diff --git a/debian/bin/pauvre b/debian/bin/pauvre
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..a128cbc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/bin/pauvre
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#! /bin/bash
+# pauvre reimplementation in shell: the test suite expects its availability in
+# the PATH.  Appropriate python environment is expected to be set in d/rules.
+set -ex
+exec python3 "$CURDIR/pauvre/pauvre_main.py" "$@"
diff --git a/debian/patches/series b/debian/patches/series
index 55ac7e4..fd1ff6f 100644
--- a/debian/patches/series
+++ b/debian/patches/series
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
 2to3.patch
 typo-redwood.patch
-test-local-pauvre.patch
diff --git a/debian/patches/test-local-pauvre.patch b/debian/patches/test-local-pauvre.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index a168248..0000000
--- a/debian/patches/test-local-pauvre.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
-Description: Use local "pauvre" for build testing
- The current testing in place embeds a shell script which makes the assumption
- that the command "pauvre" is available in the path of the tester.  It would
- seem better to either carry out this test later in the package construction
- steps, or make sure that this is the working copy of pauvre_main.py which is
- being tested.  This patch applies the second approach, to allow going a step
- further with build testing.
-Author: Étienne Mollier <etienne.mollier@mailoo.org>
-Forwarded: no
-Last-Update: 2020-04-25
----
-This patch header follows DEP-3: http://dep.debian.net/deps/dep3/
---- python-pauvre.orig/pauvre/tests/test_synplot.py
-+++ python-pauvre/pauvre/tests/test_synplot.py
-@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@
-         """This verifies that the LibSeq class is constructed with all of the
-         parameters that are present in the meraculous config files"""
-         os.chdir(self.thisoutdir)
--        thiscommand =    """pauvre synplot --aln_dir {0} \
-+        thiscommand =    """python3 ../../../pauvre_main.py synplot \
-+                         --aln_dir {0} \
-                          --fileform pdf \
-                          --gff_paths {1} {2} {3} \
-                          --center_on COX1 \
diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index 216f8e2..3395f69 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@
 
 override_dh_auto_test:
 ifeq (,$(filter nocheck,$(DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS)))
-	export PYTHONPATH="$(CURDIR)" \
-	&& dh_auto_test
+	CURDIR="$(CURDIR)" \
+		PATH="$(CURDIR)/debian/bin:$$PATH" \
+		PYTHONPATH="$(CURDIR)" \
+		dh_auto_test
 endif