diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/test/spec_helper.rb b/Library/Homebrew/test/spec_helper.rb
index fc3fbd8387..28c020bfc1 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/test/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/test/spec_helper.rb
@@ -129,6 +129,8 @@ RSpec.configure do |config|
   end
 
   config.before(:each, :needs_svn) do
+    skip "subversion not installed." unless quiet_system "#{HOMEBREW_SHIMS_PATH}/scm/svn", "--version"
+
     svn_paths = PATH.new(ENV["PATH"])
     if OS.mac?
       xcrun_svn = Utils.popen_read("xcrun", "-f", "svn")