diff --git a/contrib/cirrus/runner.sh b/contrib/cirrus/runner.sh
index 2c8b7289bd..e49d1038d6 100755
--- a/contrib/cirrus/runner.sh
+++ b/contrib/cirrus/runner.sh
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ exec_container() {
     # VM Images and Container images are built using (nearly) identical operations.
     set -x
     # shellcheck disable=SC2154
-    exec podman run --rm --privileged --net=host --cgroupns=host \
+    exec bin/podman run --rm --privileged --net=host --cgroupns=host \
         -v `mktemp -d -p /var/tmp`:/tmp:Z \
         -v /dev/fuse:/dev/fuse \
         -v "$GOPATH:$GOPATH:Z" \
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ function _run_swagger() {
 
     # Swagger validation takes a significant amount of time
     msg "Pulling \$CTR_FQIN '$CTR_FQIN' (background process)"
-    podman pull --quiet $CTR_FQIN &
+    bin/podman pull --quiet $CTR_FQIN &
 
     cd $GOSRC
     make swagger
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ eof
 
     msg "Waiting for backgrounded podman pull to complete..."
     wait %%
-    podman run -it --rm --security-opt label=disable \
+    bin/podman run -it --rm --security-opt label=disable \
         --env-file=$envvarsfile \
         -v $GOSRC:$GOSRC:ro \
         --workdir $GOSRC \
@@ -375,6 +375,14 @@ dotest() {
         podman)  localremote="local" ;;
     esac
 
+    # We've had some oopsies where tests invoke 'podman' instead of
+    # /path/to/built/podman. Let's catch those.
+    sudo rm -f /usr/bin/podman /usr/bin/podman-remote
+    fallback_podman=$(type -p podman || true)
+    if [[ -n "$fallback_podman" ]]; then
+        die "Found fallback podman '$fallback_podman' in \$PATH; tests require none, as a guarantee that we're testing the right binary."
+    fi
+
     make ${localremote}${testsuite} PODMAN_SERVER_LOG=$PODMAN_SERVER_LOG \
         |& logformatter
 }
diff --git a/test/e2e/system_connection_test.go b/test/e2e/system_connection_test.go
index 31cbfe3495..221f598eb7 100644
--- a/test/e2e/system_connection_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/system_connection_test.go
@@ -253,6 +253,16 @@ var _ = Describe("podman system connection", func() {
 			u, err := user.Current()
 			Expect(err).ShouldNot(HaveOccurred())
 
+			// Ensure that the remote end uses our built podman
+			if os.Getenv("PODMAN_BINARY") == "" {
+				err = os.Setenv("PODMAN_BINARY", podmanTest.PodmanBinary)
+				Expect(err).ShouldNot(HaveOccurred())
+
+				defer func() {
+					os.Unsetenv("PODMAN_BINARY")
+				}()
+			}
+
 			cmd := exec.Command(podmanTest.RemotePodmanBinary,
 				"system", "connection", "add",
 				"--default",
diff --git a/test/e2e/systemd_test.go b/test/e2e/systemd_test.go
index 7b79a724d9..371eabc4cd 100644
--- a/test/e2e/systemd_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/systemd_test.go
@@ -27,16 +27,16 @@ var _ = Describe("Podman systemd", func() {
 		}
 		podmanTest = PodmanTestCreate(tempdir)
 		podmanTest.Setup()
-		systemdUnitFile = `[Unit]
+		systemdUnitFile = fmt.Sprintf(`[Unit]
 Description=redis container
 [Service]
 Restart=always
-ExecStart=/usr/bin/podman start -a redis
-ExecStop=/usr/bin/podman stop -t 10 redis
+ExecStart=%s start -a redis
+ExecStop=%s stop -t 10 redis
 KillMode=process
 [Install]
 WantedBy=default.target
-`
+`, podmanTest.PodmanBinary, podmanTest.PodmanBinary)
 	})
 
 	AfterEach(func() {