diff --git a/tests/.gitignore b/tests/.gitignore
index 2a721ba6..9c0103d3 100644
--- a/tests/.gitignore
+++ b/tests/.gitignore
@@ -11,3 +11,4 @@ genfile
 download
 ttyemu
 checkseekhole
+ckmtime
diff --git a/tests/Makefile.am b/tests/Makefile.am
index ee7a1d34..02a3d790 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile.am
+++ b/tests/Makefile.am
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ installcheck-local: $(check_PROGRAMS)
 ## genfile      ##
 ## ------------ ##
 
-check_PROGRAMS = genfile checkseekhole
+check_PROGRAMS = genfile checkseekhole ckmtime
 
 if TAR_COND_GRANTPT
 check_PROGRAMS += ttyemu
diff --git a/tests/ckmtime.c b/tests/ckmtime.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..75b9e6c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ckmtime.c
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+/* Check if filesystem timestamps are consistent with the system time.
+   Copyright (C) 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+      
+   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+   under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
+   Free Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option) any later
+   version.
+
+   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+   WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General
+   Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
+   with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+*/
+#include <config.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
+#include <sys/time.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <assert.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stat-time.h>
+#include <timespec.h>
+
+int
+main (int argc, char **argv)
+{
+  FILE *fp;
+  struct timeval tv;
+  struct stat st;
+  struct timespec ts;
+  
+  assert (gettimeofday (&tv, NULL) == 0);
+  ts.tv_sec = tv.tv_sec;
+  ts.tv_nsec = tv.tv_usec * 1000;
+  
+  fp = tmpfile ();
+  assert (fp != NULL);
+  assert (fstat (fileno (fp), &st) == 0);
+  fclose (fp);
+  if (timespec_cmp (get_stat_mtime (&st), ts) >= 0)
+    {
+      fprintf (stderr, "file timestamp unreliable\n");
+      return 1;
+    }
+  return 0;
+}
diff --git a/tests/incr01.at b/tests/incr01.at
index 0b8623ec..1af6ec60 100644
--- a/tests/incr01.at
+++ b/tests/incr01.at
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ AT_SETUP([restore broken symlinks from incremental])
 AT_KEYWORDS([incremental incr01])
 
 AT_TAR_CHECK([
+AT_CHECK_TIMESTAMP
+
 mkdir directory
 $as_ln_s foo directory/bar
 
diff --git a/tests/incr02.at b/tests/incr02.at
index 12c6cda8..7396f6ca 100644
--- a/tests/incr02.at
+++ b/tests/incr02.at
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ AT_SETUP([restoring timestamps from incremental])
 AT_KEYWORDS([incremental timestamp restore incr02])
 
 AT_TAR_CHECK([
+AT_CHECK_TIMESTAMP
 # Create directory structure
 mkdir dir
 mkdir dir/subdir1
diff --git a/tests/incr03.at b/tests/incr03.at
index c9df3e37..d6301a7c 100644
--- a/tests/incr03.at
+++ b/tests/incr03.at
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ AT_SETUP([renamed files in incrementals])
 AT_KEYWORDS([incremental incr03 rename])
 
 AT_TAR_CHECK([
+AT_CHECK_TIMESTAMP
 AT_SORT_PREREQ
 mkdir directory
 genfile --file=directory/x
diff --git a/tests/incr04.at b/tests/incr04.at
index bf8a17b1..0d1305d0 100644
--- a/tests/incr04.at
+++ b/tests/incr04.at
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ AT_KEYWORDS([incremental incr04 icontents])
 m4_pushdef([NAME_PREFIX],[a/b/one_31_chars_long_file_name_])
 
 AT_TAR_CHECK([
+AT_CHECK_TIMESTAMP
 AT_TAR_MKHIER(a/b)
 awk 'BEGIN {
   for (i=1;i<=142;i++)
diff --git a/tests/incr05.at b/tests/incr05.at
index 0347933c..fbb4ac4c 100644
--- a/tests/incr05.at
+++ b/tests/incr05.at
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ AT_SETUP([incremental dumps with -C])
 AT_KEYWORDS([incremental incr05])
 
