diff --git a/test/bidi.t b/test/bidi.t
index 4140b01..ebc0d88 100755
--- a/test/bidi.t
+++ b/test/bidi.t
@@ -10,12 +10,6 @@ test_description='Test bidirectionality of remote-hg'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-if ! python -c 'import mercurial' > /dev/null 2>&1
-then
-	skip_all='skipping remote-hg tests; mercurial not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 # clone to a git repo
 git_clone () {
 	git clone -q "hg::$1" $2
diff --git a/test/hg-git.t b/test/hg-git.t
index 42545ab..f33835c 100755
--- a/test/hg-git.t
+++ b/test/hg-git.t
@@ -14,12 +14,6 @@ test_description='Test remote-hg output compared to hg-git'
 
 export EXPECTED_DIR="$SHARNESS_TEST_DIRECTORY/expected"
 
-if ! python -c 'import mercurial' > /dev/null 2>&1
-then
-	skip_all='skipping remote-hg tests; mercurial not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 git_clone () {
 	git clone -q "hg::$1" $2 &&
 	(
diff --git a/test/main.t b/test/main.t
index 9315aa1..bb8fdc5 100755
--- a/test/main.t
+++ b/test/main.t
@@ -10,12 +10,6 @@ test_description='Test remote-hg'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
-if ! python -c 'import mercurial' > /dev/null 2>&1
-then
-	skip_all='skipping remote-hg tests; mercurial not available'
-	test_done
-fi
-
 check () {
 	echo $3 > expected &&
 	git --git-dir=$1/.git log --format='%s' -1 $2 > actual &&
diff --git a/test/test-lib.sh b/test/test-lib.sh
index 3daee04..0dada11 100644
--- a/test/test-lib.sh
+++ b/test/test-lib.sh
@@ -3,6 +3,11 @@
 : "${SHARNESS_TEST_SRCDIR:=$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE-$0}")" && pwd)}"
 . "$SHARNESS_TEST_SRCDIR"/sharness.sh
 
+if ! python -c 'import mercurial' > /dev/null 2>&1
+then
+	error 'mercurial not available'
+fi
+
 GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL=author@example.com
 GIT_AUTHOR_NAME='A U Thor'
 GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL=committer@example.com