diff --git a/t/lib-terminal.sh b/t/lib-terminal.sh
index c383b57ed9d..58d911d21b8 100644
--- a/t/lib-terminal.sh
+++ b/t/lib-terminal.sh
@@ -1,8 +1,24 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-test_expect_success 'set up terminal for tests' '
-	if
-		test_have_prereq PERL &&
+test_expect_success PERL 'set up terminal for tests' '
+	# Reading from the pty master seems to get stuck _sometimes_
+	# on Mac OS X 10.5.0, using Perl 5.10.0 or 5.8.9.
+	#
+	# Reproduction recipe: run
+	#
+	#	i=0
+	#	while ./test-terminal.perl echo hi $i
+	#	do
+	#		: $((i = $i + 1))
+	#	done
+	#
+	# After 2000 iterations or so it hangs.
+	# https://rt.cpan.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=65692
+	#
+	if test "$(uname -s)" = Darwin
+	then
+		:
+	elif
 		"$PERL_PATH" "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/test-terminal.perl \
 			sh -c "test -t 1 && test -t 2"
 	then