 AT_TAR_CHECK([
+AT_CHECK_TIMESTAMP
 mkdir dir
 mkdir dir/sub
 genfile --file dir/file1
diff --git a/tests/incr06.at b/tests/incr06.at
index 2711f3b7..2509461f 100644
--- a/tests/incr06.at
+++ b/tests/incr06.at
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ AT_SETUP([incremental dumps of nested directories])
 AT_KEYWORDS([incremental incr06])
 
 AT_TAR_CHECK([
+AT_CHECK_TIMESTAMP
 mkdir dir
 mkdir dir/sub
 mkdir dir/sub/a
diff --git a/tests/incr07.at b/tests/incr07.at
index 51e0949d..a5b88673 100644
--- a/tests/incr07.at
+++ b/tests/incr07.at
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ AT_KEYWORDS([incremental extract incr07])
 #             http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-tar/2013-03/msg00044.html
 
 AT_TAR_CHECK([
+AT_CHECK_TIMESTAMP
 mkdir dirA
 echo 'a' > dirA/a
 echo 'a' > dirA/b
diff --git a/tests/incr08.at b/tests/incr08.at
index 0d6b826d..e74be3d5 100644
--- a/tests/incr08.at
+++ b/tests/incr08.at
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ AT_SETUP([filename normalization])
 AT_KEYWORDS([incremental create incr08])
 
 AT_TAR_CHECK([
+AT_CHECK_TIMESTAMP
 AT_SORT_PREREQ
 mkdir tartest
 cd tartest
diff --git a/tests/incr09.at b/tests/incr09.at
index c3c8f9ac..983bdc24 100644
--- a/tests/incr09.at
+++ b/tests/incr09.at
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ AT_SETUP([incremental with alternating -C])
 AT_KEYWORDS([incremental create incr09])
 
 AT_TAR_CHECK([
+AT_CHECK_TIMESTAMP
 AT_SORT_PREREQ
 mkdir foo bar middle
 echo foo/foo_file > foo/foo_file
diff --git a/tests/incr10.at b/tests/incr10.at
index 45d00286..cc77d499 100644
--- a/tests/incr10.at
+++ b/tests/incr10.at
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ AT_KEYWORDS([incremental concat cat incr10])
 #             http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-tar/2015-04/msg00003.html
 
 AT_TAR_CHECK([
+AT_CHECK_TIMESTAMP
 mkdir in
 mkdir in/dir
 decho Level 0
diff --git a/tests/incr11.at b/tests/incr11.at
index 0ac923f3..061a8db0 100644
--- a/tests/incr11.at
+++ b/tests/incr11.at
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ AT_SETUP([concatenated incremental archives (renames)])
 AT_KEYWORDS([incremental concat cat incr11])
 
 AT_TAR_CHECK([
+AT_CHECK_TIMESTAMP
 AT_SORT_PREREQ
 AT_TAR_MKHIER([data/dir],[file])
 decho Level 0
diff --git a/tests/incremental.at b/tests/incremental.at
index 2c3f4803..0b8a9779 100644
--- a/tests/incremental.at
+++ b/tests/incremental.at
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ AT_SETUP([incremental])
 AT_KEYWORDS([incremental listed incr00])
 
 AT_TAR_CHECK([
+AT_CHECK_TIMESTAMP
+
 mkdir structure
 echo x >structure/file
 
diff --git a/tests/listed01.at b/tests/listed01.at
index 7fabc7c7..fc0a356e 100644
--- a/tests/listed01.at
+++ b/tests/listed01.at
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ AT_SETUP([--listed for individual files])
 AT_KEYWORDS([listed incremental listed01])
 
