diff --git a/test/integration/targets/command_shell/tasks/main.yml b/test/integration/targets/command_shell/tasks/main.yml
index b8d5438187..858f07d1a8 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/command_shell/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/command_shell/tasks/main.yml
@@ -100,10 +100,6 @@
   shell: which bash
   register: bash
 
-- name: locate sha1sum/shasum
-  shell: which sha1sum || which shasum
-  register: sha1sum
-
 ##
 ## command
 ##
@@ -196,7 +192,7 @@
       - "command_result5.stdout == 'foobar'"
 
 - name: send to stdin literal multiline block
-  command: "{{ sha1sum.stdout }}"
+  command: "{{ ansible_python_interpreter }} -c 'import hashlib, sys; print(hashlib.sha1((sys.stdin.buffer if hasattr(sys.stdin, \"buffer\") else sys.stdin).read()).hexdigest())'"
   args:
     stdin: |-
       this is the first line
@@ -209,7 +205,7 @@
 - name: assert the multiline input was passed correctly
   assert:
     that:
-      - "command_result6.stdout == '9cd0697c6a9ff6689f0afb9136fa62e0b3fee903  -'"
+      - "command_result6.stdout == '9cd0697c6a9ff6689f0afb9136fa62e0b3fee903'"
 
 ##
 ## shell
@@ -278,9 +274,7 @@
     "multiline echo" \
     "with a new line
     in quotes" \
-    | {{ sha1sum.stdout }} \
-    | tr -s ' ' \
-    | cut -f1 -d ' '
+    | {{ ansible_python_interpreter }} -c 'import hashlib, sys; print(hashlib.sha1((sys.stdin.buffer if hasattr(sys.stdin, "buffer") else sys.stdin).read()).hexdigest())'
     echo "this is a second line"
   register: shell_result5
 
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/copy/tasks/tests.yml b/test/integration/targets/copy/tasks/tests.yml
index 2784febe80..43a763ea14 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/copy/tasks/tests.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/copy/tasks/tests.yml
@@ -9,10 +9,6 @@
   set_fact:
     remote_file: "{{ remote_dir }}/foo.txt"
 
-- name: Locate sha1sum/shasum
-  shell: which sha1sum || which shasum
-  register: sha1sum
-
 - name: Initiate a basic copy, and also test the mode
   copy:
     src: foo.txt
@@ -1127,7 +1123,7 @@
     - stat_link_result.stat.islnk
 
 - name: Get the checksum of the link target
-  shell: "{{ sha1sum.stdout }} {{remote_dir}}/follow_test | cut -f1 -sd ' '"
+  shell: "{{ ansible_python_interpreter }} -c 'import hashlib; print(hashlib.sha1(open(\"{{remote_dir | expanduser}}/follow_test\", \"rb\").read()).hexdigest())'"
   register: target_file_result
 
 - name: Assert that the link target was updated
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/gem/tasks/main.yml b/test/integration/targets/gem/tasks/main.yml
index adf76d7c33..77b93e663d 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/gem/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/gem/tasks/main.yml
@@ -16,6 +16,22 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with Ansible.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
+- include_vars: '{{ item }}'
+  with_first_found:
+    - files:
+        - '{{ ansible_distribution }}-{{ ansible_distribution_major_version }}.yml'
+        - '{{ ansible_distribution }}-{{ ansible_distribution_version }}.yml'
+        - '{{ ansible_os_family }}.yml'
+        - 'default.yml'
+      paths: '../vars'
+
+- name: install dependencies for test
+  package: name={{ package_item }} state=present
+  with_items: "{{ test_packages }}"
+  loop_control:
+    loop_var: package_item
+  when: ansible_distribution != "MacOSX"
+
 - name: remove a gem
   gem: name=gist state=absent
 
