diff --git a/src/darwintracelib1.0/tests/darwintrace.test b/src/darwintracelib1.0/tests/darwintrace.test
index c30baf1303..20ddbf946c 100644
--- a/src/darwintracelib1.0/tests/darwintrace.test
+++ b/src/darwintracelib1.0/tests/darwintrace.test
@@ -128,9 +128,8 @@ test darwintrace_relative_symlinks "Test that resolution of relative symlinks wo
         set levels [llength [regexp -all -inline -- "/" $cwd]]
         set path "[string repeat "../" [expr {$levels + 2}]]$cwd//./stat"
 
-        [setup [list allow "$cwd/symlink"]]
-
-        exec -ignorestderr -- ln -s $path symlink
+        [setup [list allow "$cwd/symlink" allow "/private/var/select/sh" allow "/bin" allow "/usr" allow "/dev" allow $env(DARWINTRACE_SIP_WORKAROUND_PATH)]]
+        system "/bin/ln -s $path symlink"
     } \
     -cleanup {
         file delete -force symlink
@@ -142,7 +141,7 @@ test darwintrace_relative_symlinks "Test that resolution of relative symlinks wo
 test darwintrace_long_symlinks "Test that resolution of long symlinks does not trigger the stack canary" \
     -setup {
         [setup [list allow /]]
-        exec -- ln -s [string repeat "ab/de/ghi/" 102] longlink
+        system "/bin/ln -s [string repeat "ab/de/ghi/" 102] longlink"
     } \
     -cleanup {
         [expect]
diff --git a/src/darwintracelib1.0/tests/readdir.test b/src/darwintracelib1.0/tests/readdir.test
index fb674af668..ad84ab931e 100644
--- a/src/darwintracelib1.0/tests/readdir.test
+++ b/src/darwintracelib1.0/tests/readdir.test
@@ -50,8 +50,8 @@ test darwintrace_readdir_at_maxpathlen "Test that readdir(3) with a directory at
         [setup [list allow $cwd]]
     } \
     -cleanup {
-        exec -ignorestderr -- rm -rf ab
         [expect]
+        exec -ignorestderr -- rm -rf ab
     } \
     -body {
         set lines [split [exec -ignorestderr -- ./readdir $dirname 2>@1] "\n"]
diff --git a/src/darwintracelib1.0/tests/testlib.tcl b/src/darwintracelib1.0/tests/testlib.tcl
index 3d0b865f03..6a6a868141 100644
--- a/src/darwintracelib1.0/tests/testlib.tcl
+++ b/src/darwintracelib1.0/tests/testlib.tcl
@@ -186,3 +186,10 @@ proc tracelib_cleanup {} {
     array unset env DARWINTRACE_LOG
 }
 
+# used by the 'system' builtin in Pextlib.dylib
+proc ui_info {msg} {
+    puts stderr "$msg"
+}
+proc ui_debug {msg} {
+    puts stderr "$msg"
+}