 AT_TAR_CHECK([
+AT_CHECK_TIMESTAMP
+
 mkdir directory
 genfile --length 10240 --pattern zeros --file directory/file1
 # Let the things settle
diff --git a/tests/listed02.at b/tests/listed02.at
index 58a020c8..153644ba 100644
--- a/tests/listed02.at
+++ b/tests/listed02.at
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ AT_SETUP([working --listed])
 AT_KEYWORDS([listed incremental listed02])
 
 AT_TAR_CHECK([
+AT_CHECK_TIMESTAMP
 AT_SORT_PREREQ
 echo Create directories
 
diff --git a/tests/listed03.at b/tests/listed03.at
index d4052570..07bd1c8e 100644
--- a/tests/listed03.at
+++ b/tests/listed03.at
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ AT_SETUP([incremental dump when the parent directory is unreadable])
 AT_KEYWORDS([listed incremental listed03])
 
 AT_TAR_CHECK([
+AT_CHECK_TIMESTAMP
 AT_UNPRIVILEGED_PREREQ
 
 mkdir dir
@@ -34,9 +35,13 @@ genfile --file dir/sub/a/file
 cd dir/sub
 
 chmod a-r ..
-tar -c -f archive.tar --listed-incremental=db.1 -v a
+tar -c -f archive.tar --listed-incremental=db.1 -v a 2>err
 status=$?
 chmod a+r ..
+if test $status -eq 2; then
+  grep '^tar: \.: Cannot getcwd' err >/dev/null 2>&1 && AT_SKIP_TEST
+fi
+cat err >&2
 exit $status
 ],
 [0],
diff --git a/tests/listed04.at b/tests/listed04.at
index 8dd65427..ea8450f3 100644
--- a/tests/listed04.at
+++ b/tests/listed04.at
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ AT_SETUP([--listed-incremental and --one-file-system])
 AT_KEYWORDS([listed incremental listed04])
 
 AT_TAR_CHECK([
-
+AT_CHECK_TIMESTAMP
 mkdir dir
 echo a >dir/a
 echo b >dir/b
diff --git a/tests/listed05.at b/tests/listed05.at
index 3cb19665..13ac42ac 100644
--- a/tests/listed05.at
+++ b/tests/listed05.at
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ AT_SETUP([--listed-incremental and remounted directories])
 AT_KEYWORDS([listed incremental listed05])
 
 AT_TAR_CHECK([
+AT_CHECK_TIMESTAMP
 AT_PRIVILEGED_PREREQ
 options="-C tartest --create --one-file-system --verbose"
 rm -rf archive-[01].snar archive-[01].tar tartest subdir
diff --git a/tests/sparse05.at b/tests/sparse05.at
index e358d1f5..0c7a0373 100644
--- a/tests/sparse05.at
+++ b/tests/sparse05.at
@@ -29,10 +29,11 @@ AT_KEYWORDS([sparse sparse05])
 #             http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-tar/2013-01/msg00001.html
 
 AT_TAR_CHECK([
-(echo 0 =2560
-for i in `seq 1 999`; do
-    echo 10M =2560
-done) | genfile --sparse --file BIGFILE --block-size 4K - || AT_SKIP_TEST
+AT_DATA([mapfile],
+[0 =2560
+m4_for([i], 1, 999, 1, [10M =2560
+])])
+genfile --sparse --file BIGFILE --block-size 4K - < mapfile || AT_SKIP_TEST
 tar -f - -c --sparse --posix BIGFILE | tar tvf - | awk '{ print $3, $(NF) }'
 ],
 [0],
diff --git a/tests/testsuite.at b/tests/testsuite.at
index 2e4a0679..0b37fa30 100644
--- a/tests/testsuite.at
+++ b/tests/testsuite.at
@@ -188,6 +188,10 @@ m4_define([AT_ACLS_PREREQ],[
   fi
 ])
 
+dnl Check whether a newly created file has timestamp consistent with the
+dnl local time.  Skip the test if not.
+m4_define([AT_CHECK_TIMESTAMP],[ckmtime || AT_SKIP_TEST])
+
 m4_include([sparsemvp.at])
 
 AT_INIT