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/gem/vars/FreeBSD.yml b/test/integration/targets/gem/vars/FreeBSD.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..84e0b483d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/targets/gem/vars/FreeBSD.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+test_packages:
+  - "devel/ruby-gems"
+  - "ruby"
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/gem/vars/RedHat.yml b/test/integration/targets/gem/vars/RedHat.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c044d109b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/targets/gem/vars/RedHat.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+test_packages:
+  - "rubygems"
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/gem/vars/default.yml b/test/integration/targets/gem/vars/default.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7d6e61ac46
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/targets/gem/vars/default.yml
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+test_packages: []
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/git/tasks/setup.yml b/test/integration/targets/git/tasks/setup.yml
index 588d99c99c..8fdb2a401c 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/git/tasks/setup.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/git/tasks/setup.yml
@@ -8,6 +8,11 @@
     path: "{{ output_dir }}"
     state: directory
 
+- name: SETUP | install git
+  package:
+    name: git
+  when: ansible_distribution != "MacOSX"
+
 - name: SETUP | verify that git is installed so this test can continue
   shell: which git
 
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/hg/tasks/main.yml b/test/integration/targets/hg/tasks/main.yml
index f9c1b1494b..14719a6ce6 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/hg/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/hg/tasks/main.yml
@@ -25,6 +25,11 @@
 - name: clean out the output_dir
   shell: rm -rf {{ output_dir }}/*
 
+- name: install mercurial
+  package:
+    name: mercurial
+  when: ansible_distribution != "MacOSX"
+
 - name: verify that mercurial is installed so this test can continue
   shell: which hg
 
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/pull/runme.sh b/test/integration/targets/pull/runme.sh
index 7334df93ca..0ad9e01ba9 100755
--- a/test/integration/targets/pull/runme.sh
+++ b/test/integration/targets/pull/runme.sh
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ repo_dir="${temp_dir}/repo"
 pull_dir="${temp_dir}/pull"
 temp_log="${temp_dir}/pull.log"
 
+ansible-playbook setup.yml
+
 cp -av "pull-integration-test" "${repo_dir}"
 cd "${repo_dir}"
 (
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/pull/setup.yml b/test/integration/targets/pull/setup.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..581902474d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/targets/pull/setup.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+- hosts: localhost
+  tasks:
+    - name: install git
+      package:
+        name: git
+      when: ansible_distribution != "MacOSX"
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/subversion/tasks/main.yml b/test/integration/targets/subversion/tasks/main.yml
index 3f89c236eb..5631adbd89 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/subversion/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/subversion/tasks/main.yml
@@ -25,6 +25,11 @@
 - name: clean out the output_dir
   shell: rm -rf {{ output_dir }}/*
 
+- name: install subversion
+  package:
+    name: subversion
+  when: ansible_distribution != "MacOSX"
+
 - name: verify that subversion is installed so this test can continue
   shell: which svn
 
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/synchronize/tasks/main.yml b/test/integration/targets/synchronize/tasks/main.yml
index 5913762183..80e052a6a3 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/synchronize/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/synchronize/tasks/main.yml
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with Ansible.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
+- name: install rsync
+  package:
+    name: rsync
+  when: ansible_distribution != "MacOSX"
+
 - name: cleanup old files
   shell: rm -rf {{output_dir}}/*
 
diff --git a/test/runner/setup/remote.sh b/test/runner/setup/remote.sh
index 2b83056c81..d8d2a7707e 100644
--- a/test/runner/setup/remote.sh
+++ b/test/runner/setup/remote.sh
@@ -14,16 +14,9 @@ if [ "${platform}" = "freebsd" ]; then
         pkg install -y \
             bash \
             curl \
-            devel/ruby-gems \
-            git \
             gtar \
-            mercurial \
             python \
-            rsync \
-            ruby \
-            subversion \
             sudo \
-            zip \
          && break
          echo "Failed to install packages. Sleeping before trying again..."
          sleep 10
@@ -34,15 +27,10 @@ elif [ "${platform}" = "rhel" ]; then
     while true; do
         yum install -y \
             gcc \
-            git \
-            mercurial \
             python-devel \
             python-jinja2 \
             python-virtualenv \
             python2-cryptography \
-            rubygems \
-            subversion \
-            unzip \
          && break
          echo "Failed to install packages. Sleeping before trying again..."
          sleep 10