
diff --git a/tests/test-globalopts b/tests/test-globalopts
--- a/tests/test-globalopts
+++ b/tests/test-globalopts
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
+"$TESTDIR/hghave" no-outer-repo || exit 80
+
 hg init a
 cd a
 echo a > a
diff --git a/tests/test-glog b/tests/test-glog
--- a/tests/test-glog
+++ b/tests/test-glog
@@ -70,6 +70,8 @@
 # |/
 # o  (0) root
 
+"$TESTDIR/hghave" no-outer-repo || exit 80
+
 set -e
 
 commit()