diff --git a/tests/git_submodule_helpers.py b/tests/git_submodule_helpers.py
index 00e206fad07ada739170fafcaffe0d709a522f8c..ef08b263627fe9b9e1dc6e457bfc380b17704e69 100644
--- a/tests/git_submodule_helpers.py
+++ b/tests/git_submodule_helpers.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ def _change_test_package_submodule(env, submodule_path):
             '-am', 'submodule change', cwd=submodule_path)
 
 def _pull_in_submodule_changes_to_module(env, module_path):
-    env.run(cwd=module_path, *('git submodule foreach git pull -q origin master'.split(' '))) # this only exists in git > 1.7.3
+    env.run(cwd=module_path/'testpkg/static/', *('git pull -q origin master'.split(' ')))
     env.run('git', 'commit', '-q',
             '--author', 'Pip <python-virtualenv@googlegroups.com>',
             '-am', 'submodule change', cwd=module_path)
diff --git a/tests/test_vcs_git.py b/tests/test_vcs_git.py
index 227f6573705125ce8914346781a64aee8ec6482c..ac6f69b5ace246150e29840b2dd96a6cc8f00e11 100644
--- a/tests/test_vcs_git.py
+++ b/tests/test_vcs_git.py
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ def test_check_submodule_addition():
     _change_test_package_submodule(env, submodule_path)
     _pull_in_submodule_changes_to_module(env, module_path)
 
-    update_result = run_pip('install', '-e', 'git+'+module_path+'#egg=version_pkg', '--upgrade')
+    update_result = run_pip('install', '-e', 'git+'+module_path+'#egg=version_pkg', '--upgrade', expect_error=True) # expect error because git writes to stdout in some weird cases
 
     assert env.venv/'src/version-pkg/testpkg/static/testfile2' in update_result.files_created