diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c2d7ffc14..0598a7cfe 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ brew install node-build
 
 Upgrade with:
 ```sh
-brew update && brew upgrade node-build
+brew upgrade node-build
 ```
 
 ### Clone as nodenv plugin using git
diff --git a/bin/nodenv-install b/bin/nodenv-install
index bf3dcf34d..32a952601 100755
--- a/bin/nodenv-install
+++ b/bin/nodenv-install
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ if [ "$STATUS" == "2" ]; then
     echo -n "If the version you need is missing, try upgrading node-build"
     if [ "$here" != "${here#$(brew --prefix 2>/dev/null)}" ]; then
       printf ":\\n\\n"
-      echo "  brew update && brew upgrade node-build"
+      echo "  brew upgrade node-build"
     elif [ -d "${here}/.git" ]; then
       printf ":\\n\\n"
       echo "  git -C ${here} pull"
diff --git a/test/build.bats b/test/build.bats
index 780c4ff23..b62db2bd6 100755
--- a/test/build.bats
+++ b/test/build.bats
@@ -60,7 +60,6 @@ assert_build_log() {
 @test "apply node patch before building" {
   cached_tarball "node-v4.0.0"
 
-  stub brew false
   stub_make_install
   stub patch ' : echo patch "$@" | sed -E "s/\.[[:alnum:]]+$/.XXX/" >> build.log'
 
@@ -85,7 +84,6 @@ OUT
 @test "striplevel node patch before building" {
   cached_tarball "node-v4.0.0"
 
-  stub brew false
   stub_make_install
   stub patch ' : echo patch "$@" | sed -E "s/\.[[:alnum:]]+$/.XXX/" >> build.log'
 
@@ -110,7 +108,6 @@ OUT
 @test "apply node patch from git diff before building" {
   cached_tarball "node-v4.0.0"
 
-  stub brew false
   stub_make_install
   stub patch ' : echo patch "$@" | sed -E "s/\.[[:alnum:]]+$/.XXX/" >> build.log'
 
@@ -136,7 +133,7 @@ OUT
 @test "number of CPU cores defaults to 2" {
   cached_tarball "node-v4.0.0"
 
-  stub uname '-s : echo Darwin'
+  stub_repeated uname '-s : echo Darwin'
   stub sysctl false
   stub_make_install
 
@@ -159,7 +156,7 @@ OUT
 @test "number of CPU cores is detected on Mac" {
   cached_tarball "node-v4.0.0"
 
-  stub uname '-s : echo Darwin'
+  stub_repeated uname '-s : echo Darwin'
   stub sysctl '-n hw.ncpu : echo 4'
   stub_make_install
 
@@ -183,7 +180,7 @@ OUT
 @test "number of CPU cores is detected on FreeBSD" {
   cached_tarball "node-v4.0.0"
 
-  stub uname '-s : echo FreeBSD'
+  stub_repeated uname '-s : echo FreeBSD'
   stub sysctl '-n hw.ncpu : echo 1'
   stub_make_install
 
@@ -207,6 +204,7 @@ OUT
 @test "setting NODE_MAKE_INSTALL_OPTS to a multi-word string" {
   cached_tarball "node-v4.0.0"
 
+  stub_repeated uname '-s : echo Linux'
   stub_make_install
 
   export NODE_MAKE_INSTALL_OPTS="DOGE=\"such wow\""
@@ -227,6 +225,7 @@ OUT
 @test "setting MAKE_INSTALL_OPTS to a multi-word string" {
   cached_tarball "node-v4.0.0"
 
+  stub_repeated uname '-s : echo Linux'
   stub_make_install
 
   export MAKE_INSTALL_OPTS="DOGE=\"such wow\""
@@ -256,7 +255,7 @@ OUT
 @test "make on FreeBSD defaults to gmake" {
   cached_tarball "node-v4.0.0"
 
-  stub uname "-s : echo FreeBSD"
+  stub_repeated uname "-s : echo FreeBSD"
   MAKE=gmake stub_make_install
 
   MAKE= install_fixture definitions/vanilla-node
@@ -275,6 +274,7 @@ apply -p1 -i /my/patch.diff
 exec ./configure "\$@"
 CONF
 
+  stub_repeated uname '-s : echo Linux'
   stub apply 'echo apply "$@" >> build.log'
   stub_make_install
 
diff --git a/test/compiler.bats b/test/compiler.bats
index 732105a5c..9bf287ca9 100755
--- a/test/compiler.bats
+++ b/test/compiler.bats
@@ -11,10 +11,8 @@ export -n NODE_CONFIGURE_OPTS
   mkdir -p "$INSTALL_ROOT"
   cd "$INSTALL_ROOT"
 
-  stub uname '-s : echo Darwin' '-s : echo Darwin'
+  stub_repeated uname '-s : echo Darwin'
   stub sw_vers '-productVersion : echo 10.10'
-  stub cc 'false'
-  stub brew 'false'
   stub make \
     'echo make $@' \
     'echo make $@'
@@ -40,4 +38,8 @@ CFLAGS=no
 make -j 2
 make install
 OUT
+
+  unstub uname
+  unstub sw_vers
+  unstub make
 }
diff --git a/test/nodenv.bats b/test/nodenv.bats
index 84e102bef..e2dfd4401 100755
--- a/test/nodenv.bats
+++ b/test/nodenv.bats
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ OUT
 }
 
 @test "nonexistent version" {
-  stub brew false
+  stub_repeated brew false
   stub_node_build 'echo ERROR >&2 && exit 2' \
     "--definitions : echo 0.8.7 0.10.4 0.10.6 1.0.0 4.1.2 | tr ' ' $'\\n'"
 
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ If the version you need is missing, try upgrading node-build:
   git -C ${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/.. pull
 OUT
 
+  unstub brew
   unstub node-build
 }
 
@@ -119,7 +120,7 @@ See all available versions with \`nodenv install --list'.
 
