diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 8d515cb4..579a575c 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -9,4 +9,5 @@ ignore =
 	.github
 
 [tool:pytest]
-norecursedirs = lib .pc .git
+norecursedirs = lib .pc .git output cache resources
+testpaths = tests
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index a1d98980..c1ccbfaf 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -216,7 +216,8 @@ setup(
     setup_requires=[
         'setuptools_scm',
         'cffi>=1.5.0',
-        'pytest-runner'
+        'pytest-runner',
+        'pytest-helpers-namespace'
     ],
     use_scm_version={'version_scheme': 'post-release'},
     cffi_modules=[
diff --git a/test_requirements.txt b/test_requirements.txt
index 11dafdd5..c2fab9d3 100644
--- a/test_requirements.txt
+++ b/test_requirements.txt
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
-pytest >= 2.7.2
+pytest >= 2.8
+pytest-helpers-namespace
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..787c8a1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+# © 2017 James R. Barlow: github.com/jbarlow83
+
+import sys
+import os
+import platform
+
+pytest_plugins = ['helpers_namespace']
+
+import pytest
+
+
+if sys.version_info.major < 3:
+    print("Requires Python 3.4+")
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+
+@pytest.helpers.register
+def is_linux():
+    return platform.system() == 'Linux'
+
+
+@pytest.helpers.register
+def running_in_docker():
+    # Docker creates a file named /.dockerinit
+    return os.path.exists('/.dockerinit')
diff --git a/tests/test_hocrtransform.py b/tests/test_hocrtransform.py
index 21079d17..752d1de8 100644
--- a/tests/test_hocrtransform.py
+++ b/tests/test_hocrtransform.py
@@ -15,14 +15,9 @@ import pytest
 import sys
 
 
-if sys.version_info.major < 3:
-    print("Requires Python 3.4+")
-    sys.exit(1)
-
 TESTS_ROOT = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
 SPOOF_PATH = os.path.join(TESTS_ROOT, 'spoof')
 PROJECT_ROOT = os.path.dirname(TESTS_ROOT)
-OCRMYPDF = os.path.join(PROJECT_ROOT, 'OCRmyPDF.sh')
 TEST_RESOURCES = os.path.join(PROJECT_ROOT, 'tests', 'resources')
 TEST_OUTPUT = os.environ.get(
     'OCRMYPDF_TEST_OUTPUT',
diff --git a/tests/test_main.py b/tests/test_main.py
index e9d56c5f..2824727d 100644
--- a/tests/test_main.py
+++ b/tests/test_main.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 # © 2015 James R. Barlow: github.com/jbarlow83
 
-from __future__ import print_function
 from subprocess import Popen, PIPE, check_output, check_call, DEVNULL
 import os
 import shutil
@@ -13,13 +12,8 @@ import PyPDF2 as pypdf
 from ocrmypdf.exceptions import ExitCode
 from ocrmypdf import leptonica
 from ocrmypdf.pdfa import file_claims_pdfa
-import platform
 
 
-if sys.version_info.major < 3:
-    print("Requires Python 3.4+")
-    sys.exit(1)
-
 TESTS_ROOT = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
 SPOOF_PATH = os.path.join(TESTS_ROOT, 'spoof')
 PROJECT_ROOT = os.path.dirname(TESTS_ROOT)
@@ -30,15 +24,6 @@ TEST_OUTPUT = os.environ.get(
 OCRMYPDF = [sys.executable, '-m', 'ocrmypdf']
 
 
-def running_in_docker():
-    # Docker creates a file named /.dockerinit
-    return os.path.exists('/.dockerinit')
-
-
-def is_linux():
-    return platform.system() == 'Linux'
-
-
 def setup_module():
     with suppress(FileNotFoundError):
         shutil.rmtree(TEST_OUTPUT)
@@ -115,7 +100,7 @@ def spoof_tesseract_noop():
 
 @pytest.fixture
 def spoof_tesseract_cache():
-    if running_in_docker():
+    if pytest.helpers.running_in_docker():
         return os.environ.copy()
     return spoof(tesseract="tesseract_cache.py")
 
@@ -246,7 +231,7 @@ def test_preserve_metadata(spoof_tesseract_noop, output_type):
 
 
 @pytest.mark.skipif(
-    is_linux() and not running_in_docker(),
+    pytest.helpers.is_linux() and not pytest.helpers.running_in_docker(),
     reason="likely to fail if Linux locale is not configured correctly")
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("output_type", [
     'pdfa', 'pdf'
@@ -511,7 +496,7 @@ def test_missing_docinfo(spoof_tesseract_noop):
     assert p.returncode == ExitCode.ok, err
 
 
-@pytest.mark.skipif(running_in_docker(),
+@pytest.mark.skipif(pytest.helpers.running_in_docker(),
                     reason="writes to tests/resources")
 def test_uppercase_extension(spoof_tesseract_noop):
     shutil.copy(_infile("skew.pdf"), _infile("UPPERCASE.PDF"))
diff --git a/tests/test_pageinfo.py b/tests/test_pageinfo.py
index d28fc1d2..90be6c9d 100644
--- a/tests/test_pageinfo.py
+++ b/tests/test_pageinfo.py
@@ -14,10 +14,6 @@ import pytest
 import sys
 
 
-if sys.version_info.major < 3:
-    print("Requires Python 3.4+")
-    sys.exit(1)
-
 TESTS_ROOT = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
 SPOOF_PATH = os.path.join(TESTS_ROOT, 'spoof')
 PROJECT_ROOT = os.path.dirname(TESTS_ROOT)
diff --git a/tests/test_tess4.py b/tests/test_tess4.py
index 9dfc1e98..c0aef95b 100644
--- a/tests/test_tess4.py
+++ b/tests/test_tess4.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 # © 2017 James R. Barlow: github.com/jbarlow83
 
-from __future__ import print_function
 from subprocess import Popen, PIPE, check_output, check_call, DEVNULL
 import os
 import shutil
@@ -14,13 +13,9 @@ from ocrmypdf.exceptions import ExitCode
 from ocrmypdf import leptonica
 from ocrmypdf.pdfa import file_claims_pdfa
 from ocrmypdf.exec import tesseract
-import platform
+from common import is_linux, running_in_docker
 
 
-if sys.version_info.major < 3:
-    print("Requires Python 3.4+")
-    sys.exit(1)
-
 TESTS_ROOT = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
 SPOOF_PATH = os.path.join(TESTS_ROOT, 'spoof')
 PROJECT_ROOT = os.path.dirname(TESTS_ROOT)
@@ -33,15 +28,6 @@ pytestmark = pytest.mark.skipif(not tesseract.v4(),
                                 reason="tesseract 4.0 required")
 
 
-def running_in_docker():
-    # Docker creates a file named /.dockerinit
-    return os.path.exists('/.dockerinit')
-
-
-def is_linux():
-    return platform.system() == 'Linux'
-
-
 def _infile(input_basename):
     return os.path.join(TEST_RESOURCES, input_basename)