 If the version you need is missing, try upgrading node-build:
 
-  brew update && brew upgrade node-build
+  brew upgrade node-build
 OUT
 
   unstub brew
diff --git a/test/stubs/stub b/test/stubs/stub
deleted file mode 100755
index bd5c5d688..000000000
--- a/test/stubs/stub
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,109 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-set -e
-
-status=0
-program="${0##*/}"
-PROGRAM="$(echo "$program" | tr a-z- A-Z_)"
-[ -n "$TMPDIR" ] || TMPDIR="/tmp"
-
-_STUB_PLAN="${PROGRAM}_STUB_PLAN"
-_STUB_RUN="${PROGRAM}_STUB_RUN"
-_STUB_INDEX="${PROGRAM}_STUB_INDEX"
-_STUB_RESULT="${PROGRAM}_STUB_RESULT"
-_STUB_END="${PROGRAM}_STUB_END"
-_STUB_DEBUG="${PROGRAM}_STUB_DEBUG"
-
-if [ -n "${!_STUB_DEBUG}" ]; then
-  echo "$program" "$@" >&${!_STUB_DEBUG}
-fi
-
-[ -e "${!_STUB_PLAN}" ] || exit 1
-[ -n "${!_STUB_RUN}" ] || eval "${_STUB_RUN}"="${TMPDIR}/${program}-stub-run"
-
-
-# Initialize or load the stub run information.
-eval "${_STUB_INDEX}"=1
-eval "${_STUB_RESULT}"=0
-[ ! -e "${!_STUB_RUN}" ] || source "${!_STUB_RUN}"
-
-
-# Loop over each line in the plan.
-index=0
-while IFS= read -r line; do
-  index=$(($index + 1))
-
-  if [ -z "${!_STUB_END}" ] && [ $index -eq "${!_STUB_INDEX}" ]; then
-    # We found the plan line we're interested in.
-    # Start off by assuming success.
-    result=0
-
-    # Split the line into an array of arguments to
-    # match and a command to run to produce output.
-    command=" $line"
-    if [ "$command" != "${command/ : }" ]; then
-      patterns="${command%% : *}"
-      command="${command#* : }"
-    fi
-
-    # Naively split patterns by whitespace for now.
-    # In the future, use a sed script to split while
-    # respecting quoting.
-    set -f
-    patterns=($patterns)
-    set +f
-    arguments=("$@")
-
-    # Match the expected argument patterns to actual
-    # arguments.
-    for (( i=0; i<${#patterns[@]}; i++ )); do
-      pattern="${patterns[$i]}"
-      argument="${arguments[$i]}"
-
-      case "$argument" in
-        $pattern ) ;;
-        * ) result=1 ;;
-      esac
-    done
-
-    # If the arguments matched, evaluate the command
-    # in a subshell. Otherwise, log the failure.
-    if [ $result -eq 0 ] ; then
-      set +e
-      ( eval "$command" )
-      status="$?"
-      set -e
-    else
-      eval "${_STUB_RESULT}"=1
-    fi
-  fi
-done < "${!_STUB_PLAN}"
-
-
-if [ -n "${!_STUB_END}" ]; then
-  # Clean up the run file.
-  rm -f "${!_STUB_RUN}"
-
-  # If the number of lines in the plan is larger than
-  # the requested index, we failed.
-  if [ $index -ge "${!_STUB_INDEX}" ]; then
-    eval "${_STUB_RESULT}"=1
-  fi
-
-  # Return the result.
-  exit "${!_STUB_RESULT}"
-
-else
-  # If the requested index is larger than the number
-  # of lines in the plan file, we failed.
-  if [ "${!_STUB_INDEX}" -gt $index ]; then
-    eval "${_STUB_RESULT}"=1
-  fi
-
-  # Write out the run information.
-  { echo "${_STUB_INDEX}=$((${!_STUB_INDEX} + 1))"
-    echo "${_STUB_RESULT}=${!_STUB_RESULT}"
-  } > "${!_STUB_RUN}"
-
-  exit "$status"
-
-fi
diff --git a/test/test_helper.bash b/test/test_helper.bash
index d6c3cf31d..b47f0e6b1 100644
--- a/test/test_helper.bash
+++ b/test/test_helper.bash
@@ -41,6 +41,14 @@ teardown() {
   rm -fr "${BATS_TMPDIR:?}"/*
 }
 
+stub_repeated() {
+  local program="$1"
+  # shellcheck disable=SC2155
+  local prefix="$(echo "$program" | tr a-z- A-Z_)"
+  export "${prefix}_STUB_NOINDEX"=1
+  stub "$@"
+}
+
 run_inline_definition() {
   local definition="${BATS_TMPDIR}/build-definition"
   cat > "$definition"